Exercise ain't easy. The body is a complicated machine, with 650 muscles and 250 million individual muscle fibers. Some would say taming those fibers and building strong, healthy muscles is not an act of labor. Some would say it's an art. Here's a book worthy of that art. The Men's Health Book of Muscle is the big, lavishly illustrated, full-color coffee table book that only Men's Health could produce-one that doubles as the ultimate guide to building a better body. The goal of The Book of Muscle is simple: create a beautiful, artistic guide to the body that also helps guys build great physiques by showing in detail how muscles work and how that knowledge can be put to use. Inside, you'll find lush anatomical illustrations and photographs of a quality that no other book on fitness can match. You'll also find complex biological information, boiled down to language any guy can understand, and three 6-month workout programs, one each for beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifters. It's big muscles, big benefit, and beautiful all at the same time. It's the book you've always wanted from the guys at Men's Health, the fitness experts you trust....

If you believe what most women's magazines tell you, muscles can be "shaped," "toned," and "sculpted" with nothing more than a little dumbbell that weighs less than a can of peas. But muscles aren't modeling clay, and the only way to transform them is to strengthen them. The New Rules of Lifting for Women is for the woman who's ready to throw down the "Barbie" weights and start a strength and conditioning program that will give her the body of her dreams.

The book puts to rest the shop-worn notion that women who train with heavy weights will bulk up. Nonsense! Women simply don't have enough testosterone to pack on muscle like a bodybuilder. Here's the truth: lifting weights not only makes you stronger, it also makes you leaner. In fact, most women would have to run twice as long to receive the same fat-burning benefits as weight lifters.

A better workout in less time may sound too good to be true, but champion trainer Alwyn Cosgrove creates six months' worth of workouts that will build strength, burn fat, and rev up the metabolism. His total body workouts target all the major muscle groups, and each exercise is accompanied by clear black- and-white photographs that illustrate proper technique and form.

A nutrition plan is another key feature of the book. To gain strength you have to feed muscle, and nutritionist CassandraForsythe has designed a regimen to achieve this goal. She strongly recommends small, frequent meals and offers meal plans, along with fifty recipes, to satisfy women's special needs through breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. The New Rules of Lifting for Women will become the standard for smart women who take their fitness goals seriously....

A revolutionary method of weight lifting using today's science for maximum results.

In The New Rules of Lifting, fitness guru Lou Schuler and strength-training expert Alwyn Cosgrove boil down the most recent findings on weight lifting and fitness to create a program of workouts that focuses on the movements at which the body naturally excels. These six "real-life" movements-squat, bend, lunge, push, pull, and twist-compose three complete programs for three distinct goals: fat loss, muscle gain, and strength improvement.

At home or at the gym, these routines can be mixed and matched for a year's worth of workouts that will keep boredom at bay and lifters challenged long after most plans have called it quits. And while coordinated, useful muscles will always turn heads at the beach, they'll also help you live better and longer. Besides providing comprehensive workout programs, The New Rules of Lifting covers much-needed background on aspects of lifting that are often overlooked, like warming up, nutrition, and meal planning. Throughout, Schuler and Cosgrove debunk strength-training myths, troubleshoot dangerous pitfalls, and clearly illustrate moves with black-and-white photographs....