Women's Health Big Book of Exercises, The: Four Weeks to a Leaner, Sexier, Healthier You!

I love this book. I waited for the updated 2017 version and I'm glad I did. I'm middle aged and was brought up in the days when they said 'no pain no gain' and weights for women was frowned upon!! I wanted to get myself back in shape as middle age spread had been taking it's toll but I had no clue where to start. What I've learned is that only pounding away on the treadmill will get you knowhere - other than suffering with joint pain that is - and that a clear defined programme designed to build muscle will change your life. I've carefully taken notice of getting the right form and using proper techniques for lifting weights - everything is minutely explained and illustrated and gives me confidence to keep working hard. There are hundreds of exercises to do using easily available equipment at home or at the gym or even using nothing. I particularly like the work out programmes and successfully followed the 'I want my body back' 12 week programme. I'm getting on in years and I've learned so much from this excellent book. So much information. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I bought this book to supplement my gym routine (the days when I couldn't make to the gym) and I certainly wasn't disappointed. This is a very comprehensive exercise book divided into sections for each part of the body. I can't imagine anything more complete. Each exercise has step by step photographs on how to do the exercise correctly - the photography is in colour and presented well. At the back of the book is a host of workouts to do together with information about diets. Although most of the exercises are wall out of my range, what it gives me are the ideas to keep my gym workout out fresh and interesting. If you are serious about exercise then this could be the book for you. Compared to other exercise books I looked at, this is excellent value for money.

I have been weight training for some time now, but am always interested in finding new ideas. This book is excellent for the beginner or the experienced user of dumbbells, free weights and similar techniques. It is very well illustrated and the huge number of exercises and variations could probably keep you from boredom at the gym (or at home) for quite some time. I've got another book called Sculpting her Body Perfect, which is similar but it's not nearly so well produced (poor quality paper and grainy black and white images). It's also rather grim in tone! This book is much better and provides just the right amount of technical information (e.g. diagrams of muscles so you know what you're using) with a lively and readable tone. Highly recommend for women of all abilities.

The book has good clear illustration of movements to improve muscle tone etc with helpful, concise text and occasional warnings where there are likely ways to get things a bit wrong. It also gives some encouraging statistics and brief commentary as to why a particular excercise works. I hadn't expected to find so many exercises requiring extra gymn equipment (from simple dumbells and balls to workbenches and pulley systems!?) which was a little disappointing and makes sorting through the many pages for exercises that don't include such paraphanalia more awkward = specially mid-exercise routine! Still there are plenty of non-equipment exercises to be getting on with for the uninitiated like me. So on the whole a very helpful purchase.

Great reference book.

Good collection of exercises for all the body, has a selection of exercises you can do anywhere with free weights and also includes gym exercises. An excellent comprehensive book of exercises with info about each muscle group. Some do look very difficult to do but if you are trying to improve your level of fitness this is a good all round book.

My husband bought this book for me and he bought the Men's version, however, the only difference is that there is a women on front cover of this & all pictures show a woman and not a man! Both books are identical, so only buy one. That said, this is an excellent book and it is very well detailed and easy to use. I have been going to the gym for a good few years & have various books, however, this is by far the best & my favourite. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced "gym rat" you will always find new excercises at different levels in this book.

Great book, fast delivery and well packaged.

Absolutely love this book! Large size book, numerous clear photographs of the exercises with complete explanations and instructions. I like how each body part is separated into sections and there is also a section for exercises to work out multiple body parts. Info also on healthy eating provided. I purchased this years ago and couldn't find my copy and was excited to get it again- they've improved it a lot since- including the larger thicker size book with much more info. I purchased one for my sister and then promptly purchased another for myself. Great to devise a work out plan at home. You can select which version of each exercise you want to do based on which equipment you have at home- not much is required additionally. You can see your body weight for a lot of these, or buy a barbell or dumbbell, or select equipment. They don't necessarily suggest you go out and buy it all. In my former life, I was an avid gym rat and since having kids, it's hard to travel to gym back and forth. Even when I used to go to gym, I would have the old copy handy (several years ago) and find ways to make my workout fun and varied a bit. I know in this day and age, the info is easily extracted via Internet, however, nothing beats having the book handy and having marked out which pages of exercises I want to do. Beginner to advanced can use this book. I worked out with my baby beside me while laying on the floor and managed to get a good glute workout in!

Its a nice book. People like me who are new to gym gain very good knowledge. It is very elaborately explained in pictures how to do particular excercise perfectly. Go for it if you are a gym goer and are not sure what to do.

It’s a bit of a con. I bought the women’s health one and men’s health one at the same time thinking they would be different. The books are exactly the same but with pictures of women for the exercises. All exercises and wording are identical.

I had been with a trainer for the last 7 months and stopped going now to save money. I got this book to try and help me put together my own work-outs at home to keep the weight I've lost off. I got the book yesterday and spent a good hour or more flipping through the book, and it's amazing! The first part of the book breaks working out down really simply so even people who have never worked out before can understand their bodies while using weights (or body weight). It gives you facts on why lifting weights is so great for you (I knew most of them already, but it's very motivating still and it was a nice refresher after my trainer). It also gives you a section on common questions such as "how many reps?" and "how much weight should I use?" and then gives very detailed, easy-to-understand answers. Then it lists "the essentials" for equipment if you want to start building a home gym or deciding what to use at your gym. The next section tells you how to use both the nutrition and excersise part of the book to get the most benefits. I loved the diet section because it gives you a couple examples of what your day's meal plan might look like and then gives a chart of the types of foods you can eat and what is considered under that category (for example, high quality proteins: beef, cheese, etc. Low starch veggies: broccoli, artichoke, etc. and natural fats: avacados, butter, etc.) It tells you how to do the workouts in enough detail to really easily understand. Do work out A on Mon, and Fri and workout B on Wed and then switch it up next week, so easy! It even gives the part of your body to work out, how many sets, reps and how long to rest! Throughout the book, it's organized by muscle group and what exercises to focus on those groups. It shows an anatomy book type graphic of the muscle group and gives you the names of the muscles and what they do for your body (loved this!). For each muscle group, there's one or two "main moves" that you can master before doing variations. Then it lists many variations of the excerise. For push-ups, for example, the push up is the main move and then there are variations such as Incline push up, decline push up, modified push up, weighted push up, etc. Many pages have a side panel with fitness tips and also "muscle mistakes" to tell you things that you're probably doing wrong and how to fix it. There's an illustration for almost every exercise (I only saw a couple that didn't have them) and each image has arrows pointing to parts of your body and saying how to have them during the workout ("your palms should face forward", "the dumbbells should nearly touch", "your body should form a straight line from your knees to your shoulders") which is helpful when trying a new exercise so you know if you're having good form. In the back of each section there's a specific work out plan to target that area ("get the perfect _______") which is awesome. Also, in the last pages of the book, there's warm-up exercises, "Best Workout" plans and a chapter for "Nutrition Secrets." I read reviews before I purchased the book and many people were upset that you needed so much equipment to use this book. In my opinion, yes this book has a lot of its variations that require equipment BUT how do you expect to work out at home and not have ANY equipment, not even dumbbells? Tons of the exercises can be done if you just have dumb bells and a swiss ball. You can replace a workout bench with a chair or coffee table, bar bells with dumbbells, etc. You can get creative (but safe!) at home and still do most of the work-outs even if you don't have a gym membership or a complete home gym. There's even a section on The Best Body-Weight Workouts :). Overall, I am SO satisfied with my purchase and I can't wait to really start getting into this book and doing all the exercises!

Très bon livre!! Pleins de d'intéressantes choses à apprendre! Je recommande ce livre pour les débutants ainsi que pour les confirmés! Très bonnes illustrations, propositions de nombreux programmes et explications concernant les correctes positions à avoir! Je ne suis vraiment pas déçue de mon achat :-)