Shifting the paradigm for women's lifting
Schuler reflects that when writing his book in 2006, mainstream fitness publishing rarely advised women to lift heavy weights or train primarily to build strength.
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Read Time
7 min read
Age & reading levelAdult
Reader rating
4.4 · 1,538 Amazon ratings
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The New Rules of Lifting for Women
The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe & Alwyn Cosgrove Review: A Strength-First Guide That Challenges Convention
by Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsythe and Alwyn Cosgrove
This fitness guide by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove makes a direct, research-backed case that strength training — not aerobics — is the foundation women need for fat loss and a fit, strong body, packaging that argument into a comprehensive program that covers lifting, conditioning, and nutrition.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Women who are ready to commit to strength training as their primary modality and want a single, research-backed resource covering programming, conditioning, and nutrition — with a direct, no-nonsense voice rather than aspirational lifestyle framing.
Worth it if
You want a structured, evidence-informed six-month lifting program that explains the reasoning behind its recommendations and treats you as capable of serious, progressive barbell work.
Skip if
You're looking for a flexible, pick-and-choose workout menu or are a complete beginner who needs significant hand-holding before committing to compound lifts as the core of your training.
What readers & critics say
Barnes & Noble's listing describes the book as presenting "a comprehensive strength, conditioning and nutrition plan destined to revolutionize the way women work out," grounding the program in studies showing strength training, not aerobics, is the key to fat loss and fitness. Better World Books surfaces a blurb praising the authors' "expert advice, no-nonsense plans, and sense of humor" as "reassuring, motivating, and entertaining."
Sources: Barnes & Noble, Better World Books4.4from 1,538 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove makes a direct, research-backed case that strength training — not aerobics — is the real foundation for fat loss and a fit, strong body, packaging that argument into a comprehensive six-month program covering lifting, conditioning, and nutrition. The authors' credentials (Forsythe's exercise science research, Cosgrove's professional coaching background) give the book genuine academic and practical weight, while Schuler's voice delivers the material with a no-nonsense rigor that never tips into severity. It is best suited to women ready to commit to barbell-centered training as their primary modality; readers seeking a modular, drop-in-anytime plan will find the structured progression a friction point.
- Is it worth reading?
- For women who want to center strength training and are looking for a single resource that covers lifting, conditioning, and nutrition with a research-backed rationale, The New Rules of Lifting for Women remains a standout title. The combination of Forsythe's exercise science credentials, Cosgrove's program design, and Schuler's direct prose gives it a rigor that distinguishes it from general-audience fitness titles. More than a decade after its Avery publication, it continues to be a frequently referenced entry point in the strength-training-for-women conversation — its core argument has only grown more mainstream. The main caveat is commitment: the six-month structured progression is not designed for casual or modular use, so readers seeking flexibility may find the format a poor fit.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to this book will find natural companions in several titles. The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove is the direct predecessor — the original program that attracted the female readership this volume was built to serve. Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training covers much of the same foundational barbell territory from a pure technique and programming standpoint, though without the nutrition integration or gender-specific framing. For readers interested in the mobility and injury-prevention side of heavy training, Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza's Becoming a Supple Leopard is a widely referenced companion. On the nutrition and fat-loss science side, Jason Fung's The Obesity Code and Peter Attia MD's Outlive both engage the research-informed, evidence-first approach that distinguishes this book from lifestyle fitness titles.
- Who should read this?
- The guide is best suited to women who are ready to make strength training their primary modality and want a single, structured resource that addresses training, nutrition, and the reasoning behind both. Readers who enjoy evidence-informed fitness writing with a direct voice — rather than aspirational lifestyle framing — will find the authors' approach well-matched to their preferences. It is particularly well-suited to readers who have already done some gym work and are prepared to commit to barbell-centered, compound-lift programming for six months. Complete beginners are not excluded, but the framing assumes a reader who won't be put off by a steeper entry point than a true beginner title would offer.
- How structured is the program?
- The program is built around Alwyn Cosgrove's structured six-month progression, and the text makes the commitment expectation explicit — this is not a plan designed to be dipped in and out of casually. The authors address the science behind the progression directly, explaining why the structure is built the way it is rather than simply issuing instructions. Beyond the lifting component, the book integrates a conditioning phase and a nutrition plan, so readers are working with a full-system approach from day one. Readers seeking a modular or highly flexible plan they can customize on the fly will encounter a structure that resists that approach.
- How credible are the authors?
- The authorship team brings complementary credentials that set this book apart from general fitness titles. Cassandra Forsythe was an exercise science and nutrition doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut at the time of writing, grounding the programming decisions in contemporary research rather than gym folklore. Alwyn Cosgrove is a professional member of both the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine, a frequent contributor to Men's Health and Men's Fitness, and co-owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, California. Lou Schuler, the team's writer, is responsible for the voice that ties the research and programming together into an accessible, direct narrative.
- What's the book's central argument?
- The book's central claim, stated without equivocation, is that women have been steered wrong about exercise — that the conventional fitness industry emphasis on cardio and light weights is not a neutral baseline but a specific mistake, and that the barbell is the correction. Strength training, not aerobics, is positioned as the key to losing fat and building a fit, strong body, and the entire structure of the program, nutritional framework, and explanatory prose exists to support and execute that argument. Rather than treating this as a minor preference difference, the authors frame it with research backing and a sense of urgency that purely instructional titles often lack. That posture — confident, direct, and adversarial toward conventional wisdom — is as much a defining feature of the reading experience as the program itself.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
How structured is the program?
How credible are the authors?
What's the book's central argument?
Summarize this book
The New Rules of Lifting for Women is a comprehensive strength, conditioning, and nutrition guide co-authored by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove, published by Avery in December 2009. Its central argument is unambiguous: strength training, not aerobics, is the key to losing fat and building a fit, strong body, and the conventional fitness industry has steered women wrong by emphasizing cardio and light weights. The book grew directly out of Schuler and Cosgrove's earlier New Rules of Lifting, which had already attracted a significant female readership — making this volume the explicit, ground-up answer to that demonstrated demand. Readers get a full-system program: Cosgrove's structured six-month lifting progression, a conditioning component, and a nutritional framework, all tied together by Schuler's direct, evidence-informed voice.
Follow up
Does it cover nutrition too, or just workouts?
How does it relate to the original New Rules of Lifting?
What's the tone like?
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A fitness guide built on a single, pointed argument: that women have been steered wrong about exercise, and that the barbell is the correction.
What the Book Actually Is and Does
The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess is a comprehensive strength, conditioning, and nutrition guide authored by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe (then an exercise science and nutrition doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut), and Alwyn Cosgrove, co-owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, California. Published by Avery in December 2009, it grew directly out of the earlier New Rules of Lifting, which Schuler wrote primarily for men but which had already attracted a significant female readership looking for structured lifting programs.
This volume is the explicit answer to that demand — a program designed from the ground up for women, not a gender-swapped repackaging.
The book's central claim, stated without equivocation by the authors, is that strength training, not aerobics, provides the key to losing fat and building a fit, strong body. That premise drives the entire structure: the program, the nutritional framework, and the explanatory prose all exist to support and execute that argument.
The Argument and Its Credentials
What distinguishes this guide from general-audience fitness titles is the academic and professional weight behind it. Forsythe brings exercise science and nutrition research directly into the text, grounding the programming decisions in contemporary studies rather than gym folklore.
Cosgrove, a professional member of both the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine and a frequent contributor to publications including Men's Health and Men's Fitness, supplies the program design. Schuler, the team's writer, is responsible for the voice that ties it together.
The result is a fitness book that functions simultaneously as an argument, a manual, and a course correction. Rather than treating the conventional emphasis on cardio and light weights as a neutral baseline, the authors position it as a specific mistake — one with a research-based alternative.
That posture gives the book an urgency that purely instructional titles often lack.
Strengths: Voice, Scope, and Structure
One of the book's most noted qualities is its tone. Blurb commentary retrieved from Better World Books describes the approach as offering "expert advice, no-nonsense plans, and sense of humor" that readers found "reassuring, motivating, and entertaining."
That combination — rigor without severity — is built into the book's design. The title itself is a deliberate provocation, and the text follows through: it does not soften its case or hedge its recommendations in ways that would undercut the program's logic.
The scope is genuinely comprehensive. Beyond the lifting program itself, the book integrates a conditioning component and a nutrition plan, meaning readers receive a full-system approach rather than a workout-only guide.
This is a meaningful structural choice: it acknowledges that training outcomes are inseparable from nutrition and recovery, and it keeps those threads inside a single volume rather than deferring them to a follow-up.
Limitations and Readers Who May Find It Challenging
The book's confident, prescriptive stance is also the source of its most common friction point. The program is built around Cosgrove's structured six-month progression, and the text makes clear — explicitly — that the protocol demands real commitment: the authors address the impossibility of putting on extreme amounts of muscle accidentally, but the flip side is that the program is not designed to be dipped in and out of casually.
Readers looking for a modular or highly flexible plan they can customize on the fly will encounter a structure that resists that approach.
Additionally, because the book emerged from the New Rules of Lifting lineage aimed at a general (originally male) audience, some readers new to barbell training may find the assumed baseline of comfort in a gym setting slightly steeper than true beginner titles. The program is accessible by design, but the framing presumes a reader prepared to commit to compound lifts as the center of their training.
Relevance and Audience
More than a decade after its Avery publication, The New Rules of Lifting for Women remains a frequently referenced title in the strength-training-for-women conversation. The core argument — that women benefit from heavy, progressive lifting and that the fitness industry has historically underserved them with cardio-heavy, low-weight programming — has only grown more mainstream since the book appeared, which has given it continued currency as an entry point into that discourse.
The guide is best suited to women who are ready to make strength training their primary modality and want a single, structured resource that addresses training, nutrition, and the reasoning behind both. Readers who enjoy evidence-informed fitness writing with a direct voice, rather than aspirational lifestyle framing, will find the authors' approach well-matched to their preferences.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
- 2
- Further reading
- 3
Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
who it suits
Skip if you want a flexible, modular workout plan you can customize on the fly rather than a structured six-month commitment.
Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsythe and Alwyn Cosgrove on The New Rules of Lifting for Women
Fitness author Lou Schuler joins Ben Coomber Radio to discuss his background, training philosophy, and landmark books including The New Rules of Lifting for Women.
Uploaded by Ben Coomber, 2017 · Watch on YouTube ·
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