Book Reviews

New Rules of Lifting
I've read and enjoyed several of Lou's other books, I like his style of writing and find his work entertaining and informative. His style is such that he comes across like an every-man. This book, to me, is the logical successor to his popular Testosterone Advantage plan. The diet advice and planing is similar but updated. He recommends a zone like diet with a focus on protein, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Nothing revolutionary, just good advice for folks who exercise hard and regularly. The exercise plans follow a similar periodization scheme. Fat loss circuit, Medium reps for Hypertrophy, and low reps for strength. These routines are not for the faint of heart. They are demanding. The routines are designed by Alwyn Cosgrove, who lives up to his reputation as "the evil Scotsman". They are medium volume, moderate intensity routines that even the well conditioned will find a challenge. While there is a break in routine, I would not recommend this book to some one who has not worked out regularly for at least six months. But for some one looking to move from beginner to intermediate, or an intermediate looking for a change of pace, this would be an outstanding resource.

The Glycemic-Load Diet
Written by Rob Thompson, this is an ok book for someone who already understands the concept of glycemic load. For a person who has no idea, it could be very confusing as he uses different values than all other standard resources relating to glycemic load. His dietary advice could be summed up thusly, don't eat sugar or grains. Not necessarily bad advice, but he really doesn't paint a complete picture of what glycemic load is. His whole eat chocolate candy to avoid carb cravings made me go "hmmmmm". On the upside, if you follow his recommendations you will eat a healthy, generally nutritious diet. Two thirds of the book is recipes, some good, some not so good, IMHO. I actually think of this book more as user friendly introduction to low carb eating than a guide to eating based on glycemic load.

The GL Diet
Written by Nigel Denby, this book is in many ways the companion to, and the missing parts of the Rob Thompson book. While this book too, is two thirds recipes, it gives a much more useful method for dealing with glycemic load based eating. The summary version of this diet would be, don't eat junk food, get your carbs from vegetables and fruits first, and keep your daily GL under 80. Not bad advice, and it rely's on standard GL values available on the web and in many books related to the glycemic index. I would recommend this as a first book on glycemic load based eating, then followed by Thompson's book to round out the picture.