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Old 01-22-08, 10:32 PM  
Joanna
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Fitness books with workouts you actually use?

I am doing a bit of a purge right now on fitness books, and have been having fun reviewing some of the titles I have. I have a real weakness for this sort of book in spite of not actually using them to work out nearly as often as I should I divided my books into as follows:

1) Books I get a lot of use out of: I have been really enjoying the circuit workouts in the new releases by Kim Lyons and Chris Freytag. I would heartily recommend either of these two. Other books I enjoy and use are the Om Yoga books, the yoga books by Rodney Yee and the Body Shop Yoga book. I also have a few Joyce Vedral books that I use often when I am in that sort of training mood.

2) Books I do not use often but find really motivating/want to keep anyway: The Clean Eating Diet Workout book is really pretty, and I like her other stuff. I am not as into her style of training right now, but I can see it being a book I come back to. I also like the Leslie Sansone books. If I am doing a Leslie workout, it's in a video, so I don't know that I follow the routines in these books per se, but I find them very motivating. I also have two Denise Austin books that I don't use as prescribed, but like reading. Sometimes, I will follow her schedule or format, but with my own workouts.

3) Books I can probably get rid of: A few impulse yoga buys (one came with a dvd I wound up not liking) and a book about walking (it turned out to be a bit too treadmill-oriented for the kind of 'walking for cardio' I do. I was surprised there were not more books in this category I really thought I had more to purge, book-wise, than this. Note to self: stop buying pretty discount-table yoga books, you never, ever use them.

4) Books I am not sure about yet: I keep thinking '8 Minutes in the Morning' is a good one to try as an add-on when I go through my Leslie phases where I hate doing weight training. And yet I have never actually tried this program and am not sure I ever will Also, a book on 'office yoga' and the Bikram yoga book: entertaining, but I would never, ever follow a program like this, especially not from a book.

So what are your favourite fitness books for having workouts you actually use? Any good ones I've missed?
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Old 01-22-08, 11:04 PM  
Lucysql
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I've used FrameWork, NROL and Core Performance pretty extensively, although I don't actually follow the exact w/o's described in the books...so maybe that doesn't really count

And in the really, really oldie but goodie category, I still have and occasionally refer to a yoga book I got when I was about 15 and watching Lilias Yoga and You on PBS! (Back before Amazon - when you actually had to mail order books!)

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Old 01-23-08, 12:54 AM  
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I've used Brooke Siler's "The Pilates Body" many, many times. Nice to do while the tv is on at night w/o going into another room away from my dh to put on a video.
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Old 01-23-08, 07:55 AM  
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NROL, BodyRx, will use NROL/W; I've also used programs by - ACK! I forget her name. Lynne Pyrie? Something like that. This was years ago; she's a bodybuilder from the pre-women using steroids era. I forget the title of her book (and it's OOP, anyway). I had a college text book that discussed program development that I used; I've stolen ideas from Arnie. I'm sure there are others, I've been at this for a while; just can't think of them off the top of my head.
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Old 01-23-08, 10:03 AM  
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I don't care for Denise Austin's videos, but her book "How to Sculpt Your Body with Bands and Balls" is really good. It has a three week rotation and does show modifications.
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Old 01-23-08, 10:14 AM  
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I use my Callanetics book all the time. Even though I know the exercises by heart, it helps to follow the book. I have even brought it on vacation with me if I don't feel like doing an isculpt ballet with my Ipod.

I have also use "The Pilates Body" by Brooks Siler and "Bodies in Motion" by Alcea Ungaro. Another one I reach for often is "Stretching" by Bob Anderson as an ad on for extra stretching after working out.
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Old 01-23-08, 10:27 AM  
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New Rules of Lifting for Women.
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Old 01-23-08, 11:51 AM  
Linda KH
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"Yoga for Women" has some nice practices for when I feel under the weather, and I used the pregnancy practice quite a bit when I was pregnant.

"Light on Yoga" doesn't have workouts per se, but I've used it quite a bit to put together some yoga practices - Iyengar also has some "recipes" in the back for various conditions (like headaches) that I've used.
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Old 01-23-08, 12:35 PM  
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Use for workouts: NROL

Use primarily for reference: Brooke Siler's The Pilates Body, Alycea Ungaro's Pilates: Body in Motion, Erich Schiffmann's Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness, and The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness
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Old 01-23-08, 01:02 PM  
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Leslie's book comes with a DVD that I like and have used, and will most likely use again. The only other fitness book I ever owned was Teresa Tapp's, and I used the DVD a few times.

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