56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Place to Start, July 25, 2004
This review is from: Smart Girls Do Dumbbells (Paperback)
If you've never done weight training, this book is a good place to start. Tha majority of the book espouses the benefits of weight training, then gives "recipes" (yes, that's what they're called in the book) for specific exercises. There's also a 30-day "menu" designed to be completed in about 30 minutes. Performing the exercises as prescribed allows for a total body workout spread out over 2-3 days.
If you know a bit about weight training, then this book may be too simplistic for you. For example, the author chooses to stick with simple terms like "shoulders" instead of identifying which specific muscle in the shoulder region is being worked, e.g., Anterior Deltoid, Lateral Deltoid, Trapezius, etc.
However, the low-tech approach to using only dumbbells and a chair to build a better body surpasses most other weight training books I've seen. Plus, being geared towards a woman's body instead of a man's is another plus.
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70 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Motivational but not terribly instructive, November 23, 2004
This review is from: Smart Girls Do Dumbbells (Paperback)
Sensible approach, not very clear descriptions of the exercises. I appreciate the motivational style of the book; the author stresses that some exercise each day will yield better results than doing nothing at all, and has designed a workout for people who can't spend hours at the gym. Her program suggests just one exercise per muscle group each day, alternating upper & lower, with different exercises on alternate days to balance the workout over the week.
However, I find her descriptions of the exercises less than ideal if you don't already know the exercise. Consider the first exercise in the book, the Hamstring Hug. Her instructions say to lie on the floor and gently draw your knee toward your chest. Um, okay... I suppose it's common sense to straighten your leg to stretch the hamstring, but if you were new to stretching, would you know that? It really should have been mentioned. Or maybe she meant something else. Is it possible to get a good stretch on the hamstring by pulling your bent knee toward the chest? Could be, as she goes on the say that it's okay if you're not flexible enough to get your knee very close to your chest. On the other hand, maybe the reader was never supposed to bend the knee at all but pull straight up from the hip? This is just inexcusably sloppy. Exacerbating the problem, none of the stretches or abs exercises are illustrated.
The exercises with weights are better because they have pictures, but even these can be confusing. For example, on day 1, she recommends doing V-Backs for triceps. The pictures show before and after, but the description doesn't explain the motion intended to get the reader from point A to point B. The picture for point A shows a woman standing with feet slightly further apart than hip width, holding weights with her arms akimbo, the weights touching in an "A" in front of her. The picture of point B is from the back, showing the woman with her leg position unchanged, arms straight, arms and legs parallel to each other. The first step in the instructions is "Glue the insides of your upper arms against your rib cage." This isn't apparent in either picture. She goes on to tell you to extend your arms behind you. That makes sense, but because the picture of point B is directly from the back, the reader can't tell how intense the backward thrusting motion should be. The arms look flush with the body, but could be several inches behind her. I couldn't tell from the picture; as this was a new exercise to me, I ended up skipping it and will eventually ask someone else to show it to me. The poor quality of instruction is especially annoying given the book's emphasis on the importance of good form.
Overall, I give this four stars for passion, one for content. I do find that I'm using her workout guidelines as a quick cheat, but substituting exercises I already know for new ones she's introduced, or going elsewhere for similar exercises, rather than slogging through her descriptions.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great program., September 19, 2004
This review is from: Smart Girls Do Dumbbells (Paperback)
Love this program. I didn't need all the motivational chapters in the book because I had already decided that weight-training was the way to go for me, in order to prevent osteoporosis (being thin and small boned I am at risk). This is a very do-able program, nothing complicated or expensive, something that you can easily stick with. The 30 day recipes provide enough variety so that you won't get bored, and if you start to feel 'blah' in your workouts, remember to increase the weight a little bit to challenge your body. I feel better, look better, and love the feeling of 'strength'. The author is really committed to providing service - she even includes her e-mail address in the book so that you can write to her with your workout questions - AND she actually will answer your e-mails! (Give her a few days to get back to you).
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