Stronger Legs and Lower Body [Paperback]

Keli Roberts (Author), Linda Shelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2002

Get fit, look better, and improve performance with Stronger Legs and Lower Body, the only book solely devoted to developing both the physique and fitness of the lower body. It's not just about looking good; it's also about becoming more active, moving better, and performing better in sport.

Two internationally recognized fitness experts wrote this book for those who want to enhance athletic performance as well as body aesthetics. As a personal trainer, Keli Roberts has helped hundreds of clients—including many Hollywood celebrities—achieve their fitness goals. Linda Shelton, fitness editor for SHAPE magazine, has more than 30 years of experience in exercise instruction. In Stronger Legs and Lower Body, Roberts and Shelton combine their expertise to show you how to

- improve muscle tone, strength, and body shape with progressive resistance-training exercises, including exercises that target every muscle group;
- increase flexibility and enjoy greater freedom of movement;
- get results with proven eight-week programs; and
- customize your own program to meet your training goals.

This comprehensive book includes strengthening and stabilizing exercises to target every area of the lower body—hips, buttocks, hamstrings, quadriceps, lower legs, and calves—making it easy for you to focus on the specific areas you need to work on. You'll find clear guidelines for conditioning and training, plus progressive eight-week programs that yield swift results: toning and shaping programs for quick and visible progress, conditioning programs to improve your athletic performance, and fat- burning cardio programs to keep your body looking and feeling good. There's also an entire chapter dedicated to showing you how to design your own program.

Whether strength, athletic fitness, or fat burning is your goal, you'll look better, feel better, and perform better with Stronger Legs and Lower Body.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whether you're a recreational exerciser looking to create a shapelier bottom half, a competitive athlete focused on increasing your leg power for your sport, or anywhere in between, Stronger Legs and Lower Body presents 124 clearly illustrated exercises and drills that will satisfy any fitness level or goal. The exercises use machines, body weight, free weights, body bars, steps, ankle weights, stability balls, bongo boards, and bands to work the calves, thighs, and buttocks. But the book is more than an excellent collection of exercises--you'll get information about setting up a strength-training program, assessing your level, training effectively and safely, and much more. Both women and men will find enough information and exercises to create a personalized program for strength, body sculpting, power, and performance.

Keli Roberts is a celebrity trainer and an international fitness instructor. She is the author of Fitness Hollywood: The Trainer to the Stars Shares Her Body-Shaping Secrets. Exercise physiologist and fitness consultant Linda Shelton is fitness editor for Shape and Fit Pregnancy. Stronger Legs and Lower Body is highly recommended for exercisers of all levels designing their personal lower-body strength program. --Joan Price

About the Author

Keli Roberts is an internationally recognized fitness expert with more than 15 years of teaching and instructing experience worldwide. She has extensive experience training high-profile clients, including Hollywood celebrities like Cher, Kirstie Alley, Susan Dey, Jennifer Grey, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Faye Dunaway.

Roberts is a regular presenter at IDEA and is known professionally for her programs that focus on lower-body function and performance. She is certified in fitness instruction with the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER), and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), in group exercise instruction and personal training with American Council on Exercise (ACE), and in boxing and kickboxing with the International Sports Conditioning Association (ISCA). Her first book, Fitness Hollywood, is currently in its fifth edition.

A native of Australia, Roberts now resides in Tujunga, California, where she teaches group exercise classes and works as a personal trainer and continuing education specialist. Her hobbies are gardening, competitive road cycling, mountain biking, and whitewater kayaking.

Linda Shelton is the fitness editor for SHAPE and Fit Pregnancy magazines and has more than 30 years of experience as a fitness teacher and educator. Linda has a bachelor's degree in physical education and has completed her master's work in exercise physiology. She has owned an aerobics studio, and worked as a Reebok step trainer as well as a personal trainer. Shelton was the director of technical training and head trainer for the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and helped develop their standards and guidelines and their international certification exam.

Linda lives in Thousand Oaks, California, where she serves as a fitness consultant specializing in strength training at her own company, Professional Fitness Services. She enjoys gardening and hiking with her two golden retrievers, Zeke and Libby.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Human Kinetics (May 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073603403X
• ISBN-13: 978-0736034036
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,223,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ALOT of lower body exercises, February 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Stronger Legs and Lower Body (Paperback)

This book is a veritable dictionary of lower body exercises. There are stabilizing exercises, resistant exercises, exercises done on the floor, using exercise bands, etc. Most of these exercises are ones you've probably seen or done if you're a regular exerciser but some are alternatives to those standbys, which can be great if you're tired of doing the same old squats and lunges.

My main gripe about this book is that a good deal of the really great exercises need to be done in a gym with gym equipment. For many people, this is fine but for people like me who don't want to sign up to a gym nor have the time to go to one, I just wished that they provided at home alternatives usings dumbells.

Not a ground breaking, revolutionary book but not a bad one either. A good book to have if you problem or main focus is the lower body. (Buy it used or rent it out from the library)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good reference on lower body strengh and deveopment, July 12, 2006

By 

David De Sousa "The Automation and Control Guy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stronger Legs and Lower Body (Paperback)

A complete, concise and comprehensive reference with 124 different exercises for legs, and lower body (gluts, abs, lower back).

It has exercises for strengthening, stabilizing, toning, shaping, and conditioning. There are even cardio programs for fat-burning. Each exercise is fully illustrated and described in detail, including setup, action, and safety information.

I disagree with the previous reviewer, since the book has dumbbells and barbells exercises alternatives (squats, dead-lifts and lunges) that can be used at home. I own this book, and it has been very illustrative to help me pick the right exercise to workout at the gym, and at home.

If you are lloking for an at home exercise guide, you might want to consider "The Men's Health Home Workout Bible".

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Like A Truly Challenging Lower Body Workout, You'll Like This, April 10, 2011

By 

F. McLemore "4tun81" (Silver Spring, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stronger Legs and Lower Body (Paperback)

I checked this out of the library and wanted to keep it, so I bought it. This has a truly challenging lower body workout - and a variety of ways to do the exercises.

One reviewer noted that many of the exercises need to be done on gym equipment, and another noted that you can do many of them at home, with dumb bells, etc. I agree with both assessments. I like using dumb bells and "home equipment" more than gym equipment for strength training anyway, so I'm not likely to use gym machines. Plus, the gym in my apartment building doesn't have a lot of that kind of equipment, and I'm not joining a gym when mine is just fine...and free. But, yeah, you can do most of these exercises either place. If you're a gym rat, that's fine, and if not, that's fine, too.

It's also got exercises I've never seen before - which I ALWAYS like. I hate it when I review several workout books and they all have the same exercises...nothing new under the sun. This has new ones, believe me.

I'm getting in shape for foot surgery soon. I'll be on crutches, a walker, a wheelchair, a medical boot, and a cane. I had foot surgery last year, and used all those things for the first time...and got my BUTT KICKED. I was not in shape for using any of it. Knowing I'd have to do surgery on my other foot eventually, I said, "Getting my butt kicked AGAIN is not an option." So I looked into several programs, including the "Stronger" series of books. I need to work my quads, my hamstrings, my butt, and my hips, because they're all involved in using recovery equipment - especially the crutches, the walker, and the medical boot. (I got some nice little hamstrings with that thing, because I couldn't put any weight on my foot for the first six weeks. My thighs had to hold up a ten-pound boot!) So I can't "play" with my workout routine. I need one that WORKS - because it works ME. This one does. And I can even use some of my old recovery equipment for these. In the ones using a straight body bar, my cane works just fine. This made me realize you can use whatever you have on hand for these exercises, if you like to improvise.

Oh, yes, definitely, get this book. If it can help get me in shape for using recovery equipment after foot surgery, I'm sure it can help other people who want to get stronger, look better, or both.