Manly Weight Loss: For Men Who Hate Aerobics and Carrot-Stick Diets, Finally, a Weight-Loss Program That Melts the Fat and Spares the Muscle

But strength coach Charles Poliquin, who has worked with hundreds of Olympic and professional athletes, says there's a way to lose pounds while lifting them. It's based on physiological principles that are well known to scientists but brand-new to the gym populace.

Here's the idea: If you generate a lot of lactic acid during your weight-lifting sets, your body will then produce more growth hormone. Growth hormone helps your body release fatty acids from your fat cells, which you then use for energy. Result: You get muscle from lifting weights, and you lose fat. For most guys, the net result will be lost weight, without having to run a mile or take a single Spinning class.

To make this work, though, you have to rethink the way you lift. If your idea of a workout is going into the gym and pushing out a few bench presses, then dissecting the latest ballgame with your buddies between sets, you'll find Poliquin's workout techniques a total shock. To generate enough lactic acid to promote fat loss, you have to extend your sets to about a minute, then rest for a minute, then move on to your next set. (Nobody said it was easier than aerobics.)

Besides featuring six weeks' worth of detailed workouts, Manly Weight Loss also includes 14 different daily menu plans--all easy-to-fix stuff that guys will enjoy (one of the menus includes fast-food hamburgers and fries)--and dozens of exercise descriptions. --Lou Schuler

Book Description
Humorous, yet highly informative. The program is innovative, using weight training to achieve weight loss without the loss of lean muscle tissue.

On the down side, the majority of the menu plans are nothing more than an advertisement for a supplement company. Most nutritional meal replacements and supplements are so laden with artificial sweeteners and chemicals to make them palatable that their health benefits are suspect at best. Also, the workout routines in the book are good, but it would have been better for the author to provide information for the reader to custom-design their own routines--in this respect you're left to your own wares. He doesn't explain the method behind his madness...

The machismo in the book is WAY over the top--but if you can overlook it (and the rather high price for such a thin book), I think the exercise routines are worth checking out. I was looking for something to change my exercise routine around, and especially get out of doing endless amounts of cardio which was aggravating my lower back and plantar fascia and generally not doing anything for my weight loss. I've only been doing the routines for a week and I can already feel a difference.

The only downside with the routines is that they require you to superset two or more exercises--which can be impossible in a crowded gym. My recommendation is to do the best you can--if you absolutely can't superset a block of exercises then just do straight sets (all sets of the first exercise, then all sets of the 2nd, and so on) in the order presented and don't take long rests; you'll still get most of the benefits from the program. But if you can do the supersets you're in for one heck of a workout.


Not up to charles's usual high standards   June 22, 2002
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

This book may get you results as charles is at the top of his field, however this book is a typical recipe plan weight loss book. It is also obviously biased towards certain supplement companies products. If you are totally in the dark on exercise and weight loss maybe this is the book for you, but anybody with a knowledge of exercise and diet should skip this one. I cant speak highly enough about charles, but this book is not on par with his other publications.


mixed bag--good workouts, loss of credibility   March 30, 2002
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Some of the other reviews seem to focus on the nature of the book and not the workouts, which is why I bought the book and why Poliquin wrote it. I have used the plan for nine weeks and lost 18 lbs, while also changing my diet. I find that the work outs are well thought out and for the most part well-explained. The science of the plan is aimed at high-reps on different muscle groups to achieve weight loss and conditioning vice bulking up. The criticism of Poliquin for endorsing supplements is well-founded and inexcusable. I almost threw the book away. How can we take his advice seriously when he endorses a particular supplement supplier? Some of the supplements are now much more controversial than when he wrote the book a few years ago--which shows why we should hesitate to pop pills--even if they are not steriods. In sum, I think he knows what he's doing but I'm not sure he has our best interest at heart.

The idea of weight training for weight loss is still counterintuitive for some people and the author does get credit for attacking this head on. He has convinced me.

Couple of other points. Don't even think about buying this book unless you are a member of a very well equiped club, or have access to the Nebraska Cornhusker weight training facility. Many of his exercises call for exoctic equipment and no substitute is suggested-you're not doing this in your basement.


Short, but Sweet   February 12, 2002
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Is there anything this guy produces that is not helpful??
Practical, masculine, humorous, and to the point. Coach Poliquin trains the best and is excellent in communications. My only complaint? The book is too short, and I really wanted more...Also: Write more books!! 5 stars to this, Poliquin Principles, Arms Race, and Trends!!