Bret ContrerasStrong Curves: A Woman's Guide to Building a Better Butt and Body

I've been following Bret Contreras' blog and YouTube channels for a while, and have been really intrigued by his ideas about the glutes. I've incorporated hip thrusts into my training, but really wanted to try a comprehensive program designed by someone with a lot more knowledge than me. I'm just finishing up my current 8-week program, so the timing of this release was perfect... the authors posted a free PDF a week or so before the book's release, which I read from "cover" to "cover," and I downloaded the kindle version of the book as soon as it was available. I may still purchase the hard copy though, because already I find myself wanting to reference different parts of the book over and over, and it's hard to do that with a digital version.I knew based on the PDF that this book is well-written and does a masterful job of combining clear, easy to follow instructions with just enough technical information to really help you to understand why they recommend the type of training they do, and also how to fine-tune it for your specific needs. I love the technical/ scientific aspect, and there's enough of it in the book to make me happy, but it's presented in small enough chunks and clear enough language that I think non-techies will also get the full benefit.I kind of skimmed the nutrition chapter because I am very happy with my diet right now, so I can't really comment on that.The real reason I personally bought the book though, as I mentioned already, was for the workouts, and I was not disappointed. I haven't actually done the workouts yet (obviously, since the book only came out 3 days ago) but it's easy to see that they are very carefully thought out and well-designed. For example, each workout in the "Gluteal Goddess" workout for the advanced lifter, which is the one I plan to start on Monday, includes one lower body exercise from each of the 3 big movement patterns, an upper body push, an upper body pull, a hip exercise and two core exercises. From day to day, the exact movements and the number of reps varies so that you get a good cross-section of intensity and volume in all movements. As you progress through the phases, more difficult variations are introduced while the basic program structure stays the same. I haven't analysed the other workouts as closely, but they seem to be based around similarly well-balanced templates. Also, in addition to the color photos showing each exercise, if you search for the exercise name on YouTube, there are videos of either Bret or Kellie (or both of them) to really show you the correct form. The programs alone are easily worth the price of the book.I'll try to remember to update this review once I've got a few weeks of the program under my belt as well.

This book is simply AWESOME. I started weight training from after practicing yoga for nearly 20 years nearly a year ago and my trainer was good but creating workouts using the old school bodybuilding method of splits according to body parts. Yes I got stronger but something in the back of my mind felt I needed 'more'. Plus I was in the gym for hours and the workouts were too grueling. I just felt that a lot of my lower body work was very quad-centric and I wasn't getting the strength that I wanted. My brother who is a personal trainer told me I probably needed to work my glutes more which made a lot of sense. So I googled and found the 'glute guy' Bret Contreras and have never looked back. Bret is the bomb. His blog has tons of thoughtful, insightful detail and this book is written in the same thoughtful, knowledgeable manner. He and his co-author Kellie Davis simply know exactly how to educate and empower the average woman who may be a gym newbie but want to build the body of their dreams. After devouring the book and starting with one of their templated workouts, I have never felt stronger, more sexy and can hip thrust nearly 200 pounds after only 5 weeks of following the program. Me, the 'skinny ectomorph' who never had any real muscle after years of yoga and cardio. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could lift 1.5 times my body weight for 8-12 reps.What I also love is that this book gives you the formula to create your own balanced workouts for LIFE. They give you the keys to the kingdom. I was simply blown away by that.One small quibble is that I would have appreciated a hyperlink from the exercise they describe in the templated workouts to an explanation of how to do the exercise in the reference section. That would make the book much more user friendly.But all-in-all, this book is a absolute MUST for any woman interested in taking control of her workouts and having a resource for life when it comes to creating your own workouts that get results and creating the body you'll be proud of for the rest of your days. This book is the perfect complement to any mind/body practice you may be doing right now.