Book Review:The Weider Book of Bodybuilding for Women by Betty and Joe Weider.

Cover with model Shelly Gruwell

The cover of 'The Weider Book of Bodybuilding for Women' from 1981 by Betty and Joe Weider.
This is one of the early books I got when I was a teen starting out in weight training.
Bodybuilding for women was just becoming popular,or even known,for that matter in the late seventies-early eighties period.This book was published by the Weider company that also put out a number of popular magazines like Muscle & Fitness.They were the company in bodybuilding and fitness at the time.Betty Brosmer Weider was the wife of the head of the company Joe Weider.
She was a pinup girl,and model.She was actually an early pioneer in the modern women's fitness movement.So she may have actually written some of the material.But I'll bet Joe,and some copy people wrote it too.
It's very basic.It's written for the new audience of young women who were just starting out in weight training.It's trying to be reassuring to the 'ladies' that weights won't make you masculine,or intimidating.
It features black and white pictures of women in leotards using a lot of Nautilus equipment.Nautilus made all kinds of exercise machines that just look unnecessarily complicated.Rube Goldberg contraptions for exercise that are basically huge expensive machines to do what you can easily do with barbells,and dumbbells.Fashionably constructed out of shiny chrome,and fake tan leather.They went out of business as a gym manufacturer years ago.But they still own a number of home brands like Bowflex,and Schwinn Fitness.
I think most things were made out of chrome in the seventies.

I think the first time I became aware of the existence of bodybuilding was probably seeing the movie 'Pumping Iron'.I must have seen it on HBO.Because I'm certain I didn't see it in a theater.
I was inherently intrigued by the act of humans forcing their muscles to grow.I was really amazed,and pleased to see that other girls,and women felt the same way.So I bought a number of the early women's bodybuilding books.
I would have to say this is one of the poorer books on the subject.There's no sense of the revolutionary spirit of women lifting weights,and becoming strong.It's very safe,and corporate.I doubt I got that much out of it.The fact is lifting weights is lifting weights.Form is form.So while I can appreciate the fact they were trying to give women something to relate to you don't need cutesy little fitness girls to learn how to lift.I read the articles in Muscle and Fitness and they had good picture spreads of male bodybuilders.They did start including real female bodybuilders too.
I did belong to a gym when I was teen(My mother joined and took me along ).But they didn't have that much equipment.Certainly not all those crazy Nautilus contraptions.But it was all a bunch of chrome!
So maybe this book was a little encouragement.But it's very dated and would only be of interest to a collector of early women's bodybuilding books.Or if you're a leotard fetishist.

Multi station weight machine

Women working out on a multi station weight machine.Running shorts,and running shoes.This looks like the kind of set up they'd have in a YWCA gym.
I hope somebody let that poor girl down.

Barbell lunge

Ladies in leotards doing lunges with light weights.

Nautilus glute machine

Goofy Nautilus back,and butt machine.Looks rather....questionable!
"Help! Let me out.I promise I'll be a good girl."
I wonder if one of these is gathering dust somewhere?

Wrist curls anyone?

Here we have a buxom model performing wrist curls.Enjoy.

There's also a chapter at the end of the book on competitive women's bodybuilding which was in it's infancy.Mainly pictures of the current star of the scene Rachel McLish.A very safe,and soft image indeed.

So this book is a minor note in the history of women's weight training.But an interesting glimpse into the mood of the time.
And so much chrome.

Earplugs equal peace and quiet

I'm sure everyone knows about earplugs.But have you ever actually tried them?
Trust me.They're effective,and comfortable.
I work out at home in my own gym area.I can listen to whatever I want,or nothing.But if you work out in a crowded public gym you're probably getting bombarded with auditory distraction.Crappy music,people talking, announcements over the speaker system.Some people tune things out better than others.
I find excessive noise a bother so I've been wearing earplugs for a long time.
I know you can listen to music on your own device.But that's active listening.Maybe some people really get charged up listening to music when they work out.Good if that works for you.But there are a number of situations when quiet is sweet relief.Maybe you have to take a bus to the gym.Pop in the plugs,and tune out the environment.And if you're at the gym and you don't want people talking to you,it can send a message that you're in serious mode.You won't even have to wear a rude t-shirt telling people to bug off anymore.
Of course they can also be a great help in reading/studying/focusing on work whatever the setting.   

The ones I included a picture of are from the top brand in the business,Mack's.They make a whole line of earplugs for different needs.Including for swimming,and shooting sports.
They do make very soft earplugs for sleeping.Now you can live with that snoring spouse a little easier.Maybe you won't have to throttle the neighbor for his yapping mutts.
They are actually soft enough to be comfortable.After awhile you hardly notice they're in.I find that once I'm asleep I don't tend to register much outside noise.The trash trucks can do their banging business without waking me up.But I can still hear the alarm clock when it goes off.( I use an interesting kind of alarm clock which I'll post about some time ).
If you're at all prone to anxiety,I think these could be helpful too.It does reduce the general stimulation.
They might be helpful to a kid with ADHD,or Autism to reduce distraction,or provide a calmer feeling.

A few notes on use.They do make some out of silicone that are like soft putty.They will conform to the ear,but are a little too gushy.They can squish too far into the ear canal.They also need to be cleaned,and reshaped after use.You'll wake up with your hair stuck to them.I did use them in the past.But I prefer the foam ones.
The foam earplugs will come in different levels of decibel reduction.That's the measure of environmental sound reduction.It will state the level on the package.Such as NRR 29 dB.That means the reduction will be 29 decibels if used properly.
I would advise you to clean your ears before putting in the plugs.You don't want greasy,waxy ears anyway.You can wash them with soap,and water and dry them well.You can also use a rag,or tissue and clean the outside with a little hand sanitizer like Purell..Of course Q-tips tells us never to put swabs in your ear canal.I'm sure we all carefully avoid doing this too.
The foam plugs are squeezed into a tighter shape,and inserted into the ear canal where they will expand to fit snugly.They can be reused a number of times.When they feel like they're getting dirty,throw them out.
They're not expensive.
The quiet is well worth the price.

I just want to live in peace and quiet. Agnetha Faltskog
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