Reddit mentions of Delavier's Women's Strength Training Anatomy Workouts

AMAB runner here! I found that running didn't flatten my booty, but it didn't build it either. I'm sure I got some great cardiovascular benefits, but I didn't see much change when I looked in the mirror (I was always a healthy weight.) The main change I saw was that my abs were more defined (probably a combination of working my core muscles and losing body fat.)

Recently I started strength training. Squats do work your booty, but it's secondary. The main effort is done by your quads. Deadlifts are more focused on your backside (hamstrings and glutes.)

Some resources:

1. I highly recommend Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier. It has detailed color illustrations showing which muscles are worked by just about every exercise you could think of. There's also a version for women's anatomy.
   
   
2. My girl Abby Pollock on the YouTube.
   
   
3. /r/StrongCurves. I haven't used it personally, but you may find it helpful.
   
   Good luck quitting smoking and building your booty!

I was rather impressed at the level of detail in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Delaviers-Strength-Training-Anatomy-Workouts/dp/1450466036

Okay... incoming wall of text (you've triggered "verbose Amy mode"):

I am an utter newb at this, so I'm still learning myself. So far, I'm just working on my own, although I just got the name of a promising-sounding personal trainer from my physical therapist, so when my current round is over, I might try that out. I'd like to. But since I was starting from zero, I figured anything is better than nothing, so as long as I learned enough to keep from hurting myself, it would lead to progress.

Here's my current plan:

I split my routines up by parts: Sundays are legs, shoulders, back; Tuesdays are biceps, core, chest; Thursdays are legs, core, triceps. So legs and core get worked twice a week, everything else once.

Each workout is built around one of the big, compound movements: squats, pushups, pull-ups (which I can't actually do yet), and deadlifts (which I don't have the equipment for right now.) I do one of those every session; then the rest is made of accessory exercises focusing on more specific movements. They're usually 9-12 exercises total, and typically 3 sets of 10 reps, or however many it takes to fatigue the muscle. Then stretch, and done.

The only equipment I'm working with is one 15-lb dumbbell, one 8-lb dumbbell, a physio ball (I love mine), an array of resistance bands (most of which are too easy for me now) and body weight. This selection is a bit limiting, but since I started from fat middle-aged woman status, I've been able to make some initial progress with just this.

The really hard part, I've found, is finding books on strength training that are suitable for people in our situation -- it's like, everything is either pitched for 80-year-olds or people not really interested in actual strength training, or else for already-fit athletes. The books that I've found the most useful are Delavier's Women's Strength Training Anatomy Workouts, because it shows you very specifically what muscle group you're focusing on, and it does a good job of explaining the pros and cons of variations and modifications; and The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises because it's just got a million variants of major exercises included, which can be helpful for modifying and keeping boredom at bay. There are some better-respected books out there, too, but they tend to lean heavily on a pretty fit starting state, and access to really extensive collections of equipment. YouTube is also super helpful to find videos on correct form and further modifications for stuff that's still a little too hard.

Again, this is just my limited understanding from a novice perspective. I feel like I'm getting to the point where I won't be able to make consistent progress for much longer without investing in a lot more equipment (or finally dragging myself into the beautiful, state of the art fitness center to which I have access through my job), and some expert advice would probably do me a lot of good. So over the summer, I'm hoping to transition to a gym-based workout with some help from a personal trainer. So far, though, it's been all me, making it up as I go (with some research to back it up.)