Now which one should I start with? I have the New Rules of Lifting, the New Rules of Lifting for Women and the New Rules of Lifting for Life.

I m not a complete novice to lifting, I've been doing BodyPump for a year (with some periods away from it due to injury and vacation periods). I've never used machines. I am 42 years old, but in good health with just working on the last stubborn fat.

So which one? I couldn't tell at the library which one would be best as they all three seem to be Ok. Are they redundant? On Amazon I get the feeling that many people own all the books that have come out in this series!

Definitely the New Rules for Life.

One of the nice things about these books is that Lou and Alwyn do a great job of incorporating new research and new thinking about weight training into each of the new programs. There is quite a bit of change between the original NROL and Life that reflects new developments in the field.

I'm currently doing NROLFW and it's the only one I've read so I don't really have enough information to answer your question. (For what it's worth, I love it. Love!) But, just to further complicate matters, I just wanted to mention that some material from the original NROL has changed and apparently significantly enough to justify releasing a new version called New Rules of Lifting Supercharged on December 27th. In light of that, I would suggest starting with NROLFW or NROLFL.