The year that just ended was a rare one for me. After the two New Rules of Lifting books came out in paperback 12 months ago, I didn’t have any new titles to promote. So I thought I’d take a look at some of the best books written and published by other people in 2009.

The cavalcade of caveats:

1. Most of these books were sent to me by authors or publishers, although I did buy a few of them. I’ve been getting free books and DVDs for as long as I’ve been writing about exercise and fitness. That’s just the way it works. A lot of the books I receive aren’t even the final version that’s sold to consumers. I’ll get an uncorrected galley, meaning it’s filled with typos and sometimes doesn’t even have the real photos or charts. Believe me, those books aren’t fun to read, and getting them free isn’t much of a perk.

The biggest news last week, judging by the reaction on Internet strength-training forums, is Mike Boyle's attack on conventional squats, particularly the part where he looks right into the camera and says, "Don't do conventional squats anymore."

Doesn't get any less ambiguous than that.

Boyle's rationale is that the weak link in squatting is the lower back, which he says is a poor transducer of power. The muscles of the legs are worked better in a split stance, where the back is less of a limiting factor. His preferred lower-body exercise is the rear-foot-elevated split squat, or RFESS. Most of us know it as the Bulgarian split squat.