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Title: Ultimate Fitness : The Quest for Truth About Exercise and Health by Gina Kolata ISBN: 0-312-42322-5 Publisher: Picador Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.92 (37 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great material but needs to be more accessible
Comment: I workout regulary and have done a fair amount of reading on fitness. Books
on weight lifting are a dime a dozen, but there is little on the book shelves about
cardio. That's were this book comes in. Ms. Kolata addresses many important
questions, such as:
Where did the '220 minus your age' formula come from and does it make any sense?
Why is 'fat burning zone' and 'cardio zone' pasted on every piece of gym equipment?
Does weight lifting raise your metabolism?
How intense do you need to exercise?
etc...
The total list of such questions is probably more then 20. My only serious complaint about the book is that it lacks a good summary. The ideal last chapter of this book would be to list each issue addressed and a paragraph summary. As it is you'll need to keep a highlighter close by.
This book will also be informative for anyone not versed in double blind studies
or the scientific method. Repeatedly she discusses the pros and cons of academic
studies, highlighting the rigor required to create an effective study and contrasting it with the lack of evidence behind many fitness myths.
There's been a lot of discussion here about Ms. Kolata's enthusiasm for Spinning. Ok, so she's addicted to intense workouts. It does not detract from her serious research, including sitings of many academic journal articles which are all referenced in the bibliography. Skim past the fluff and you'll find a lot of good information here.
Rating: 2
Summary: Too much personal information
Comment: As a physical fitness addict, I bought this book hoping to read about like-minded sorts who love to work out because it makes us feel and look better. Well, after reading it through, it's a decidedly mixed bag, and asks more questions than it answers. Basically, most really fit people know that in order to look good past the age of 35, you have to exercise vigorously and constantly. There are no shortcuts once you reach the dreaded middle age. The people you see on exercise infomercials with the ripped abs and huge biceps are taking steroids. The sleeker, toned look comes from diet and having a personal trainer. People with a good, fit figure, work very hard at it, and make it their top priority in life. Tyhe infomercials that tell you, "just four minutes a day to a better body" are lying.
My main criticism with Kolata is that she wastes a great deal of time on her own experience with "spinning" on a stationary bike. I like the stationary bike as much as anyone, but intricate details of her life on one is not my cup of tea. Another weakness is that Kolata doesn't explore aerobic experience completely, she sort of dismisses long distance running as a "fad from the 70's," which is a very curious statement in a book supposed to be about fitness. Her sections on strength training also contain some dubious information.
Ultimately, the formula for fitness is one that few can achieve because hardly anyone has the time to exercise strenuously 20 hours a week. If you do this, you can pretty much pig out on what you like and laugh at the people stuck on the hideous Atkins diet, stuffing themselves with unhealthy garbage like bacon, steaks and red meat. I really wanted to like this book, but came away disappointed.
Rating: 3
Summary: Basic info & history - but no revelations - why "ultimate"?
Comment: This is a good history of exercise in the United States and discussion of basic information on fitness. The author has investigated the more commonly held myths about fitness and written out her findings clearly. However, I was disappointed that there is much more history (at least 2/3 of the book) than real news about exercise. Most of the myths explored in this book have been "debunked" by others before; the knowledge is not new if you've done any ready about fitness at all since 1990. (The only thing new I learned, in fact, is that studies have proven that different people's bodies respond differently to exercise - and that approximately 1% do not respond AT ALL. Yikes!) Overall, this is a good book, just not as "ultimate" as I was led to expect.
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Title: The Female Athlete's Body Book : How to Prevent and Treat Sports Injuries in Women and Girls by Gloria Beim, Ruth Winter ISBN: 0071411755 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 02 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp ISBN: 1582432252 Publisher: Counterpoint Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Big Questions: How Philosophy Can Change Your Life by Lou Marinoff ISBN: 1582342539 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 16 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser ISBN: 0618380604 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 05 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: To the Extreme: Alternative Sports, Inside and Out (Suny Series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations) by Robert E. Rinehart, Synthia Sydnor ISBN: 0791456668 Publisher: State University of New York Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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