Whether you exercise to stay healthy or are a serious athlete in training, this book is a must-have reference book. It's the best book I've ever seen in answering the "practical" fitness questions you've ever wondered about in deciding how to exercise. If you're going to be spending hundreds or even thousands of hours in training, this book will help make sure you're not wasting it. It's organized in a practical way, and you can easily jump from question to question without needing to read each page that came before it. This makes it a good reference to come back to as you continue to change your workout routines over time.
While the book consults with sports doctors, physiologists and other experts, what's unique about it is that the author has looked for scientific studies which can help prove or disprove the conventional wisdom you hear in the gym. Though the author was a former competitive athlete, he leans more heavily on his PhD background to help you understand what scientific studies have shown about the best way to exercise. This helps you to cut through the marketing hype and locker room folklore so you can decide how best to exercise for what you want to accomplish. And, where the science isn't conclusive, he tells you that, which I like. I've already found two or three improvements in how I would exercise.
So what does the book cover? Well, just about every exercise question I've ever wondered about and a few dozen more. And there are as many topics for the serious athlete as there are for the casual exerciser so this would make a good reference for both. Good ones that come up for people often:
- Is running on a treadmill better or worse than running outside?
- Do I need strength training if I just want to be lean and fit? (or also: Why should I do cardio if I just want to build my muscles?)
- Does listening to music or watching TV help or hurt my workout?
- What are the benefits of yoga for physical fitness?
- To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more?
- Will running on hard surfaces increase my risk of injuries?
- Do I need extra protein to build muscle?
Good ones for more serious athletes:
- Should I carbo-load by eating pasta the night before a competition?
- What is lactate threshold and should I have mine tested?
- What should I do with wobble boards and exercise balls?
- Is there any benefit in deliberately training with low energy stores?
- How should I adjust my training in the final days before a competition?
- Should I be taking probiotics?
With 270 pages of material, I can't list everything I found interesting but my wife is already bugging me to take the book after I'm done so I'm quite happy with the purchase.
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Top reviews from other countries
MikeHotel
High quality information presented in a very good Q&A format
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 4, 2015
Charly Pazdor
Great Book about the science of Exercise
Reviewed in Canada on August 21, 2013