Kris.'s Full Review: Bill Phillips et al - Body for Life: 12 Weeks to M...
Body For Life outlines a sensible diet and exercise program. It begins with stories from people who have completed the program, and then outlines the diet and exercise strategies that were used to achieve their goals. The book concludes with more motivational articles and resources to help you track your progress.
Motivation/Success Stories
A good portion of this book is devoted to the stories of the people who have won the Body For Life challenge. This first section is intended to motivate people to begin the Body For Life program. I know people who love the stories and the motivation they provide; others have said they are like listening to the overexcited participants in an infomercial. If you enjoy these stories, great. If not, you won't miss any important information if you choose to skip over them.
Overcoming Myths
Even if you are not interested in following the program, this book is worth buying for the "Separating Myth From Fact" chapter. There are so many books on the market filled with pseudo-scientific jargon and poorly interpreted facts, that it is nearly impossible to avoid basing some aspect of your fitness plan on misinformation.
If you have tried many programs and they never seem to work, perhaps you believe in a fitness myth. Believe that women get bulky and manly if they lift heavy weights? Weightlifting won't help you lose weight? In order to lose fat, you should severely restrict what you eat? The more exercise, the better? If you said yes to these questions, you should read this book.
The Diet
Portions are emphasized, not counting calories. You eat six meals a day. A meal consists of one portion of protein and one portion of carbohydrates. In addition, you add a vegetable to two of the meals. The number of foods on the food list are limited, and I suggest finding additional sources (websites, etc) that list other foods you can substitute safely. Vegetarians will probably have a hard time eating enough protein unless they use protein supplements.
Once a week you are allowed a cheat day to eat whatever you want. Being allowed to give into your cravings makes this plan more more workable than some of the other diet programs.
The Exercise Program
You must be willing to exercise regularly in order to use the Body For Life plan. You perform vigorous cardio exercises three times a week, for twenty minutes each session. This increases your aerobic fitness and burns calories.
You also lift weights three days a week (for about 45 minutes per session). The book provides descriptions and pictures of exercises, but in my opinion it could have gone into more detail about how many exercises to pick for each body part and what order to perform them in. The book does not stress the importance of form or mention how to identify injuries (as opposed to normal post-workout muscle soreness). If you do not know much about weights, you may want to let a knowledgeable person look over your workout plans before you begin.
Workout And Diet Logs
The book includes diet and workout logs to help you track your progress. If you notice that your progress is slowing, you can look back on these records and evaluate what changes you have made that are impeding your progress.
Wasn’t this book written by a supplement company?
The author is also the founder of the EAS supplement company. Before I read the book, I thought that it may have been written to push their supplements. As it turns out there are only a few references to supplementation (mainly Myoplex shakes as a source of protein). You are not required to use any supplements on this plan, and it does not even mention several common supplements like creatine or ECA stacks. If I had to breakdown the book, I would say it’s 50% information, 49% motivation, and only 1% devoted to pushing EAS products.
Conclusion
This book is easy to read, and simple to understand. It is a straightforward no-gimmick plan to get fit and healthy.
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