Pros: Clearly relates exercise to biochemistry.
Explains why some exercises are better for certain goals.
Cons: Some may find his style offensive or over-bearing.
The Bottom Line: No get-fit quick schemes here. Just basic sound advice on how to make the most of your exercise time with basic explanations of biochemistry to illustrate his points.
Why I bought this book
I bought this book because it was recommended in a fitness magazine as being one of the best fitness books of the decade. I had it in my Amazon shopping cart for a while and then I happened to find the softcover on sale for $8.40 at a Crown Books stores, so I jumped on it.
Why this book is different
I've read a lot about diet and exercise and after a while it all starts to sound the same, but Mr. Bailey's book tackles the subject of exercise in a more in-depth manner. He doesn't just tell you that low-intensity full-body exercise is good for burning fat. He explains why in a convincing, somewhat scientific manner and the explanation goes beyond the standard stuff you tend to see in magazines. And it's not just about burning fat either. He explains your body's three energy systems and what are the best ways to work out so that you can improve your aerobic fitness or how to train your short-term energy system for sprinting, etc... I thought it was great that he didn't just lump it all together and call it "metabolism". Beware that there is some discussion of biochemistry -- so you will see references to scary-sounding terms like the Krebs cycle, glucose, lactic acid, pyruvic acid, ATP, and triglycerides. However, he doesn't go into horrible, boring detail about these subjects and he uses analogies to make the subject easy to grasp. I almost wanted a little more in-depth treatment of these areas, but then that depends on what you're interested in. Don't worry -- it's not super-complicated. He doesn't go through all the steps of the Krebs cycle for instance. He gives you enough to illustrate the points and to show that he knows what he's talking about. When you're done reading, you know WHY interval training is a good idea and whether swimming or walking is more appropriate for your fitness goals.
Some minor caveats
Some might find his cute humor style annoying. For instance, he talks a lot about making you a "better butter burner". And he sometimes makes up silly stories that are not true to illustrate a point. Some people might be bothered by his lack of political correctness. He is quite liberal in his use of the word "fat people". He is pretty consistent in calling them "fat" rather than "unfit". Not being into political correctness, I found this amusing rather than offensive.
Price
I got the softcover for $8.40 at Crown Books. This was an even better deal than Amazon. The reason is that Crown Books is going out of business and so their stores are offering nice discounts on books.
The bottom line
In short, this is an excellent book if you want to know how to best spend your exercise time to meet your goals.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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