Jump start your fitness routine in the New Year
REVIEWS BY DEANNA LARSON
Each January, people across America vow to get into better shape, then beat themselves up when they fail to maintain their resolutions. The latest fitness books work with this tendency, stressing quicker, more efficient workouts that boost willpower for life-changing results.
Those needing a bit of boot camp will like the style of personal trainer Bob Greene, the magician behind Oprah's smaller shape.
Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover: An Accelerated Program of Exer-cise
and Nutrition for Maximum Results in Minimum Time doesn't sugarcoat the get-moving message.
"Taking responsibility might simply mean that you admit that you've been lazy and have chosen the easy way out every time," Greene writes. Echoing the latest trend in weight loss, his 12-week program starts with the emotional and mental cornerstones of successful change including willingness, responsibility and commitment. A traditional daily strength-training and aerobic program follows, with detailed floor exercises, weight-machine alternatives and pictures to guide good form. Chapters on the "five eating rules" and detailed analysis of popular diets, plus charts for weekly goals, target heart rate and other number-crunching features, are also included. Those who love to keep score—and those aiming for dramatic long-term results—might find Greene's supportive but no-nonsense approach just the ticket.
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Move it and lose it
Lean, Long & Strong is one of the best new entries in the fitness category, allowing resolution-makers to get the
bodies they dream about. The six-week program of 12-minute resistance workouts by personal trainer
Wini Linguvic, co-author of the best-selling BodyChange, combines yoga and Pilates, two trendy exercise methods, with strength training to keep interest high and accelerate results. Basic, intermediate and express workouts using a mat, exercise ball and dumbbells are clearly illustrated. A tinted box along the bottom of each page has tips on breathing and form, making it easy to move correctly. Linguvic also provides a guide to a "precision cardio" workout to maximize results in 60 minutes a week, and helps readers build their own custom program for fat blasting, core body work, or a focus on lower or upper body. A nutrition program that involves keeping a food journal (one of the biggest predictors of successful weight loss), and training log pages are also included in this beautifully designed book that banishes boredom, and body trouble spots, from women's vocabulary.
Chris Freytag, ShopNBC's fitness expert and personal trainer, knows that busy families hardly have a minute to
spare. Move to Lose is her fitness guide founded on the theory that short spurts of effort over the course of a day—the time that many parents spend in the carpool line, for example—can make a big difference in energy and stress levels while modeling good behavior for kids. Freytag starts by outlining the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle, including a particularly helpful section on feeding families and what to do when your five-year-old has a tantrum in the cereal aisle. Her simple, illustrated cardio/strength-training program involves walking outdoors or on a treadmill with fun cross-training options, and a time-efficient, Pilates-inspired core body workout that uses dumbbells, resistance bands and an exercise ball to increase strength. Yoga stretches and sample charts for a "realistic regimen" round out this useful guide for those who are just too busy to get into shape.
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Exercise for everyone
Another cheerleader for the cheap and simple workout is Leslie Sansone. Her zeal for walking—an easy exercise
suitable for any age, shape or budget—practically lifts couch potatoes off their sofas
in Walk Away the Pounds. Sansone, creator of In-Home Walking and 48 highly popular fitness videos, now presents the first written game plan to her six-week program for burning fat, toning muscles and elevating mood. Basic walking steps and strength training moves are illustrated along with tips for choosing shoes and getting started. Daily Walk Log pages present each day's walking assignment, with space to jot notes about the session and a pep talk from Sansone to keep motivation high. For those who prefer video demonstrations, Sansone provides viewing suggestions to match the training goals of the week. Excellent sections on eating right, de-stressing and walking as an older adult and during or after pregnancy are also included. Sansone recommends a delay in dieting until the "high" from regular exercise brings about healthier eating habits naturally, making this book perfect for brain resistance training, too.
While thousands of diet and exercise experts claim to have "the answer," Harley Pasternak really does have a
catchy and worthwhile concept
in Five-Factor Fitness: The Diet and Fitness Secret of Hollywood's A-List. Pasternak, who has a master's degree in exercise physiology and nutritional sciences from the University of Toronto, developed the simple, sensible "five" concept to work within anyone's typical week, based on five meals a day and five intense but short cardio/strength training workouts. His nutrition advice favors quality proteins and low-to-moderate glycemic index foods (forget net carbs); daily meal plans, eating tips and easy five-ingredient recipes are included. His illustrated workouts require dumbbells, which Pasternak considers superior to gym machines, a bench and some amount of discipline, if only for five minutes at a time. But the book's succinct approach and fresh facts (one orange juice or coffee drink per day can add 38 pounds to your frame each year; whey beats meat and eggs as quality protein) make getting in shape in five weeks seem straightforward and manageable—surely the point of fitness books after all.
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Deanna Larson is a writer in Nashville.
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