Fitness For Dummies: Amazon.ca: Inc. Wiley Publishing, Suzanne Schlosberg: Books

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The original Fitness for Dummies, published in 1996, was a real breakthrough: a book that took a reader through all the fitness basics without being offputtingly complicated or insultingly simplistic. This second edition only improves on that tough balancing act.

The authors are two of the most experienced fitness writers in the business--Suzanne Schlosberg is a longtime contributor to Shape and Liz Neporent is a veteran personal trainer, corporate fitness consultant, and contributor to Shape and The New York Times. In addition to being experienced at explaining exercise, they're both exercise junkies, and their firsthand knowledge and love of the topic is evident throughout.

Each section of the book--whether dealing with basic fitness issues, cardiovascular training, strength training, flexibility, joining a gym, or exercising at home--offers a combination of well-researched, easily understandable information, combined with informed opinion. For example, in chapters discussing exercise equipment, they're able to offer personal reactions to the gear--mentioning that Life Fitness makes great exercise bikes but a treadmill they don't care for.

New information in this second edition includes "100 Reasons to Break a Sweat," featuring the latest research on exercise benefits; sections incorporating Internet fitness resources; and beefed-up exercise-video advice. That latter section includes tips about avoiding rip-offs (older videos are sometimes repackaged, with new covers promising different benefits) and a handy guide to choosing the best video instructors for different fitness levels.

The core information, though, is the best reason to buy this edition of Fitness for Dummies. Exercise science is complicated, but this book makes it as simple--and entertaining--as it can possibly be. --Lou Schuler --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"This is the most comprehensive and entertaining fitness book I've ever seen." -- Sharon Cohen, Executive Editor, Men's Fitness Magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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If you're reading this chapter, you've decided to get fit. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Warning! This book is not for everyone!, Jan 11 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fitness For Dummies, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Usually the 'For Dummies' series books are geared for just about anyone interested in the topic. From complete beginners to experts who need a good reference book, most of these books are an invaluable resource. But not this book!

I honestly liked most of the exercise tips and techniques (although the stretching section has A LOT to be desired), but this manuscript should have never been accepting for publication. There is too much politics where none is needed. I think this was just another vehicle for their own exercise/political agenda! An example:

PAGE 38 "As with your goals, you can get pretty creative with your rewards. We know a guy who asked a friend to hold $500 for him. If he reached his goal of lising 25 pounds, he'd get the money back and buy new clothes. If he didn't reach his goal, the money would become a charitable contribution to the Young Republicans. Considering that this guy made Jesse Jackson look like Jesse Helms, this was a very good incentive, indeed. The guy lost his 25 pounds."

Nice anecdote. Funny. But only in moderation. This book is full of items like this. No variation of the anecdotes either. They all are of political in nature and slanted the same way. It gets old and not necessary. By itself, the "indeed" makes you think that it was a good incentive, and they are agreeing with the incentive part, but after seeing the same thing over again, the "indeed" took on a new meaning, to saying that avoiding giving money to the Young Republicans was laudible.

A lot of examples are directed for teenage female althetes too. I can understand wanting to push athletics to a young female audience, but seeing the same thing over again is repetitive.

The book should not have been published by 'For Dummies' and marketed to everyone.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best beginner fitness book., July 12 2002

By

Anderson Mills - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fitness For Dummies, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I've read several beginner fitness books and I feel this is the most complete and best organized of them all. This has gotten me motivated and started on the right fitness program for me (I've since confirmed with a personal trainer). Honest and accurate fitness information is laid out in an easily understood way (without any questionable product endorsements). No "summary" style book is going to have everything, but they have enough information that you feel like everything else is fine tuning.

To address the concerns of another reviewer, the 2nd edition of this book does discuss common fitness injuries.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not the best book on fitness., Oct 14 2011

By

R. Boksh (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fitness For Dummies (Paperback)

I'm not a huge fan of the Dummies series, and this book is a perfect example of why. When I picked up this book, I wanted to learn a lot about fitness and how I, myself, can create a great workout routine for my fitness goals and needs. However, the author truly treats the reader as a dummy. Although the authors do a good job of explaining certain concepts, they do not go into enough detail to actually design a thorough workout routine for yourself - and they constantly advise the reader to get a personal trainer in almost every single section of the book. Why would I buy this book if I didn't want to learn the science behind fitness to create a workout routine for myself? They even have a whole chapter on how to find a personal trainer.

Another reason why I didn't like this book is because they really skimped out on the weight training section and would constantly refer to their other book, "Weight Training for Dummies" for more information. No thanks - I don't want to read another book telling me I have to hire a personal trainer to design a workout for me.

Also, I think that photos on correct form would have helped this book out a lot more and would have increased my rating by another star. It was hard at some points to visualize what the authors were talking about during some of the weight training exercises.

Another point I have to make - the jokes and anecdotes in this book make the authors sound very unprofessional, which is why I have a stronger preference for "The Complete Idiot's Guide" series - which has a more professional tone to it. The reason why I chose this book (Fitness for Dummies) over Complete Idiot Guide Fitness was because the edition of this book was just released whereas "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fitness" was released 10 years ago. But maybe I should have gone with the other.

Don't get me wrong - there is a lot of good information in this book (I did give it 3 stars out of 5), but the tone of the book (and the constant nagging to get a personal trainer) really hurts the credibility of the authors... and destroys the empowering feeling of being able to learn enough information to create your own workout routine from scratch.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's Get Moving!
If you've been rather inactive in the recent past, this book will help you to get moving. It not only helped me to plan a well-rounded fitness program, but it really helped me to... Read more

Published on April 26 2002 by Carlos Quijano Jr.

3.0 out of 5 stars Idiots 4, Dummies 3
I need an intro book on fitness that covers all the basis well, and in the bookstore it quickly came down to the Dummies book vs. the Idiots. Read more

Published on Mar 28 2002 by Chia-heng Yao