Books by author: Bill Phillips

I have been on a health kick since January, 2003. I've lost 18 pounds and increased my strength through a combination of diet (everything in moderation except for trans- and saturated-fats, which are minimized, and fiber and unsaturated fat, which are increased) and exercise (weight lifting and aerobic, for a total of about 3-4 hours per week). I've read a total of six books on fitness and strength training, including this one. I picked it up after reading the glowing review in Cool Tools.

Body for Life is a motivational guide as much as or more so than an exercise guide, and Phillips spends the bulk of the book trying to "psyche up" the reader. I won't comment on how successful he is at that undertaking, since I pretty much ignored those parts. When he finally starts talking about exercise and diet, I started paying close attention. And I was pleased to see that nearly everything he proposes is consistent with what I've learned from the other exercise books I've read — it may even improve upon them slightly (specifically, Phillips's program is simple ).

The Body for Life program boils down to six workouts per week: three 45-minute weight-training sessions intermingled with three 20-minute aerobic sessions. All of the workouts are based on interval training, which I have not done much of previously, and which Phillips suggests is one of the keys to getting good results. To complement the workouts, Phillips recommends a fairly sensible and very simple diet plan, consisting of six small-ish meals per day, each made up of one serving of protein and one serving of carbohydrates, plus a couple of additional veggie servings inserted whenever. All of this makes good nutritional sense, and I expect that it probably does lead to decreased body fat and increased strength when combined with a fairly aggressive workout program.

On the down side, Phillips is a little too quick to recommend his company's "nutrition" shakes as a meal replacement. I'm sure they are fine, but they are quite expensive, and I bet he's making a killing off of them.

I'll be following the 12 week program starting in a few days. I'll let you know how it goes.