Books by author: Suzanne Schlosberg

This is the fitness book I was looking for. The authors do a great job of explaining why you need to do things a certain way, and they do it with a sense of humor that is never obnoxious. I now have a much better understanding of how often I can work on various muscle groups, why I shouldn't neglect any of them, and how to structure my own workout program.

I fail to see why (other than marketing concerns) this book couldn't be combined with Fitness for Dummies as a single volume. There are only about 20 pages worth of material in that book that are really useful, but which are not already covered in this one. I'm thinking in particular of the alternate way to compute the target heart-rate zone for aerobic exercise (one that makes better sense for people with high resting heart rates). That addition would take only one paragraph.

Reading this book has caused me to reduce my rating of 8 Minutes in the Morning. Now that I know more about exercise, I can see that Cruise's program has some deficiencies that I'll correct in my own workouts. For example, his exercises only target each muscle group once each week; to make real changes, you need to exercise each group twice each week. I like the idea of short workouts in the morning, and Cruise's program has got me in the habit of working out regularly, but that alone is not going to get me the results I want very efficiently.

A solid overview of how to get fit, which boils down to: do weight training four times a week, and get aerobic exercise at least that many times. And don't forget to stretch when you're done. Okay, I'm being a bit facile because I didn't learn very much from this book. I will be making some changes to my workout plan after I finish the 28 day program from 8 Minutes in the Morning, but they'll be based on a book that focuses on weight training.

As of this writing, I'm 6.5 weeks into my aerobic program, and 18 days into the 28-day weight training program. I've already lost ten pounds and brought my body fat down to 18.5%, which was my original goal; my modified goal is to lose another five pounds, and to get my body fat down to 16%. I should be able to get there in a month or two if I don't give up.