Fitter Faster
Fitter Faster, The Smart Way to Get in Shape in Just Minutes A Day, by Robert J. Davis, AMACOM, 2017
I play tennis three times a week, isn't that enough?
I get really tired at the end of the day and then I hit the Twinkie machine.
I hate gyms.
I like to walk.
My doctor told me to reduce my cholesterol.
She also told me my sugar is too high.
I don't have time.
I'm too tired after work.
Gym rats look funny.
My cancer surgeon told me that fat creates estrogen, which fuels cancer cells. arg. Lose it!
Sounds familiar? Until you get to that particular, special point in your life - and you know you will - where you finally admit, "Hey, I'm getting older. I don't like the odds. Maybe there is something I can do?"
It's an individual decision. But what this book Fitter Faster does is offer possibilities - ways to bring strength training, cardio and stretching into your life, not all at the same time! And without hiring a few thousand dollars of fitness trainers, although that's not such a bad idea too, along with the great photos in the book.
I like to skim through self-improvement books to the critical chapter summaries and the photos, leaving the detailed descriptions for later. If this is the way you do these books, skip to Chapter 10, The Workout, scan the photos, and then start on page 143, which is a 7-day Fitter Faster program overview, a cheat sheet.
Day 1 starts with the Strength Circuit 1, eight exercises targeting chest, back arms, shoulders, legs and core. This takes 15 - 20 minutes total.
Day 2, HIIT (High intensity interval training) calls for 15 - 20 minutes of high-intensity intervals lasting from 15 seconds to 1 minute - interval training sounds easy but it's tough.
Day 3, Conventional Cardio, 10 minutes worth, is an "easy day", even for the 35 minutes total.
Day 4, Strength Circuit 2 - here we go again, 15 - 20 minutes total of HII. arg.
Day 5 - HIIT Plymetrics - this is a new one for me, 8 - 10 exercises, each for for 30 seconds, 15 minutes total.
Day 6, Your Choice!!!!
Day 7 REST!
So we're really talking about 6 days, not 7, and these exercises are progressive and mostly take 15 minutes, as the book title promised.
As a veteran of the Livestrong program for cancer people, I can say that any structured, measurable program has great appeal to my disciplined approach to life. Some days it's great, and some days it's just an achievement to, as our fitness counselor reminded me, "get to the gym." Fitter Faster is just that sort of a rigorous, performance-oriented plan. It may take some iterations to hit the rhythm and to find the inviolate execution time, but just the great photos are a worth the money.
Patricia E. Moody
FORTUNE magazine "Pioneering Woman in Mfg"
IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert
A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers, https://sites.google.com/site/blueheronjournal/, tricia@patriciaemoody.com, patriciaemoody@gmail.com, pemoody@aol.com
