Ultimate Fitness, Gina Kolata
Ultimate Fitness, Gina Kolata
List: $10.99 | Sale: $7.70
Club: $5.49

Ultimate Fitness
The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise

Author: Gina Kolata

Narrator: Gina Kolata

Abridged: 3 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2003


Synopsis

The bestselling science reporter from The New York Times tells us what works and what doesn't when we work out

Ultimate Fitness is Gina Kolata's compelling journey into the world of American physical fitness over the past thirty years. It is a funny, eye-opening, brow-sweating investigation into fads, fiction, and the science and hucksterism of fitness training.

From the early days of jogging, championed by Jim Fixx--who later died of a heart attack--to stretching, cycling, aerobics, and Spinning, Kolata questions such popular notions as the "fat burning zone," "spot reducing," the effects of food on performance, how much exercise helps build fitness, and the difference between exercise to help the heart and exercise to change the body. She explains the science of physical fitness and the objective evidence behind commonly accepted prescriptions. Along the way she profiles researchers and mavericks who have challenged conventional wisdom, marketed their inventions, and sometimes bucked criticism only to back down from their original claims.

Ultimate Fitness spotlights the machines and machinations of the fitness industry, exposes the charlatans and gurus, and cuts through the marketing and hype not only to assess what is healthy, but also to understand what our obsession with staying healthy says about American culture today.

About Gina Kolata

Gina Kolata is a science reporter for The New York Times and the author of Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It, Clone: The Road to Dolly, and Sex in America. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lp on August 08, 2007

This book is fine when it comes to the historical information. But when she goes all gee-whiz-how-fit-I-and-my-fabulous-husband are, she loses me. I don't care about your spinning class, Gina!......more

Goodreads review by Rochelle on December 18, 2016

I found this book to be boring through most of it. Very dry, historical recountings of the history of various aspects of fitness. It lacked flow and personality (unlike another science writer, Mary Roach). That being said, there were aspects of the book that really challenged my perspective on the f......more

Goodreads review by Alon on November 09, 2023

Very informative and thought-provoking.......more

Goodreads review by Victoria on August 24, 2021

I felt misled, I thought this was a scientific book, but it was a lot of stories that seemed to go on for ages with a little bit of science at the end. Just read the last chapter and the references.......more

Goodreads review by James Person on March 12, 2023

Refreshing A refreshing look at exercise from the viewpoint of an investigative reporter, not someone with a new gimmick, diet, or program to sell......more


Quotes

“This accessible, informative and personal memoir about fitness...touches on a range of fitness and health issues over the decades.... Most of all, she conveys her personal enthusiasm and the way it makes her feel more alive. Put this one in your CD, and you will start moving.” —USA Today