The 30-Minute Fitness Solution : A Four-Step Plan For Women of All Ages

Regardless of her age or current physical condition, a woman can improve her physical and mental health by planning and sticking to a workable fitness program. According to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report, 30 minutes of daily moderate exercise plus two (again, moderate) sessions of muscle strengthening exercises each week will do the trick. Common sense? Absolutely. Unfortunately, many women believe they have neither the time nor the tools to follow this plan. As of 2001, 80 percent of all illness, disability, and death among women in the United States still results from heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes--each of which is associated with physical inactivity and poor diet. The 30-Minute Fitness Solution aims to teach the inactive female how to find time for herself, set reasonable fitness goals, reach them, and improve her well-being using four simple steps: planning, proceeding, recording, and rewarding.

Written by Harvard Medical School Professor of Medicine JoAnn Manson, M.D., and fitness specialist Patricia Amend, this primer seems best suited for the mature, beginning exerciser (who'd rather not own a book titled Fitness for Dummies). Early chapters help readers develop a snapshot of their current physical condition, and explain the short- and long-term benefits associated with exercise. Plenty of charts, work pages, questionnaires, and illustrations help readers tailor activities to their own lifestyle, monitor their progress, and build on their success. Sample weekly workout plans, a no-surprises chapter on nutrition (eat less sugar, more vegetables and fruit), and a fact lover's chapter titled "The Scientific Case for Physical Activity" nicely uphold this book's valuable mantra: moderation, consistency, no excuses. --Liane Thomas