At face value this book seems to have it all. As it asks on the cover, “Are you ready to take charge of your HEALTH and FITNESS?” Body of Knowledge promises to give the reader the tools to lose abdominal fat permanently; slim down quickly for an event; lose substantial amounts of weight safely; achieve better health, fitness, and longevity; and for those who are too thin healthily boost their size, strength, and vitality. And it promises to give us an easy to understand and follow mechanism for achieving these goals.
When I received the book it seemed, well, awfully small to contain so much information in a clearly presented way. And I wondered at the background of the author, who is a podiatrist who played college football for a year, has worked as a certified personal trainer, and exercises himself. While I do see that a podiatrist would see many patients with problems due to weakness and obesity, I did wonder how this made him a wellness expert.
But, I am a former philosophy professor who is a recognized health and fitness expert, so I put my preconceptions to the side and dove in. The first thing I noticed is that the reason why the book is small is that most of the information is contained on the BOK website, so having internet access is required for really understanding and following this program. The second thing I noticed was a sense of disorganization, with lots of sidebars and inserts, along with sample programs, and formulas for figuring out how much to eat, how often to eat, how much to exercise, and how often to exercise.
The programs are difficult to follow, even for a fitness expert like me. For example, there are NINE exercise plans (of which only one appears in the book) using terms that are not commonly known such as “switch training”. The meal plans are even tougher; meals are broken down in terms of percentage of daily calories and a carb:protein:fat ratio. It seems to me that most people simply want to be told what they should eat, in what quantities. That’s why Weight Watchers does so well. Just tell people how many servings of fruits, veggies, etc. they should have in a day and let them go. I don’t want to have to do complex mathematics every time I put something in my mouth.
Article comments
1 - Todd29
Diets and diet aids do not help anyone. The only way to successfully lose weight and get the body that you want is by using the right information. This information can be found in the book Lose Weight Using Four Easy Steps [edited] Everyone who has gotten a copy of this book is now healthier.