Andrea Metcalf is a 27 year veteran personal trainer, pilates teacher, and coach who specializes in creating healthy lifestyle programs for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. She has worked with Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons, and has several well reviewed DVDs targeted to the boomer market. I have admired Metcalf's work for many years, and was excited to take a look at her new book, Naked Fitness, which touts itself as "The proven 28 day lifestyle program for a slimmer, fitter, pain free body".
According to Metcalf, Naked Fitness is not about looking great naked, but about
stripping away stuff like unhealthy, toxic habits, negative thinking, cravings, lack of time to exercise, emotional overeating, people who sabotage you, poor self-esteem and body image, and one of the biggest obstacles of all: stress. With these factors managed or out of your life completely, you are guaranteed to lose weight and keep it off. Plus, you'll boost your "naked confidence," a love-your-body attitude that will improve your life as a whole.
At first look I was a bit taken aback by the fact that the book is a hardcover priced at $25.95, with the Kindle version selling for over $12. Most health and fitness books are released as less expensive and easier to use paperbacks, which make them more accessible. In my first flip through I also noticed that there are very few photos, that the exercise photos that are there are black and white and small, and while Pilates is rarely mentioned Metcalf offers "walk-ilates", "friend-ilates", and even "paw-ilates" as exercise categories. Also, Metcalf claims early on that, "The key difference between my program and others is that we work on and correct postural alignment." At this point in time I cannot name a decent fitness program that doesn't have this focus.
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