Book Review: Fitter Faster by Robert J. Davis

FITTER FASTER
The Smart Way to Get in Shape in Just Minutes A Day

By: Robert J. Davis with Brad Kolowich, Jr

Published: May 11, 2017

Publisher: AMACOM

Non-Fiction/Health/Fitness

Davis, an award-winning health journalist, and Kolowich, a Certified Personal Trainer whose clients include well-known actors and athletes, have joined together to create this no-nonsense approach to exercise. They take the excuses out of working out and debunk some common exercise myths to get readers motivated to get in shape in just fifteen minutes a day.

The four sections of the book deal with motivation, knowledge, eating, and the actual workouts. The book never talks “over my head” and offers a simple approach to making the time for fitness in our already overly scheduled days. Who doesn’t have fifteen minutes a day to devote to themselves?

One tip that stood out to me while reading included the motivation behind “loss-aversion”. As much as we love receiving a reward, we hate losing that reward even more. A study showed participants kept their goal more if they were rewarded at the beginning of the month and would lose parts of that reward for not following through. Rather than waiting til the end of the month to receive your reward, give it to yourself to start with and if you don’t meet your goals, the dress, the money, the vacation or whatever your reward is, is returned or canceled.

Throughout the book, there are personal stories of client’s fitness journeys. Readers will be able to find someone that they can identify with from either gender and many age groups. I found Leigh’s story of being exhausted from work and finding yoga helped her cope with daily challenges in her job as well as offering calm and strength to her body. The flexibility tests in the book were eye-opening to me and just reaffirmed my need to incorporate yoga into my daily routine.

The brief section on supplements and food offer just the highlights and some solid advice on what to avoid, what to watch out for in the ingredient list, and what you may want to add to your daily diet. Even though “The Eight Eating Rules” weren’t anything new, they are still a good reminder for what to focus on when you are starting a new health and fitness plan.

Finally, the book ends with the actual workouts. Each workout has a photo and description of how it should be done. The workouts include beginner levels and advanced levels with a 7-day workout plan. I appreciated that all of the workouts use your own body weight, dumbbells, or furniture, all things I can do in my own home.

I felt like this who book was easy to understand and could realistically be incorporated into a daily routine. The workouts don’t take a lot of time or space and could be done either in the morning or after work. Whether you are looking to live longer, improve your heart health, cut your cancer risk, become more flexible, or boost your brain power or mood, this book offers an ideal approach to fitting in quality workouts in a short amount of time.

Robert J. Davis – source

Robert J. Davis, Ph.D. is an award-winning health journalist whose work has appeared on CNN, PBS, WebMD, and in The Wall Street Journal. The president of Everwell, he hosts its popular myth-busting “Healthy Skeptic” videos. A graduate of Princeton University, he holds a master’s degree in public health from Emory and a Ph.D. in health policy from Brandeis University, where he was a Pew Foundation Fellow.

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