ACSM's Complete Guide to Fitness & Health

by American College of Sports Medicine (Contributor), Barbara Ann Bushman (Contributor)

Revised edition of: Complete guide to fitness & health / Barbara Bushman, editor (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, c2011).

Genres: Nonfiction, Fitness, Health, Science, Self Help

ebook

First published May 13, 2011

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so much great information and pictures. I like the charts throughout the book and know they will be helpful to me on my weight loss journey. You gave excellent information on so many topics such as exercise safety to supplement use. I will keep this book handy as a reference and appreciate the great descriptions of resistance weight machines as I use these at my local gym. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in weight loss with health issues such as arthritis as there is so much info to help do exercises in a safe manor. There also is so much info on food nutrition and it is easy for a lay person to understand. I feel this book could even benefit those that already have a solid exercise regimen also.
Thank you GoodReads.com and Barbara Bushman for this great book ! It will stay on my coffee table to use regularly.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an extremely valuable resource to understand what the current science recommends for optimal exercise and physical fitness. It also has some good nutrition recommendations, although I think reading other more detailed books on nutrition can add a lot to what is presented here (such as How Not to Die by Michael Greger, among others). The recommendations in this book were really helpful for me as I was in the process of designing and implementing a personal weekly exercise routine as I was reading the book.

Overall, this book was an excellent addition to my self-education in nutrition, health, and physical fitness.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books on nutrition and fitness but this book easily surpasses the rest. The information is concise, backed up by research and easy to understand. I was shocked to learn some stretching exercises I have been taught since a young age may actually be straining to certain muscles :o

Any beginner who is new to nutrition and fitness would find this easy to read and understand. Unlike other books, it does not have many technical jargons or quotes of journal articles which could have seemed daunting. Great reference book for the different life stages too!

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for anyone looking to assess and improve their fitness. It contains many photographs, charts, graphs, and tables providing step by step instructions and detailed nutrition information. There are various guides for the reader to test their fitness in different areas (aerobic, strength, flexibility, neuromotor)and for specialized for different age groups and chronic diseases. Definitely worth a $25 price.

[Max Lybbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Guide summarizes current belief and offers advice on wide-ranging health-related topics. I read it largely to create an exercise program, and I was happy to also get advice on nutrition, heart disease, hypertension, etc.

The book is engaging and has little editorializing. Additionally, it includes several references to related organizations, current studies, other books, etc. for people interested in more detail.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read on physical fitness

I highly recommend this book. The information is based on the latest scientific research instead of some fad. The only exercise book many of us will ever need (until the next edition.)

[Hesham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to hit the Gym so bad :(

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read, really useful if you want to improve your health and have a better understandement of fitness.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC

[Lisa Eagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best resources for health and fitness guidance

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would consider this to be a very basic, but complete introduction to proactive health. It's good for establishing baselines and giving you a set of facts from which to build healthy habits. Of course, it is based on science and not some the opinions of some "guru," and they have inline citations so you can go to the source for more information on any particular claim. They discuss genetic risks, but the primary focus is on what you can do to influence your health. They don't make any promises--instead, they report the facts based on studies of Americans, and they make it clear when the jury is still out on a particular topic. Only in a couple of cases did I see undue attribution of a particular cause to an effect (where they suggested causation when only correlation is known). The photos in the book use real people, dressed normally, that I would expect to see at the gym or in public, which is a nice contrast to the muscly figures you'll find on the average fitness website. I expect to use this as a reference in the future, especially as it has chapters on major health concerns for Americans that may come up in the future.