Understanding Fitness - (Praeger Contemporary Health and Living) by Julie Silver & Christopher Morin (Hardcover)

About the Book

We've all heard the mantra, exercise for good health. In fact, exercise, or lack of it, may be the most important factor in avoiding, or surviving and recovering from, the top three killers across developed countries--heart disease, cancer, and stroke. But few of us understand exactly how different forms of exercise work--physiologically speaking--to keep us healthy and prevent or treat disease. Here, two nationally known exercise experts lead a stellar team explaining, in reader-friendly terms, what exercise does to our bodies and how it spurs beneficial biological actions.

Book Synopsis

We've all heard the mantra, exercise for good health. In fact, exercise, or lack of it, may be the most important factor in avoiding, or surviving and recovering from, the top three killers across developed countries--heart disease, cancer, and stroke. But few of us understand exactly how different forms of exercise work--physiologically speaking--to keep us healthy and prevent or treat disease. Here, two nationally known exercise experts lead a stellar team explaining, in reader-friendly terms, what exercise does to our bodies and how it spurs beneficial biological actions.

Review Quotes

"Editors Silver (Harvard Medical School) and Morin (founder, American Fitness Testing Association) have assembled an impressive cadre of writers for this title in The Praeger Series on Contemporary Health and Living. This volume will be a necessary text for schools with programs in sports medicine, athletic training, premedicine, and physical therapy. It starts with an excellent, detailed overview of the history of exercise in health. . . . Understanding Fitness fills a significant gap for readers in general concerning how exercise improves health. . . . Essential." --Choice

"If you want to know how different types of exercise really work physiologically to keep us healthy and prevent or treat disease, then Understanding Fitness has the answers. Two nationally known exercise experts, Dr. Julie K. Silver and Christopher Morin, and a team of contributors explain in reader-friendly terms what specific exercises and sports do to our bodies. Exercises for specific conditions from arthritis to cancer and fibromyalgia also are detailed. One tidbit: Golfers who walk the full 18 holes of a course meet the recommendation to accumulate 10,000 steps per day. Some walk more than four miles." --The Indianapolis Star

"In total there are fourteen high quality articles full of medical data and case studies going into one direction wherein various exercises, sport or otherwise physical activities are linked up with better protection against pulmonary, digestive, diabetics, arthritis and other allied diseases. Most useful article is about the correlation of exercise and healing of type-b diabetes. These articles are indeed unique in its research content as previously diabetes has always been associated with other factors than with exercise. The book is written for general public as well as from for medical and exercise experts. Based on modern day research, the book is good for people of all ages young and old, and it will especially help those who are in the process of healing from major diseases." --Metapsychology Online Review

About the Author

Julie K. Silver, M.D., is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Medical Director of the International Rehabilitation Center for Polio. She is a board-certified physiatrist and a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She is also Series Editor for two Praeger series, The Praeger Series on Contemporary Health and Living, and The Praeger Series on Healing and Managing Injury and Disease.

Christopher Morin is Founder of the American Fitness Testing Association and owner of a personal training center in Southborough, Massachusetts. He is a former bodybuilder who won 10 titles including Mr. Eastern USA, New England Bodybuilding Champion, and Natural Atlantic Coast Champion. The holder of a master's degree in health and fitness education, Morin has been trainer, nutritionist, and coach to amateur and professional athletes including 40 regional bodybuilding champions, two national champions, and one three-time world champion.