Cheap Gold Medal Fitness: A Revolutionary 5-Week Program

I bought this book even though I am a man and a senior citizen because I admire Dara Torres and also because I heard her talk about her approach to dynamic stretching. If you are serious about your fitness this is an excellent book that covers all the areas - stretching, diet, strength, cardio fitness, and active rest and recovery. Also I like her perspective as a person who has been successful in overcoming the challenges of competing at a world-class level although twice the age of many of her fellow competitors.

As I write this the only other reviewer gives the book one star, essentially for two reasons. First the reviewer says you need access to a gym, a cable system and a partner to make use of the book. Second the reviewer claims the five week timeframe shown on the cover is misleading because the program will take 15 weeks to complete. Regarding the first criticism, while some of the exercises require equipment not all do - many of the stretches require nothing more than your own body. In addition, one should ask where fitness ranks among your priorities - is joining a gym all that difficult for most people who take fitness seriously? YMCA's are everywhere and not all that expensive. In addition, Dara mentions inexpensive equipment such as a BOSU and resistance bands. I belong to a gym and also have a BOSU and resistance bands at home. This is not expensive or exotic equipment. I was in a gas station convenience store last week and I noticed cigarettes cost $50 a carton - now that's expensive, not to mention they will kill you.

Regarding the five week time frame, I have a couple of points. First Dara says she picked five weeks because she thinks it will take the average person about five weeks to LEARN the exercises. This is not a "five weeks and you're done" program, rather like any sensible fitness project it is a life long journey. In addition the book actually has three five week programs which you can perform depending on your motivation and goals. Finally, I think all but the most naive buyers understand all books come with a certain amount of marketing hype, which is probably why whoever designed the cover put the five week timeframe on it. I'll bet you Dara would be the first to stress that her advice is very much about the long term, not a miracle quickie fix.

I use a Kindle for a lot of my reading, but I decided to get the paper copy of Gold Medal Fitness even though it does come in a Kindle version. I did this because I use exercise books as references and I have found the Kindle not so good if you want to refer to certain sections over and over again. Plus pictures and how-to diagrams don't show up well on the Kindle.

I am a 66 year old life long exerciser and former collegiate gymnast who currently teaches resistance band and balance exercises to older Americans. I have read and own a lot of exercise books. I believe this book will be a valuable addition to my knowledge about fitness training and my own personal training program.Get more detail about Gold Medal Fitness: A Revolutionary 5-Week Program.