Peak Performance Fitness: Maximizing Your Fitness Potential Without Injury or Strain.

Peak Performance Fitness: Maximizing Your Fitness Potential Without Injury or Strain Rhodes J. Alameda, CA 94501, Hunter House Inc, 2000, paperback, 148 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-89793-296-X, $14.95.

Today, more than ever, there is a plethora of books, magazines, videotapes, and infomercials on exercise. Average consumers who are interested in starting or improving their exercise programs may have difficulty choosing which expert, athlete, or celebrity spokesperson on whom they can rely for information. Peak Performance Fitness is an excellent text for people looking for an accurate, clear, and concise guide to exercising safely and thoroughly while maximizing their fitness potential. It integrates medicine and fitness in an easy-to-read format. The author is a licensed physical therapist, a certified personal trainer, and an aerobics instructor with an eclectic approach that emphasizes results and personal responsibility. She encourages the reader to exercise for health and better functioning, not for aesthetics.

The book contains 13 short chapters; the first 12 chapters are paired so that one chapter explains a "problem" and the second chapter presents the "solution." Topics include healthy alignment, low back pain, knee pain, neck and shoulder injuries, flexibility, and cardiovascular exercise. In chapter 13, the author shows the reader how to incorporate this information into an exercise routine. The book concludes with appendixes containing a bibliography, postural evaluation sheets, personal inventory sheets, an exercise log, and a resource list for further study. The author attempted to select exercises that can be done at home and that do not require equipment other than ordinary household items or inexpensive adjustable cuff weights. She explains the logic and science behind her approach in a clear and nontechnical manner. The text is enhanced by excellent illustrations of anatomy and photographs of the author performing each exercise. Highlighted sidebars discuss various topics such as why seated knee extensions are harmful, socks, and spot reduction.

The material in this book is intended to provide a safe, effective exercise program, and, on a basic level, it is mostly successful. On a technical level, some of the exercises are of questionable safety (eg, chair dips with hips anterior rather than posterior to the shoulder) and effectiveness (eg, supine straight leg raise). Moreover, opinions are presented as facts (eg, short hamstrings predispose an individual to a herniated disk, orthoses reduce all patello-femoral problems through improved knee alignment). Nevertheless, the information presented is significantly more accurate and safe than the majority of exercise/fitness texts and videos.

Physical therapists without a strong orthopedic or sports medicine background and people who work in the physical fitness field will find the book useful as a reference. This book is an excellent, comprehensive guide for people starting or improving their exercise program.

Gerry Van Dyke, PT, ATC, SCS
California Orthopedic and Sports Therapy
(COAST) Rehabilitation Services Inc
Aptos, Calif

Mr Van Dyke is the owner of COAST Rehabilitation Services, which provides physical therapy and athletic training services to professional, collegiate, and high school athletes.