Gina Kolata’s book talks to masters
Like many masters, I eat up any advice on how to get faster and stronger. Now I’ve finished a book that does something better than build biceps — it tones your thinking about training. “Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth About Exercise and Health” is a stunner. Written by W55 science reporter Gina Kolata of The New York Times, it potentially ranks with “Silent Spring” and “The Feminine Mystique” as a cultural milestone. All because she asks some simple questions about exercise and fitness. The answers are the shockers.
Having traveled the country to interview leading sports scientists, Kolata — a fitness addict herself who favors Spinning (stationary bike riding) and weight lifting — tells us “fat-burning zones” on treadmills are bogus, “220 minus your age” maximum heart rates are guesswork-gone-hokum, endorphins ain’t what runner’s high is all about, spot-reducing is bunk, fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles aren’t etched in stone and fitness trainers are rarely as well-trained as they make out. (Their training focuses on selling, it turns out.) And a ton more.
One of the better reviews appeared in The Boston Globe, in which Rich Barlow writes:
If fitness is a religion, then Kolata’s bible makes clear one of its inviolable commandments: Thou shalt be wary of hucksters. Fitness crazes have come and gone since the time of the ancient Greeks, and as with any activity on which people can make a buck, the exercise industry has always seen outright frauds and well-meaning quacks who are too careless about scientifically corroborating their claims.
Another thoughtful review, by the Houston Chronicle’s Nora Seton asks:
Given that Kolata is destroying the scaffolding of our fitness routines, what now? Do we have to go from machine to machine on our lonely own? Should we be on those machines at all? Is your body genetically designed to sprint or to run? How should we train to maximize our health and minimize our waistlines?
This misses the point. There’s plenty of good science to help guide you. But it’s better to know how to spot quackery first, so you can exercise smart instead of according to the latest “guaranteed or your money back!” fad.
Some masters may be dismayed to learn an ugly truth about training — it doesn’t work for some people. Genetics (as the M90s tell us) dictate a lot of what you can accomplish in athletics. Kolata and her mostly academic-oriented scientists say you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
But if your body has some athletic potential, the only true way to draw it out is by intense exercise. None of this namby-pamby stuff. That part of the book isn’t new. But it serves as an important counterweight to all those get-quick-fast regimens we’ve seen.
Still, the overall effect of “Ultimate Fitness” is as a consciousness-raiser. It will cause you to rethink your training and goals. But rationally, at least.
Finally, the book suggests an ultimate truth about training — it better be fun, or fuhgettaboutit. Masters already know that, too.
