Here’s a just-published book that makes an ideal gift, or for anyone looking to get back on the fitness track. The author is Bill Katovsky, who is the same guy that’s been writing all of the RailRiders catalog copy and doing all our interviews and profiles. His book begins on this ominous note: “I had once been a multisport athlete regularly drawn to the addictive rush of endorphins—triathlon, trail running, swimming from Alcatraz, adventure racing, kayaking, backpacking, biking. Then my athletic world collapsed. I didn’t break a sweat for nearly a decade. One Christmas morning, I decided to go jogging. Gasping, lurching, and rubbery legged, I went a hundred yards before stopping. There was no more gas in my tank. I was forty-nine years old. Yet someday I wanted to run up Mount Tam– 6.5 miles straight uphill.”
Katovsky was a two-time Hawaii Ironman finisher, someone who bicycled solo across the U.S., an endurance athlete who competed in a three-day race mountain bike race across Costa Rica. But through a series of misfortunes, including depression, losing his dog, death in his family, and debilitating health problems, Katovsky went from being a multisport junkie to complete couch potato. How he fought his way back to fitness is not only a riveting, brutally honest, and ultimately inspiring story, it is also a hands-on guide to help anyone reclaim health and well-being. The book is packed with other return-to-fitness success stories and interviews with coaches and experts, including a former NASA astronaut who spent five months on a Russian space station but returned to earth feeling like an old, bedridden invalid; and the exercise physiologist who tested Lance Armstrong in his lab for seven years.
By the way, he does end up running a half-marathon to cap his triumphant return to fitness. But not just any 13.1-mile race. Instead, he ran up Mt. Tam, drank half a can of Coke at the 2,500-foot summit and then ran back home.
So, here’s 10 fitness and health facts found in this important new book:
1. Dieting without exercise leads to an increase in body fat and even more weight gain once the dieting ends.
2. An active overweight person is healthier and lives longer than an inactive, skinny person.
3. You can not spot-reduce belly fat (something the weight-loss and ab-gizmo infomercials won’t tell you); and why the “plank” is better than situps or crunches for strengthening the core.
4. Exercise can lessen stress and curb depression with no side-effects, unlike taking anti-depressants.
5. There is no scientific or medical evidence that body detoxification or all-juice fasting is either healthy or safe.
6. Most running injuries are caused by the overly built-up running shoe that forces runners to land on their heel, not middle of the foot.
7. It’s cheaper to pay as you go at the gym, and not buy a monthly or annual membership; gym members attend on average only four times a month!
8. The best thing for a muscle or joint injury is not bed rest, but physical activity!
9. Who is the queen of Hollywood workouts? Answer: Renee Zellweger who swims, practices yoga, jogs up to five miles several times a week, and regularly hits the gym with circuit training.
10. The best measurement of body fitness is not the bathroom scale, since fat weighs less than muscle, but waist size.
Go here to buy the book.
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