Bill Katovsky was a two-time Hawaii Ironman finisher, a guy 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. He stopped working out. For almost ten years! By the time he hit fifty, he decided it was time for a change. 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. Katovsky supplements his personal story with those of others successfully making a return to fitness—an astronaut who spent five months in space; a former Wall Street trader who lost seventy-five pounds and became Hawaii’s Fittest CEO; a retired two-time world-champion Hawaii Ironman triathlete with a bum hip that needed replacing, a Yosemite park employee who broke her spine in a hiking accident and is now back on the trails; and a sixty-something business educator who’s had six heart bypasses but still backpacks and goes to the gym. With the advice of personal trainers, fitness experts, and multisport coaches, Katovsky offers a wealth of useful information, including: · Diet and nutrition—what you need to know for a healthy body· How aging, body fat, and motivation affect physical and mental health; and why exercise is good for depression· Successfully building a proper aerobic and strength base –workouts you can do at home!· Tips for injury prevention – from avoiding overtraining to why stretching isn’t recommended· Learning the right way to run and getting back on the bike 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.
