Joe X: Rethinking Physical Fitness for Adults
by Avery Hunicutt
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Book Summary Information
Author: Avery HunicuttEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-01
ISBN: 0977002403
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Ten Rivers Publishing
Book Reviews of Joe X: Rethinking Physical Fitness for Adults
Book Review: Fascinating, motivating
Summary: 5 Stars
I really appreciate how this book doesn't try and sell me something. I don't recall a single product endorsement or celebrity name-drop anywhere on the outside or inside. My impression is the author is sincerely trying to help his readers, period. This is so unusual for a fitness or diet book these days it's almost stunning. The closest to a product endorsement there is, the author thinks motorized treadmills are good (I agree). Don't be fooled though, even the brand name of the one mentioned in the story is make-believe...I checked.
The book includes a detailed description of an exercise routine along with supporting charts and tables, but this information is more of an appendix. It's a little cryptic in places but not bad. The bulk of the book is a fictional story like no other, certainly not any self-help book I've ever read. The only way I can think to describe it is it's like Clive Cussler and James Patterson collaborated to rewrite Who Moved My Cheese, if you can imagine that! It reads very quickly and almost every chapter tends to have multiple levels of meaning. It seems even the book title has a double entendre. It's physical fitness for adults all right, but not in the chronological sense. It means to stop being manipulated by slick health and fitness salesmanship, and start thinking for ourselves and seeing the obvious.
An awful lot of life-wisdom is packed into a few pages. (Along the way you might learn who the person was on the grassy knoll that day in Dallas!) In case the reader misses any key points, the story concludes with an explicit listing of the important principles and recommendations to achieve life-long fitness. For example, one of the key principles introduced in the very beginning of the story is, almost Confucius-like, "take as long as possible to reach your fitness goals." This is so contrary to the typical sales pitch that it tends to shock the reader into wanting to learn more. (The reason this might be good advice is based on how our minds respond to moving towards a goal versus achievement and maintaining a goal. The fundamental premise of Joe X is that life-long physical fitness is a mental challenge, not a physical challenge.)
As for the fitness workout itself, I read or at least skim through about every book on the topic I come across, and the Joe X workout is both innovative and fundamentally sound at the same time. It combines warm-up, resistance exercise with dumbbells, aerobic, and stretching into a 37 minute daily routine. It's designed to be low impact and combines the best of both Eastern and Western lessons learned, that's the intent anyway. It's also very tightly scripted to leverage how our minds work to keep us motivated over the long haul, something most workout programs ignore (unless you look forward to 60 years of incessant preaching and loud music). A lot of people are going to like this part: its designed to eliminate the need for psyching yourself up or being in an adrenaline rush to do your workout, something the author believes in the long run is counter productive (think yoga). The author isn't wedded to particular exercises. He stresses that effective principles are more important than the specific exercises.
While the workout routine is both gender and age neutral, because of the story content, Joe X seems to target men and women in their 40s or older, even much older. (It's never made clear how old the elusive and enigmatic Joe X is, but from the clues dropped he must be at least 80!)
If you are particularly vain, anorexic, or way overweight and defensive about it, you might not care for this book, but I do recommend you read it. If you are a serious body-builder or athlete, this book isn't intended for you. If you like a lot of glossy photos of buff success stories, don't buy this book as there aren't any. If you believe in being physically fit but periodically get sick and tired of working out all the time (my category), you'll love this book. And if the last time you pulled on some gym shorts was 20 years ago, Joe X looks like a great way to get moving again.
I've only just read the book and haven't started doing the workout. Plan to start next week and then report back in a month or two with an update. -SJB
Summary of Joe X: Rethinking Physical Fitness for Adults
This will undoubtedly be the most surprising and unusual book you have ever read on the subject of physical fitness. It will challenge your assumptions and turn your thinking upside down. The book begins with a concise review of humanity?s five thousand year quest for health, fitness, and longevity. With the benefit of this perspective, what have been our true best practices? (Hint: proper breathing, form, and range of motion are important; gallons of sweat are not). It ends by detailing an eminently practical and low-impact exercise routine for people of all ages and fitness levels. In between is an entertaining, often humorous, occasionally tragic ?fitness fable? that readers will quickly identify with, particularly baby-boomers. Refreshingly absent are the mind numbing case histories, lame before-and-after photos, product line pitches, and self-promotion that fill so much of the genre. The dominant theme is that physical fitness is a mental challenge, not a physical challenge. The leveraging of the psychological aspect of life-long fitness is what especially sets Joe X apart from the rest of the field. Joe X is a fast, enjoyable read, packed with both timeless wisdom and poignant advice. Its content can be put to practice immediately. A gem of a book, you?ll want to share it with loved ones, friends, and colleagues.Diets Books
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