Who is this guy?
| Jamie Hale is Sports Conditioning Coach, author, gym owner, fitness and nutrition consultant. He has contributed to numerous exercise and sports publications (nationally and internationally). He has authored six books. Jamie is a member of the World Marital Arts Hall of Fame in recognition of his conditioning work with Martial Artists. He is considered by most in the fitness industry as a specialist in agility and comprehensive fitness training. He is also known for his ability to get bodybuilders lean and dry as bone for competition. To learn more abut Jamie visit his website at www.maxcondition.com |
What is this product and what it claim?
| The key message with this book is don’t be afraid to question authority and conduct your own research. Realize the only true authority in science is science itself. Approach fitness and nutrition with an open mind and realize the majority of information you have probably been exposed to is mis-leading and in some cases deceitful. Keep up to date with the current research. Don’t be afraid to debate your beliefs. Never judge an individuals exercise and nutrition knowledge by their degrees, certificates, physique, or athletic ability, but by their passion, ability to explain and willingness to debate their beliefs and proclamations. Not many of the “so-called” fitness experts are willing to debate their statements when challenged. If you are not willing to debate your statements with formidable opponents you shouldn’t be making those statements. |
Where can I get it and how much does it cost?
Review:
Layout\Format
Paperback, weighing in at around 450 pages. There is very little white space. There are no pictures or charts. Text is clear and appropriately sized. The book is broken down into two main sections (diet and exercise) with 9 chapters total.
Chapter 1: Basic Nutrition
As the title suggests, this chapter goes over the basic workings of the “diet”. This is a protein, calorie, the way you digest things and so on.
Chapter 2: Popular Diets: The Science
This chapter is largely a reprint of another work which discusses several popular diets and the scientific communities research\opinions of.
Chapter 3: Bodybuilder’s Nutritional Roundtable
Have you ever read a blog posting\article concerning a roundtable discussion? This is that discussion.
Chapter 4: Hormones
Briefly discusses different hormones that come into play concerning body mass regulation\digestion.
Chapter 5: Nutrition: Fact of Fiction
A FAQ (frequently asked questions) of all things dietary in nature.
Chapter 6: Muscular Bioenergetic Pathways and Fiber Types
Similar to the nutrition 101 chapter. This is the first chapter of the 2nd half of the book dedicated to exercise. This covers terms of musculature physiology.
Chapter 7: Kinesiology and Biomechanics
A brief glance as how your body moves. Think movement planes and joint actions.
Chapter 8: Training for Skeletal Muscle Growth
Serves as a 101 for terminology concerning training itself. This is what load is, frequency, work. This is what happens when you exercise.
Chapter: 9 Exercise, Fact or Fiction
A FAQ of all things exercise related.
Commentary:
This is an interesting piece. On one hand the editing on this book is horrible. I mean horrible. Holy crap, it’s painfully horrible. There are two main sections of the book (diet and exercise)…which is fine. But then there’s essentially two more subdivisions which are the FAQ portions and what I like to refer to as “that other stuff”. Here’s where it sort of goes to poo. You read “the other stuff” first. For the most part we’re talking small chapters that are fairly concise…no biggie. Then you read the FAQ portion…ok…wait a second. There’s significant repeat information. Word for word repeat information. Half a page of the same information what was in one part of the book ends up being on at least one other page. You get over that and you just can’t help but notice inconsistencies with the formatting. Some of the mini-topics are covered over several pages and categories, while others get a two sentence blurb. I personally don’t care as a reader which format the author wants to use, but stick to the plan. It’s this disjointed approach that really hurts the over all package. The FAQ portions of the book are the meat and potato’s and do a fairly good job at being a stand alone product. The individual discussions per question are generally small, but made up for with sheer volume. The information is solid and highly applicable to the novice weekend warrior\gym goer. “The other” portions of the book are a little more hodge podge. The information tends to be OK, just not really put in there in a comprehensible way concerning the entire package. I really think that the author could (read as should) have focused on the FAQ portions of the book making them consistent and fleshed out and just shit canned the rest of the “other stuff”. The other stuff is fine in theory, but it’s basic information that you can (and do) get in every other resource on the planet.
Over all the book delivers on what it claims to do, especially considering that it doesn’t really claim to do much of anything other than encourage the reader to question. The book offers a wide variety of information that would be valuable to those newer to the exercise scene. For those that have been around the block a little while the information may be a little too concise combined with it just being difficult to read makes it difficult to recommend.
