"What Can I Do to Maximize My Performance?" Active-Isolated Strength Training is a remarkably easy and effective way to tone up, lose weight, rehabilitate from an injury, reshape a sagging waistline, regain lost vitality, or build muscles. Using the Active-Isolated technique, introduced in The Whartons' Stretch Book ("Athletes rave about the program by this father-son team"--USA Today), you'll learn how to create a personal training program backed by sound scientific principles and specifically tailored to your specific fitness goals and favorite sports. You'll discover: Step-by-step instructions and clear illustrations for thirty-five simple exercises tailored to work specific muscle groups The seven myths of strength training (forget going for the burn!) How to make your own no-cost/low-cost home gym Workout prescriptions for more than fifty sports and activities, from running, swimming, and cycling to keyboarding and heavy lifting And much, much more! Most weight-training programs are built around exercises that work as much muscle as possible, thus building the most strength in the least amount of time. But the Whartons believe the exact opposite approach is the most beneficial. They believe you should work your body one small group of muscles at a time. In that sense, The Whartons' Strength Book takes the exact same tack as their very popular Stretch Book . Will the Strength Book become as much of a fitness-bookshelf staple? Maybe, but the two books appeal to different ends of the fitness spectrum. Whereas the Whartons' ideas about flexibility seem to be most useful and popular with high-performance athletes, their strength-training theories seem most suited to beginners and recreational athletes. Maybe they really do train this way themselves, and maybe they really use these methods on the professional athletes who pay for their services, but one has to doubt that many serious gym-goers will want to do specialized exercises for tiny muscles in their wrists and ankles, and will want to do a bunch of exercises for lower-body muscles that one move--the squat--can work all at once. That said, most people who exercise will find something to like here. The beginning of the book is chock-full of useful tips for working out in your home without expensive equipment (for example, they note that a gallon jug of milk weighs 8.78 pounds; with two of those, you've got a decent set of dumbbells). Most people will be able to use at least a few of the 35 exercises illustrated. And anyone who enjoys sports--watching or playing--will be entertained by the Whartons' witty comments about training for specific activities. They note, for example, that hockey originated with bored shepherds strapping broken animal bones onto their feet. "Although the sport has evolved since those early days," they write, "one thing remains constant: broken bones." --Lou Schuler "The Whartons' Strength Book can serve as a personal trainer in a unique system of working individual muscles to attain not only greater strength but also improved general health. Having worked with the Whartons, I consider them uniquely qualified as teachers of this method."                           --Andrew Weil, M.D an I Do to Maximize My Performance?" Active-Isolated Strength Training is a remarkably easy and effective way to tone up, lose weight, rehabilitate from an injury, reshape a sagging waistline, regain lost vitality, or build muscles. Using the Active-Isolated technique, introduced in The Whartons' Stretch Book ("Athletes rave about the program by this father-son team"--USA Today), you'll learn how to create a personal training program backed by sound scientific principles and specifically tailored to your specific fitness goals and favorite sports. You'll discover: Step-by-step instructions and clear illustrations for thirty-five simple exercises tailored to work specific muscle groups The seven myths of strength training (forget going for the burn!) How to make your own no-cost/low-cost home gym Workout prescriptions for more than fifty sports and activities, from running, swimming, and cycling to ke "The Whartons' Strength Book can serve as a personal trainer in a unique system of working individual muscles to attain not only greater strength but also improved general health. Having worked with the Whartons, I consider them uniquely qualified as teachers of this method." --Andrew Weil, M.D Jim Wharton , an exercise physiologist known as "The Mechanic" for his ability to fine-tune athletes, and his son, Phil Wharton , a sports therapist and competitive long-distance runner, are president and vice president of Maximum Performance International in New York City. The Whartons have trained and rehabilitated athletic luminaries from pro- fessional football players to dancers on the Broadway stage, track and field stars, and Olympic gold medalists. Their revolutionary Active-Isolated techniques are practiced in fitness cente