front cover of The 30-Minute Fitness Solution
The 30-Minute Fitness Solution
A Four-Step Plan for Women of All Ages
JoAnn Manson, M.D. and Patricia Amend, M.A.
Harvard University Press, 2001

Just 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise--even walking--can save your life. This is the powerful message that Dr. JoAnn Manson--of the lead investigators of both the Women's Health Initiative and the Nurses' Health Study--and her coauthor Patricia Amend want to send to American women.

Regardless of the barriers you may face--too busy, too tired, too "down," or too old--with this four-step practical plan you'll find the excuses falling away and a happier, healthier self emerging. This book offers not only state-of-the-art information from recent medical research but step-by-step instructions on how to get started and maintain a physically active lifestyle. The authors will help you choose a "core" activity that doesn't disrupt your daily life. Then they will show you how to measure your fitness level at the start, how to monitor your progress over time, and how to reward yourself for your efforts. These four simple steps to fitness will work no matter who you are--25 or 75, harried mother or overworked professional (or both), in good health or living with a chronic disease.

The authors have included a clearly illustrated program of stretching and strength-training exercises; sensible activities for women with health concerns; an intelligent weight-loss plan; guidelines for selecting home exercise equipment and choosing a health club; and much more. With over 100 illustrations, questionnaires, and checklists, this book has everything you need to feel good, look better, and live longer, starting today--it's all just 30 minutes away.

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50 of the Best Snowshoe Trails Around Lake Tahoe
Mike White
University of Nevada Press, 2018
Come winter, Lake Tahoe’s trails, mountains, and shores shed their hikers and transform under a white blanket of snow into a serene winter wonderland. From towering snowy vistas, frozen subalpine lakes, lofty summits, and beautiful tree canopies, Lake Tahoe is one of America’s favorite winter playgrounds—with some of the most beautiful and invigorating views in the world.
50 of the Best Snowshoe Trails Around Tahoe offers snowshoers of all levels and experience a wide-range of excursions—from flat and easy to steep and strenuous.  It includes a wide range of snowshoe routes such as Mt. Rose, Carson Pass, Emerald Bay, Fallen Leaf Lake, Highway 89, Truckee and Donner Pass. Features include:
  • Fifty distinct routes with directions to trailheads, detailed trip descriptions, and topographic maps
  • Forty-five stunning photographs of popular trails, landscapes, and lake views
  • Easy-to-read headings to provide key information on trail difficulty, distance, elevation, avalanche risk, facilities, managing agencies, highlights, lowlights, and more.
  • A wide-range of outings for snowshoers of all abilities
  • Recommendations on where to grab a hot drink, enjoy a hearty meal, or to snuggle up for a cozy overnight stay
  • Tips on everything from proper clothing and footwear, equipment checklists, pre-hike warm-ups, sanitation, dog-friendly trails, and permit requirements
 
Whether you are an amateur explorer or a winter adventure enthusiast, this comprehensive guidebook has everything you need to explore the winter playgrounds surrounding Lake Tahoe.
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Dads, Kids, and Fitness
A Father's Guide to Family Health
Marsiglio, William
Rutgers University Press, 2016
Now more than ever, American dads act as hands-on caregivers who are devoted to keeping themselves and their families healthy. Yet, men are also disproportionately likely to neglect their own health care, diets, and exercise routines—bad habits that they risk passing on to their children. 
 
In Dads, Kids, and Fitness, William Marsiglio challenges dads to become more health-conscious in how they live and raise their children. His conclusions are drawn not only from his revealing interviews with a diverse sample of dads and pediatric healthcare professionals, but also from his own unique personal experiences—as a teenage father who, thirty-one years later, became a later-life dad to a second son. Marsiglio’s research highlights the value of treating dads as central players in what he calls the social health matrix, which can serve both healthy children and those with special needs. He also outlines how schools, healthcare facilities, religious groups, and other organizations can help dads make a positive imprint on their families’ health, fitness, and well-being.  
 
Anchored in compelling life stories of joy, tragedy, and resilience, Dads, Kids, and Fitness extends and deepens public conversation about health at a pivotal historical moment. Its progressive message breathes new life into discussions about fathering, manhood, and health.
 
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Dancing for Their Lives
The Pursuit of Meaningful Aging in Urban China
Claudia Huang
Rutgers University Press
Dancing for their Lives explores the vibrant world of retired Chinese women known as "dancing grannies” who seek fulfillment and companionship amidst societal upheaval. These women, part of China’s “lost generation,” gather in parks and public squares to reclaim their lives through dance in the wake of Chinese economic and cultural transformations. The book challenges prevailing narratives of aging societies, portraying old age as a site of social innovation rather than decline. Based ethnographic research conducted in Chengdu, China, Dancing for their Lives reveals how retirees learn to navigate shifting social norms and values while actively creating new models for growing older. The book’s insights resonate beyond Chinese society, offering lessons on resilience and the pursuit of meaning in any aging population. Dancing for their Lives underscores the human capacity to craft purposeful lives amid uncertainty, transcending geographical boundaries to illuminate the universal quest for fulfillment in later years.
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Fit Nation
The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
University of Chicago Press, 2022
How is it that Americans are more obsessed with exercise than ever, and yet also unhealthier? Fit Nation explains how we got here and imagines how we might create a more inclusive, stronger future.

If a shared American creed still exists, it’s a belief that exercise is integral to a life well lived. A century ago, working out was the activity of a strange subculture, but today, it’s almost impossible to avoid exhortations to exercise: Walk 5K to cure cancer! Awaken your inner sex kitten at pole-dancing class! Sweat like (or even with) a celebrity in spin class! Exercise is everywhere.

Yet the United States is hardly a “fit nation.” Only 20 percent of Americans work out consistently, over half of gym members don’t even use the facilities they pay for, and fewer than 30 percent of high school students get an hour of exercise a day. So how did fitness become both inescapable and inaccessible?

Spanning more than a century of American history, Fit Nation answers these questions and more through original interviews, archival research, and a rich cultural narrative. As a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is uniquely qualified to confront the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape. She explores the work of working out not just as consumers have experienced it, but as it was created by performers, physical educators, trainers, instructors, and many others.

For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core, making it truly inclusive for all bodies in a way it has never been. Examining venues from the stage of the World’s Fair and Muscle Beach to fat farms, feminist health clinics, radical and evangelical college campuses, yoga retreats, gleaming health clubs, school gymnasiums, and many more, Fit Nation is a revealing history that shows fitness to be not just a matter of physical health but of what it means to be an American.
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Glimpses into My Own Black Box
An Exercise in Self-Deconstruction
George W. Stocking
University of Wisconsin Press, 2010

George W. Stocking, Jr., has spent a professional lifetime exploring the history of anthropology, and his findings have shaped anthropologists’ understanding of their field for two generations. Through his meticulous research, Stocking has shown how such forces as politics, race, institutional affiliations, and personal relationships have influenced the discipline from its beginnings. In this autobiography, he turns his attention to a subject closer to home but no less challenging. Looking into his own “black box,” he dissects his upbringing, his politics, even his motivations in writing about himself. The result is a book systematically, at times brutally, self-questioning.
    An interesting question, Stocking says, is one that arouses just the right amount of anxiety. But that very anxiety may be the ultimate source of Stocking’s remarkable intellectual energy and output. In the first two sections of the book, he traces the intersecting vectors of his professional and personal lives. The book concludes with a coda, “Octogenarian Afterthoughts,” that offers glimpses of his life after retirement, when advancing age, cancer, and depression changed the tenor of his reflections about both his life and his work.
    This book is the twelfth and final volume of the influential History of Anthropology series.

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Heal Your Heart
How You Can Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease
Gould, K. Lance
Rutgers University Press, 2000
In Heal Your Heart, Dr. K. Lance Gould’s goals are better survival and improved health through the prevention and reversal of heart and vascular disease. His program provides practical, do-it-yourself steps and explores options beyond traditional invasive medical procedures for more definitive solutions. Designed for the general reader, Heal Your Heart can be used by anyone. Scientific information and practical guidelines are presented in simple, full-color illustrations, summary graphs or tables with brief, nontechnical text that incorporate the most recent medical knowledge. Dr. Gould introduces readers to new non-invasive medical imaging technologies such as cardiac PET that may potentially provide early diagnoses for people who may be at risk. Dr. Gould demonstrates how patients and physicians can work together to conquer one of the relentless causes of disability and death. He outlines what questions to ask medical staff and how to manage your own reversal program including your doctors, whether specialists or general practitioners. The principles of reversing cardiovascular disease in this program may be adapted to various lifestyles, habits, tastes, time constraints, and personalities. Dr. Gould’s program avoids multiple medical consultations and special facilities or equipment. The essentials are healthy living habits combined with medical management at home and work. This reversal program may replace surgical or catheter procedures for treating cardiovascular disease in most patients. In some specific cases, some people may also need balloon dilation or bypass surgery. Dr. Gould furnishes the criteria used to identify the minority of patients who need them. For this minority, Dr. Gould’s reversal program in addition to surgical treatment will provide optimal outcome by dramatically lowering further risk. For most people, this program produces a sense of well-being and reduces or eliminates symptoms. 
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The Hidden Mechanics of Exercise
Molecules That Move Us
Christopher M. Gillen
Harvard University Press, 2014

As anyone who takes up a new sport quickly discovers, even basic athletic moves require high levels of coordination and control. Whether dribbling a basketball or hitting a backhand, limbs must be synchronized and bodies balanced, all with precise timing. But no matter how diligently we watch the pros or practice ourselves, the body’s inner workings remain invisible.

The Hidden Mechanics of Exercise reveals the microworld of the human body in motion, from the motor proteins that produce force, to the signaling molecules that activate muscles, to the enzymes that extract energy from nutrients. Christopher Gillen describes how biomolecules such as myosin, collagen, hemoglobin, and creatine kinase power our athletic movements. During exercise, these molecules dynamically morph into different shapes, causing muscles, tendons, blood, and other tissues to perform their vital functions. Gillen explores a wide array of topics, from how genetic testing may soon help athletes train more effectively, to how physiological differences between women and men influence nutrition. The Hidden Mechanics of Exercise tackles questions athletes routinely ask. What should we ingest before and during a race? How does a hard workout trigger changes in our muscles? Why does exercise make us feel good?

Athletes need not become biologists to race in a triathlon or carve turns on a snowboard. But Gillen, who has run ten ultramarathons, points out that athletes wishing to improve their performance will profit from a deeper understanding of the body’s molecular mechanisms.

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Hygiene, Volume II
Books 5–6. Thrasybulus. On Exercise with a Small Ball
Galen
Harvard University Press, 2018

Antiquity’s most prolific and influential medical writer and practitioner.

Galen of Pergamum (129–?199/216), physician to the court of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, was a philosopher, scientist, medical historian, theoretician, and practitioner who wrote forcefully and prolifically on an astonishing range of subjects and whose impact on later eras rivaled that of Aristotle. Galen synthesized the entirety of Greek medicine as a basis for his own doctrines and practice, which comprehensively embraced theory, practical knowledge, experiment, logic, and a deep understanding of human life and society.

His treatise Hygiene, also known as “On the Preservation of Health” (De sanitate tuenda), was written during one of Galen’s most prolific periods (170–180) and ranks among his most important and influential works, providing a comprehensive account of the practice of preventive medicine that still has relevance today. Also included in this two-volume edition are two shorter treatises on the relationship between health and wellness. Thrasybulus explores the theoretical question of whether hygiene is part of medicine or gymnastics, and in so doing delineates the interrelated roles of doctors and physical therapists. On Exercise with a Small Ball strenuously advocates that activity’s superiority to all other forms of exercise.

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More Fire
How to Run the Kenyan Way
Toby Tanser
Westholme Publishing, 2008

An Essential Book for Runners of All Abilities
All of the Author’s Proceeds Go to Shoes4Africa to Support the Construction of Children’s Hospitals in Kenya

Kenya has produced the greatest concentration of world-class runners, and fellow athletes have long been intrigued by their remarkable success. Toby Tanser has devoted much of his professional career living and training among Kenyan runners in order to better understand the unique status of East African athletes. In More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way, the author builds upon the success of his acclaimed Train Hard, Win Easy, the first book to provide insights into the Kenyan "magic" that so many runners and coaches had sought. Instead of special foods or secret techniques, Tanser found that Kenyan runners simply trained incredibly hard, much harder than anyone had realized. By adapting their training regime—which includes three workouts a day—and following their example, runners, whether novices or champions, are able to improve both their performance and enjoyment in running. For those training for a marathon or any other distance race, this book is both practical and inspirational.

Divided into four parts, the book begins with a description of running in Kenya, the landscape, the physical conditions, and the people; the second part concentrates on details of Kenyan training camps, training methods, and their typical training diet; the third profiles individual runners and coaches from the past and present, with each explaining their approach to running so that readers can gain further insight into their methods. The book ends with a discussion on how the reader can adapt Kenyan training practices for their own running requirements. More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way is essential reading for runners of all levels and experience.

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RAGBRAI
Everyone Pronounces It Wrong
John Karras
University of Iowa Press, 2009
RAGBRAI: Everyone Pronounces It Wrong is a celebration, a memoir, an entertainment. The book deals with the first 25 years of the famous bike ride. It describes the genesis of an event that has drawn hundreds of thousands of people to Iowa from all over the world and attempts to explain the ride's continued charm and appeal.
RAGBRAI is different from all other bicycle tours. The others, and there are dozens of cross-state rides held in the United States, attract mostly serious, dedicated cyclists who clench their teeth and ride hard all day. RAGBRAI has its share of these cyclists, but it's more inclusive. It is a huge, week long celebration with dancing in the streets and evening entertainments. It is a love affair between bicycle riders and the people of Iowa. The book captures the essence of all that.
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Run Simple
A Minimalist Approach to Fitness and Well-Being
Duncan Larkin
Westholme Publishing, 2012
A Return to Simplicity Can Lead Runners to Both Personal Improvement and Peace of Mind
In this age of instant information and new technologies, marathoner and fitness instructor Duncan Larkin recommends that runners get rid of their iPods, pace calculators, and heart monitors while exercising. Rather than helping a runner to improve, the author contends that these devices can be a detriment to both performance and the benefits of a training program. Written in direct, clear language, Run Simple: A Minimalist Approach to Fitness and Well-Being is a practical and inspirational pocket guide for runners of all abilities. The author’s goal is to share with his fellow runners the principles he has discovered that prevent burn out and promote the maximum physical and mental benefits of running. Beginning with a discussion about the role of electronic devices and other equipment that have become commonplace among the millions of persons who run every day, the author explains how to return to a simpler way of exercising and training, including running plans that demonstrate the benefits of watch-free running. He also recommends replacing a gym membership with alternative exercises that can be done at home as well as taking better control of individual nutrition. In addition, the author shows ways to economize expenses associated with running, how to dress properly for different weather conditions, and mental exercises for motivation. By following the author’s advice, runners will improve their running experience and maintain a healthy exercise regimen.
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Trail Running Southern Vermont
Ben Kimball
University of Massachusetts Press, 2024

The wild and rural landscape of southern Vermont offers a true bounty of great trail-running opportunities, from out­-and-­back (or point­to­point) runs on popular long-distance routes, such as segments of the Long Trail or Appalachian Trail, to quiet, little-known loops hidden away in the woods. This helpful guide is just the resource needed for trip planning or for a spontaneous run in a beautiful place.

Local expert trail runner Ben Kimball offers a range of suggested route options, sometimes even several at the same site, for runners of all skill levels. He also provides important practical information, such as the full distance of the suggested route; a difficulty rating; the trail style and type; the total ascent; and directions, along with a detailed description of the trail itself. There are also scannable codes for downloading trail maps to your smartphone. The trails included vary in difficulty and terrain type, and range from low elevations in the Connecticut River Valley to as high as 4,000 feet at Killington Peak in the Green Mountains. This indispensable book is the perfect companion for adventurous runners and hikers interested in exploring southern Vermont.

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Trails of Central Arkansas
A Guide to Central Arkansas' Land and Water Trails
Johnnie Chamberlin
Parkhurst Brothers, Inc., 2012
Chock-full of informative detail,
Trails of Central Arkansas delivers:
 
*  Sixty trails in 36 parks or locations from Benton and Bryant to Cabot, from Wrightsville to Conway
*  Color maps of every trail
*  GPS coordinates for every trailhead
*  Color-coded distinctions between paved and unpaved trails
*  Level of difficulty ratings
*  Scenery Scores
*  Top-ten lists: Most Scenic, Trails for Kids, and Trails for Solitude
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Trails of Little Rock
Hiking, Biking, and Kayaking Trails in Little Rock
Johnnie Chamberlin
Parkhurst Brothers, Inc., 2009
Residents and visitors have an urban-outdoor haven in Little Rock: actually more than two dozen of them. They are the hiking trails, biking trails as well as the canoe and kayak-read waterways within the city and immediate area. Whether your passion is a quiet walk in the woods, a mountain-climb, fishing, bird-watching, or a quiet float, this handbook will help you find and use the trails and waterways of Little Rock.
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Understanding the Little Rock Crisis
An Exercise in Remembrance and Reconciliation
Elizabeth Jacoway
University of Arkansas Press, 1999
In the fall of 1957, Gov. Orval Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to prohibit nine black children from entering Little Rock's Central High School. In the fall of 1997, the "Little Rock Nine" returned to Central High, this time escorted by President Bill Clinton. In the forty years that had intervened, the United States witnessed substantial changes in American race relations, but the city of Little Rock had not overcome its legacy of strife. The two-year crisis, once over, left behind confusion and misunderstanding. Racial and class-based mistrust lingers in the city of Little Rock, and, nationally and internationally, perceptions of Arkansas are still tied to the decades-old images of hatred and strife that marked the Little Rock crisis. In 1997, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock sponsored a gathering of scholars who traced the origins and addressed the legacy of the Central High crisis. Elizabeth Jacoway and C. Fred Williams commissioned a series of original and insightful papers that discussed economic, constitutional, historical, and personal aspects of the crisis and of segregation. Jacoway and Williams have collected the best of these papers, by such authors as Sheldon Hackney, Joel Williamson, and James Cobb and offer them here in the hope of enhancing understanding of, and creating a dialogue about, this defining moment in American history. This collection of accessible and provocative essays on a signal event in civil rights in this nation will resonate broadly and appeal to a diverse audience.
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