Customer Reviews

Outside Fitness: A Comprehensive Training & Nutrition Guide for an Active Lifestyle (Outside Books)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Paul Scott is very thorough in this book describing the science behind functional training. The exercises are very useful for beginning a workout routine. For advanced people I recommend that you incorporate a few of the exercises into your routine as well. You'd be surprised at what a difference it makes.
A couple of the reviewers were bitching about some typos. Come on people this isn't English Comp class. Quit being so [...]. It's an interesting read and I highly recommend it.

As a mountain guide, I geuss I am more interested in the practical advice given in this book than whether it has enough slick style, perfect spelling, excellent grammar or impeccable editing. And really don't consider this book an excuse to ravage the Outside Magazine's style.
I have been using the original "Shape Of Your Life" workout that appeared in Outside Magazine for about 2 years, and was happy to see this book update that workout and take it to the next level. While this version takes more time out of my day to workout than the old version, it also seems to be getting me in better physical condition. As Mr. Scott says the program is only an outline and after I finish the 24 weeks I will start combining the best of the original workout with this one to keep it interesting.

I really wanted to like this book. It has been a couple of years in the making, following the "Shape of Your Life" series originally published in Outside Magazine. My issue is primarily with the poor presentation of what is some generally great information. There are too many typos to address individually so I'm going to concentrate on a couple of major issues.

Let's start with the cover. Outside has long been recognized for great editorial design. The cover does not live up to the standard set by the magazine. It is dated, unauthentic, confusing and uninspiring. I think to a certain extent you can judge a book by its cover. This book is about functional fitness and yet features a shirtless dude carrying his bike over his head for reason other than to show-off his back. Compare it with "Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness" and the difference is clear.

Once you get inside there are other perfectly avoidable errors. The illustration accompanying the "Stability-Ball Dumbell Row" is actually the illustration for the "Stability-Ball Tricep Extension" and is used again later in the book. Either no one responsible for the book noticed, or they figured none of us would notice. No matter what the explanation, it calls into question the accuracy and thoroughness of the rest of the book. There's really no excuse for such sloppiness.

It seems like a project that lacked the support and supervision of the magazine that sets the standard for outdoor enthusiast publications. I sincerely hope they consider repackaging and re-editing the material in another edition. It, and we, deserve better.

My wife got me Outside Fitness for Christmas knowing I enjoy the magazine and am working on getting back into shape.
What she didn't realize is that I have actually been getting more and more disapointed in Outside magazine. Quality is slipping as they are trying to compete with various new "mens"magazines none of which appeal to me.
Well Outside Fitness is severely lacking too. It was a nice idea and could have been great. Also, this book like a previous reviewer has already said, could definitely use some heavy editing.
Be nice if it were like the old Outside magazine - Be nicer if Outside Magazine were like its old self!

The cover and title of the book will probably turn a lot of people away. Outdoor enthusiasts that pick the book the book up based on the cover and look inside may be confused by the clip-art look graphics... what gives?

The subtitle isn't catchy but it's right on the mark. Functional training is all the rage in gyms and health clubs these days but this one of the best books I've ever seen that breaks through jargon and trendiness and presents solid functional movements to make you stronger, more agile, faster, and healthier.

I picked up this book after reading the great one-page summary in Outside magazine. My suggestion is to go and buy the January 2006 issue of Outside magazine and read the great one-page summary. The summary has many of the best suggestions from the book, but it is concise and well edited.

The first thing that struck me as I glanced through the book was that is consists of 200 pages of almost pure text with very few illustrations and no photos. As I started plowing through it, I noticed that the prose was littered with an inordinate number of asides and parenthetical comments. Consider this gem: "So we tend to think runners are better than we are, and because they don't really fight the image (probably more out of preoccupation with their hamstrings than egocentrism, in their defense), that keeps a lot of us - who doubt we're ever going to rule at anything - from running." At first I assumed that the author was a exercise physiologist who just couldn't write, but then I realized he is a journalist who writes too much. The book is actually pieced together from articles that appeared in Outside magazine and it reads exactly like one huge magazine article. The problem is, writing a good book is a lot different than writing a good magazine article. I would say that about 50 percent of the text could be deleted with no harm done.

The production design of the book is especially poor - it focuses on style rather than substance. The few illustrations are wasted on highly stylized drawings unsuitable for a technical topic. There is almost no variation in font size which makes it difficult to pick out main points. There are no chapter summaries and precious few bulleted lists.

There are some good points in this book if you can find them. The book covers a wide variety of topics and I did find a few things potentially worth adding to my workout. Most people, especially beginners, would be better off looking elsewhere.