Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women [Paperback]

Paula Newby-Fraser (Author), John M. Mora (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

Besides an exercise guide, this book offers valuable information on how to mentally prepare for a competition, the unique nutritional needs of female athletes, what to do physically, mentally, and nutritionally during the days prior to a race, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Seven-time Ironman triathlon champion Newby-Fraser presents guidelines, techniques, and principles for female athletes--especially experienced runners, bikers, and swimmers--to attain peak fitness. Reaching peak fitness, she says, involves three components--cardiovascular conditioning, strength workouts, and flexibility training. To master them, she offers a series of static stretching exercises, a strength-training workout plan, training schedules, advice on nutrition and fluid requirements, and counsel on mental preparedness. The 75 photographs and other illustrations will enhance the presentation. Sue-Ellen Beauregard

About the Author

Paula Newby-Fraser may be the most highly fit and finely tuned athlete ever. This eight-time Gatorade® Ironman Triathlon world champion is also the Ironman world record holder with a time of 8:55:24. In fact, she owns seven of the ten best-ever women’s Ironman times and has been inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame. Few, if any, athletes dominate a sport as Paula has for the last decade.

Yet it wasn’t always so. Paula confesses to being an "out-of-shape couch potato" until age 20. But once she embraced the concept of peak fitness, she left South Africa and moved to the United States to pursue her dream of becoming a professional triathlete. She won her first Ironman World Championship in 1986, and since that time she has continued to surpass her competition in triathlons and other distance races around the world.

In 1990 The Women’s Sports Foundation honored Paula with the Professional Sportswoman of the Year Award, and Triathlete Magazine voted her Triathlete of the Year. She was named Professional Female Athlete of the Decade by the Los Angeles Times, and ABC’s Wide World of Sports proclaimed her the Greatest All-Around Female Athlete in the World in 1989.

Paula understands how difficult it can be to adhere to a training program, so she coauthored this book to help other women who want to rise above their current fitness levels and realize their athletic potential.

Paula lives and trains in Encinitas, a town on the California coastline.

John M. Mora is a nationally known sports, health and fitness, and medical writer. He has published more than 100 articles in magazines such as American Health, Women’s Sports and Fitness, and Runner’s World. He is president of John M. Mora Creative Communications, a company that specializes in writing promotional copy for businesses in the health and fitness industry.

John has competed across the country in 8 marathons, 50 running and cycling events, and 30 triathlons. He lives in LaGrange Highlands, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873226720
• ISBN-13: 978-0873226721
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,653,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Motivational tool to becoming a well-balanced athlete., August 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women (Paperback)

This was the first running book I have read and I truly found Paula Newby-Fraser's personal training and achievement stories inspirational. This book focuses on a balance between strength, flexibility and cardiovascular conditioning. I believe that anyone can become a well-balanced athlete with a little motivation and the training tools found in this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expels a lot of myths about female athletes, April 7, 2006

By 

MCL "well healed" (Stamford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women (Paperback)

This book helped me to come to terms with my fears about training hard as a woman. You won't get "too muscular". You will be able to menstruate; if you eat right and exercise properly and maintain enough body fat.

Many female athletes' starve themselves and are bulimic or anorexic; these disorders ultimately hurt their ability to reach their peak fitness goals and to maintain a healthy lifestyle, according to Paula.

Reading this book puts a lot in perspective for me as far as how to avoid injury by incorporating strength and flexibility training into an aerobic workout like running.

This is a great guide also to finding the mental strength to become a competitive athlete. Paula maintains her training schedule by keeping motivated. The way she does this is to involve her friends and family. Her fitness training is wholesome in that she maintains her personal relationships and works out with friends in order to keep motivated.

I was helped in my quest for "peak fitness" by this book for the reasons outlined above, but also by the sensible, sound and well articulated training advice I found in this book.

Chantal

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Out of date, February 5, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women (Paperback)

This book is out of date. The advice to too general to be informative.