Quick Fit: The Complete 15-Minute No-Sweat Workout [Hardcover]

Richard R. Bradley (Author), Sarah Wernick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Most Americans know they should exercise -- but they don't. The number one reason? Lack of time. Now there's an answer: Quick Fit -- a daily workout that takes just 15 minutes. And it's no sweat, literally! You don't need to change your clothes first, or even shower afterward.

Quick Fit takes no more time than a coffee break, yet it provides a complete workout: Ten minutes of aerobic activity; four minutes of strengthening exercises; one minute of stretches. This program is perfect for anyone with a hectic, demanding schedule. Can 15 minutes really make a difference? Yes, according to mounting research evidence. Quick Fit is safe -- and it's effective.

This book provides everything you need to begin a more active lifestyle:

• Fully illustrated step-by-step instructions, with simple self-tests to help you customize • Exciting new information about the surprising benefits of brief workouts • Innovative suggestions for getting started -- and sticking with it • Motivating quotes from men and women who are using Quick Fit successfully

If you wish you were fitter and trimmer, but can't find time to exercise, Quick Fit is for you!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you're a non-exerciser, Quick Fit gives you a simple, manageable program of aerobic, strength, and flexibility exercises that you can do--no kidding--in 15 minutes. With all the fitness books that promise the moon (or at least eternal slimness, youth and health), it's refreshing to have one that delivers what it says: a quick, sound program that gets you moving and gives you just enough of a workout to turn you from a lazy loafer to an energetic exerciser. Step-by-step exercises are well-illustrated and clearly described, from simple walking to abdominal crunches, a short set of strength exercises, and stretching. Motivational tips annihilate every excuse to return to the couch. Testimonials and anecdotes from people who have used the program illuminate how normal people with busy schedules and physical or emotional challenges adjust Bradley's workout to fit their lives. Richard R. Bradley III is an exercise physiologist and director of the Occupational Health and Fitness Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Sarah Wernick is an award-winning health writer and co-author of Strong Women Stay Young. Recommended for people who have been discouraged by workouts that were too hard, too discouraging, too time-consuming, or too boring. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly

The key to healthful living is no mystery-it's just regular, moderate exercise that anyone at any age or in any condition can do, say Bradley and Wernick in this step-by-step fitness manual. Bradley, the fitness director for the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Wernick, a health writer (Strong Women Stay Young), offer a 15-minute fitness routine that even the most sedentary readers would find difficult to sit out. No sweating, showering or changing of clothes is required, just a consistent commitment to being active. It seems too good to be true, doesn't it? Only 10 minutes of aerobic exercise daily, which can include a brisk walk or low-impact floor workout, along with four-minutes of weight-lifting and one minute of stretching will, the authors promise, garner noticeable results in strength, flexibility and muscle tone over time. Since many people are unable or unwilling to devote the optimal hour to physical activity, the authors' simple, fast program may be just what the doctor ordered for sedentary folks; for people already moderately active, though, this program won't be much of a challenge. Bradley is a hearty cheerleader and sprinkles his book with hokey mottoes like: "Inch by inch fitness is a cinch. Yard by yard makes it hard." However, he's also a realist: "I'm not promising you'll be transformed in just fifteen minutes...but you'll definitely feel energized." The simple instructions, clear illustrations, motivational plan and convincing testaments from DOT personnel who have adopted the routine should inspire readers, whether they be habitually sluggish or simply sorely pressed for time.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Atria; 1st Atria edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743471024
• ISBN-13: 978-0743471022
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect book to get you started toward lifetime fitness., January 3, 2004

By 

Jimmy Chitwood (Iowa, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quick Fit: The Complete 15-Minute No-Sweat Workout (Hardcover)

Rick Bradley's new book is not only a good read; it's an important one.

Bookstore shelves are littered with the empty promises of "six-pack abs", "thin thighs" and a "hot-Hollywood body in just 28 days!". Millions of people with the best intentions try these workouts only to find they're impractical, demanding, and in some cases dangerous. In other words, impossible for average Joes and Janes to stick with. Dropping out inevitably follows, and a person trying to better him or herself again feels like a failure. Declining health and weight gain follow until the vicious cycle starts again.

An answer for many of us is "Quick Fit". Bradley removes all the obstacles and excuses by laying out a well-researched, proven program that works. It's NOT for bodybuilders and tri-athletes; it's for guys like me with a demanding job and four kids; it's for my 65-year old mother whose body can't take high impact aerobics; it's for my wife who doesn't want to exercise at a fitness club with strangers watching; it's for the author's own father who's rediscovered good health in his eighties while living in a retirement home.

15 minutes a day... that's all Bradley asks. And it's not 15 minutes of "no pain, no gain". It's 15 minutes you can do at work, home or on vacation. It's a little walking, strength training and stretching. And it's adaptable to just about any fitness level. It will work for the very overweight person who hasn't exercised in years, as well as someone already in good shape who just wants to maintain good health in minimal time.

It's also refreshing that Bradley doesn't try to work in the latest low carb/low fat/low calorie diet plan. This is a book to get you moving, stretching and lifting. No gimmicks.

More health and fitness books are published every year, yet we continue getting fatter and unhealthier. Rick Bradley's book could help change that by giving us a realistic program to better health that we can follow for life.

Here's hoping the sensible and enjoyable Quick Fit catches on.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and super effective fitness program, September 21, 2004

By 

Montaigne "Fitness Phobic Reader" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quick Fit: The Complete 15-Minute No-Sweat Workout (Hardcover)

This is an ideal fitness program for confirmed couch potatoes. It's a one solution fit all, ultra simple but a health enhancing process nevertheless.

A complete fitness solution in just 15 minutes a day, who could believe it's worthwhile doing... It works because it's tough to find excuses to not do it. It's just like a coffee break.

I've been following it for more than 90 days without skippping a single day. Finally exercising is a daily habit for me, something I never came close to achieve in spite of trying many times over many years.

A good chunk of the book is about motivation. People who avoid regular exercises need all the motivation they can get.

The downside of such a simple approach? I'd be hard pressed to find fault with the system, however it must be pointed out that there is no choice of exercises. Everyone does the same ones and there are very few exercises presented. If you wish for more details or more choices, then start with a 90-day dose of Quick Fit, then graduate to a more complete, but longer process, as presented in books such as Bob Anderson's Getting in Shape, or Adam Zickerman's Power of Ten.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Simply Amazing!!!!, January 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Quick Fit: The Complete 15-Minute No-Sweat Workout (Hardcover)

After a holiday season of revenous eating, I looked in the mirror and knew that i needed to trim down. I made a choice to get in better shape in 2004. Like most people, i needed a little help with my new lifestyle, so I looked at some fittness books online and stumbled across Quick Fit. I thought the plan was too good to be true, so I ordered the book to see if Mr. Bradley's program was for real.

I have been doing the Quick Fit plan during my lunch break for only a few weeks, but already I am noticing results. Not only have I lost weight, but I feel terrific. Quick Fit energizes my day and gives me the boost I need to be productive in teh afternoon. Some other people in my office have bought the book and experienced the same results.

I would reccommend Quick fit to anybody looking to trim down or simply desiring to live a more healthy, happy, and energized life.