In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Alex Hutchinson, a physicist, award-winning journalist, and contributing editor of Popular Mechanics magazine, reveals the little-known and often surprising truths that science has uncovered about exercise. A book that ranges from cardio and weights to competition and weight loss, here are fascinating facts and practical tips for fitness buffs, competitive athletes, and popular science fans alike.
Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Authoritative and easy to use. . . . This book answers all the big questions.” (Amby Burfoot, Runner’s World )
“Factual, informative and empowering....a refreshing perspective on fitness and well-being.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“Once in a while in the crowded fitness & health genre a book comes out that stands out from rest...[I]f there’s only one fitness book you ever buy this should be the one.” (BC Living )
“Factual, informative and empowering....a refreshing perspective on fitness and well-being.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“Once in a while in the crowded fitness & health genre a book comes out that stands out from rest...[I]f there’s only one fitness book you ever buy this should be the one.” (BC Living )
From the Back Cover
There's plenty of conventional wisdom on health and fitness—but how much of it is scientifically sound? The truth is: less than you'd think.
In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what research science has—and has not—proven to be true:
Should I exercise when I'm sick? • Do I get the same workout from the elliptical machine that I get from running? • What role does my brain play in fatigue? • Will running ruin my knees? • To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more? • How should I adapt my workout routine as I get older? • Does it matter what I'm thinking about when I train? • Will drinking coffee help or hinder my performance? • Should I have sex the night before a competition?
This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in research from around the globe, as well as helpful diagrams and plenty of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better competition results.
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More About the Author
Alex Hutchinson is a columnist for Runner's World, and writes the magazine's popular Sweat Science blog on the latest training and fitness research. He also contributes regularly to magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Outside and Men's Journal, and his award-winning travel writing appears in the New York Times. Hutchinson holds a Master's in Journalism from Columbia and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge, and did his post-doctoral research with the U.S. National Security Agency. Between 1997 and 2008, he represented Canada at world championships and other international competitions as a distance runner.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
By Justin T
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whether you exercise to stay healthy or are a serious athlete in training, this book is a must-have reference book. It's the best book I've ever seen in answering the "practical" fitness questions you've ever wondered about in deciding how to exercise. If you're going to be spending hundreds or even thousands of hours in training, this book will help make sure you're not wasting it. It's organized in a practical way, and you can easily jump from question to question without needing to read each page that came before it. This makes it a good reference to come back to as you continue to change your workout routines over time.
While the book consults with sports doctors, physiologists and other experts, what's unique about it is that the author has looked for scientific studies which can help prove or disprove the conventional wisdom you hear in the gym. Though the author was a former competitive athlete, he leans more heavily on his PhD background to help you understand what scientific studies have shown about the best way to exercise. This helps you to cut through the marketing hype and locker room folklore so you can decide how best to exercise for what you want to accomplish. And, where the science isn't conclusive, he tells you that, which I like. I've already found two or three improvements in how I would exercise.
So what does the book cover? Well, just about every exercise question I've ever wondered about and a few dozen more. And there are as many topics for the serious athlete as there are for the casual exerciser so this would make a good reference for both. Good ones that come up for people often:
- Is running on a treadmill better or worse than running outside?
- Do I need strength training if I just want to be lean and fit? (or also: Why should I do cardio if I just want to build my muscles?)
- Does listening to music or watching TV help or hurt my workout?
- What are the benefits of yoga for physical fitness?
- To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more?
- Will running on hard surfaces increase my risk of injuries?
- Do I need extra protein to build muscle?
Good ones for more serious athletes:
- Should I carbo-load by eating pasta the night before a competition?
- What is lactate threshold and should I have mine tested?
- What should I do with wobble boards and exercise balls?
- Is there any benefit in deliberately training with low energy stores?
- How should I adjust my training in the final days before a competition?
- Should I be taking probiotics?
With 270 pages of material, I can't list everything I found interesting but my wife is already bugging me to take the book after I'm done so I'm quite happy with the purchase.
While the book consults with sports doctors, physiologists and other experts, what's unique about it is that the author has looked for scientific studies which can help prove or disprove the conventional wisdom you hear in the gym. Though the author was a former competitive athlete, he leans more heavily on his PhD background to help you understand what scientific studies have shown about the best way to exercise. This helps you to cut through the marketing hype and locker room folklore so you can decide how best to exercise for what you want to accomplish. And, where the science isn't conclusive, he tells you that, which I like. I've already found two or three improvements in how I would exercise.
So what does the book cover? Well, just about every exercise question I've ever wondered about and a few dozen more. And there are as many topics for the serious athlete as there are for the casual exerciser so this would make a good reference for both. Good ones that come up for people often:
- Is running on a treadmill better or worse than running outside?
- Do I need strength training if I just want to be lean and fit? (or also: Why should I do cardio if I just want to build my muscles?)
- Does listening to music or watching TV help or hurt my workout?
- What are the benefits of yoga for physical fitness?
- To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more?
- Will running on hard surfaces increase my risk of injuries?
- Do I need extra protein to build muscle?
Good ones for more serious athletes:
- Should I carbo-load by eating pasta the night before a competition?
- What is lactate threshold and should I have mine tested?
- What should I do with wobble boards and exercise balls?
- Is there any benefit in deliberately training with low energy stores?
- How should I adjust my training in the final days before a competition?
- Should I be taking probiotics?
With 270 pages of material, I can't list everything I found interesting but my wife is already bugging me to take the book after I'm done so I'm quite happy with the purchase.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was pretty excited to read this book. And the book is good. The Kindle version is terrible. I have never had such a bad experience with a Kindle book before. The Kindle version has no table of contents. The book has 111 questions with answers and all 111 are in the table of contents (according to other reviews I read). This makes the table of contents a quick way to reference any part of the book when you have a question. Not having the table of contents reduces the usability of this book greatly.
Another problem the Kindle version of the book suffers from is what I think are sidebars. The contents of the sidebars are just inserted in the text. So I am reading along and all of a sudden the topic seems to switch; the paragraph does not seem related to the previous one. Then, suddenly it is back to the first topic again. After this happened a few times I concluded that these must be sidebars in the book. I don't know how other books deal with sidebars, but the way this book deals with them is terrible.
My recommendation: buy the physical copy not the Kindle version. (The Kindle version is more expensive; how does that work, more $$ and lower quality!). I am going to see if I can get mine switched.
Another problem the Kindle version of the book suffers from is what I think are sidebars. The contents of the sidebars are just inserted in the text. So I am reading along and all of a sudden the topic seems to switch; the paragraph does not seem related to the previous one. Then, suddenly it is back to the first topic again. After this happened a few times I concluded that these must be sidebars in the book. I don't know how other books deal with sidebars, but the way this book deals with them is terrible.
My recommendation: buy the physical copy not the Kindle version. (The Kindle version is more expensive; how does that work, more $$ and lower quality!). I am going to see if I can get mine switched.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Kynn
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whether you're new to the world of health and fitness or a veteran, you know how hard it is to sort the true, workable principles from the junk and "broscience" ("Bro, doing dumbbell presses on the exercise ball builds an awesome chest!").
Popular workout magazines are FULL of false, misleading advice, and their primary mission is to SELL PRODUCTS for the supplement companies that own them (yup)--not teach you sound, scientific principles of getting bigger, leaner, and stronger. The Internet forums are even worse, and very often, trainers don't have a clue what they're doing or talking about.
With so much confusion abound, what are you to do?
There's where books like Cardio or Weights come in. The author was a competitive athlete with a PhD in physics, and he uses logical, fact-based reasoning to address many common questions and issues that athletes face. Things such as...
How effective is High Intensity Interval Training, really? Is the hype justified?
Can exercise increase risk of a heart attack?
How much is "enough" exercise?
How long does it take before I'll start seeing results from weight lifting?
What times are the day are best for training?
And more...
Mr. Hutchinson calls in the wisdom of many recognized, accredited experts in training, medicine, and physiology, and shares a wealth of scientific studies to help shed light on the various issues addressed in the book. In some cases, the findings are absolutely clear. In others, however, scientists aren't sure exactly why certain phenomena occur, and the author doesn't try to pretend he knows all the answers.
This is a quick read and all the information is presented in a very accessible way for us laymen. It's not thesis paper that whumps you over the head with a sledgehammer of technical jargon that you can't make heads or tails of. I learned quite a bit from this book and have already picked up a few tips that I will use to improve my exercise routine.
Getting in shape takes quite a bit of time, effort, and dedication, and I recommend that you read books like this to help you get the most out of what you put into it. This book will help steer you in the right direction and avoid pitfalls that cause so many others all kinds of problems and frustrations.
P.S. I also really liked Muscle Myths: 50 Health & Fitness Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making (The Lean Muscle Series), which takes the same approach as Cardio or Weights. It debunks some really commonly accepted training, diet, and lifestyle myths, and it taught me quite a bit about how to achieve my health and fitness goals quicker and easier.
Popular workout magazines are FULL of false, misleading advice, and their primary mission is to SELL PRODUCTS for the supplement companies that own them (yup)--not teach you sound, scientific principles of getting bigger, leaner, and stronger. The Internet forums are even worse, and very often, trainers don't have a clue what they're doing or talking about.
With so much confusion abound, what are you to do?
There's where books like Cardio or Weights come in. The author was a competitive athlete with a PhD in physics, and he uses logical, fact-based reasoning to address many common questions and issues that athletes face. Things such as...
How effective is High Intensity Interval Training, really? Is the hype justified?
Can exercise increase risk of a heart attack?
How much is "enough" exercise?
How long does it take before I'll start seeing results from weight lifting?
What times are the day are best for training?
And more...
Mr. Hutchinson calls in the wisdom of many recognized, accredited experts in training, medicine, and physiology, and shares a wealth of scientific studies to help shed light on the various issues addressed in the book. In some cases, the findings are absolutely clear. In others, however, scientists aren't sure exactly why certain phenomena occur, and the author doesn't try to pretend he knows all the answers.
This is a quick read and all the information is presented in a very accessible way for us laymen. It's not thesis paper that whumps you over the head with a sledgehammer of technical jargon that you can't make heads or tails of. I learned quite a bit from this book and have already picked up a few tips that I will use to improve my exercise routine.
Getting in shape takes quite a bit of time, effort, and dedication, and I recommend that you read books like this to help you get the most out of what you put into it. This book will help steer you in the right direction and avoid pitfalls that cause so many others all kinds of problems and frustrations.
P.S. I also really liked Muscle Myths: 50 Health & Fitness Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making (The Lean Muscle Series), which takes the same approach as Cardio or Weights. It debunks some really commonly accepted training, diet, and lifestyle myths, and it taught me quite a bit about how to achieve my health and fitness goals quicker and easier.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books ever
This by far is one of the most sound and well-researched books on the topic of exercise. It is a go-to source for information, not only for me, but my clients, too! Read more
Published 8 days ago by Brooklyn
5.0 out of 5 stars
read this first!
The volume of fluff, bad information, marketing hype, and flat lies in the health and fitness industry is overwhelming for the average person. Read more
Published 18 days ago by S. L. Young
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone should own this book
I've been in the personal training industry for over 10 years. I'm so glad Alex wrote this book. The industry has been lacking in a good evidence based book that is still easy to... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Tim Arndt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unbiased perspective
Did a nice job keeping to facts to form conclusions. As the title indicates, helps separate fact from fiction for a wide swath of subjects.
Published 22 days ago by andrew williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are interested in lifetime fitness then you should read this...
I really enjoyed this book. It refers to the latest science to separate the myths from reality and is not afraid to say when the data is inconclusive. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Vincent Craig
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting and eliminates a lot of myths
I found the book full of good information on the weightlifting, cardio, stretching, and nuturtion. It was was well written and easy to read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jake
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST HAVE Book For Everyone!
Busts the myths, shows the science, sets the record straight. The fitness and nutrition industry is flooded with bad information and myths. Read more
Published 2 months ago by A. B. Balser
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb book on the debate.
It uses all the available science to clearly indicate whats the best avenue for general health and even performance. Loved it.
Published 2 months ago by Blashy
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's OK, but not that much new ground
I read a lot on the topic of health and fitness and this, to me, was just another book. Many books and magazines cover the same ground. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tamara Stojanovic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read!
This is a great book for anyone interested in fitness and the science behind it. The author writes well and has researched his topic well.
Published 3 months ago by J Adele Fraser
