Fitness Illustrated

Fitness Illustrated is a visual, straightforward approach to core fitness concepts, exercise programming, nutrition, and weight management. Photos, illustrations, and explanations depict how a body changes through aerobic and strength training so you can customize routines to maximize benefits and address specific needs and goals.

Library Journal

If one were to judge by the title and cover art, Sharkey's (Fitness & Health) latest book might be one of those fitness tracts heavy on anatomical illustrations, of which Pat Manocchia's Anatomy of Exercise is a good example. Though it does include a few such illustrations, this is rather more a narrative-driven guide to the concepts behind aerobic and muscular fitness, nutrition and weight control, and vitality and longevity, teeming with large color photographs, case studies, exercise tips, health assessments, training programs, and annotated illustrations of everything from the ideal running shoe to the characteristics of slow-twitch vs. fast-twitch fibers. A four-page "Energy Expenditure Chart" estimating the number of calories burned per minute for every imaginable activity rounds out the work. VERDICT Beginners of all ages and fitness levels are sure to appreciate this shallow-end-of-the-pool approach to improving one's health, whose gentle but comprehensive guidance and instruction will equip them to venture, at their own pace, into the deep end.—Raya Kuzyk, Library Journal

Brian Sharkey, PhD, is a leading fitness researcher, educator, and author. Sharkey has more than 45 years of experience in exercise, sport, and work physiology. He is professor emeritus at the University of Montana, where he served as director of the Human Performance Laboratory and remains associated with the university and lab. He currently serves as a consultant with several federal agencies in the areas of fitness, health, and work capacity, especially of wildland firefighters. He has won several awards for his work, including the 2009 International Association of Wildland Fire’s Wildland Fire Safety Award for his contributions to wildland firefighter safety and health.  

Sharkey authored or contributed to over a dozen books on exercise, sport, and work physiology and fitness and numerous research papers. He is past president of the American College of Sports Medicine and served on the NCAA committee on competitive safeguards and medical aspects of sports, where he chaired the Sports Science and Safety subcommittee, which uses research to improve the safety of intercollegiate athletics. He also coordinated the United States ski team Nordic Sports Medicine Council.

In his leisure time, Brian enjoys cross-country and alpine skiing, road and mountain biking, running and hiking in the hills and valleys, and paddling the rivers and lakes of Montana. He lives with his wife, Ann, close to his daughter, son, and grandchildren in Missoula, Montana.