Top Shape: 12 Weeks to Your Ideal Physique
by Joyce L. Vedral
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joyce L. VedralEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1995-03-01
ISBN: 0446395331
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Book Reviews of Top Shape: 12 Weeks to Your Ideal Physique
Book Review: Good for beginners, but do NOT continue after you start getting in shape
Summary: 3 Stars
Joyce Vedral addresses the typical sedentary American who's a novice at working out. This book is targeted at the sort of guy shown in the "before & after" photos; middle-aged men (or men getting close to middle-age) who are out of shape but not TERRIBLY out of shape, have little or no experience with weight lifting, and want to start looking less pudgy and more muscular.
As a gentle introduction to working the upper body using free weights, the program Vedral recommends will start getting you in shape. She emphasizes the upper body because that's what most men are concerned with, but (correctly) points out that you really need to do lower body work as well. She includes plenty of optional leg exercises in her program, but really should recommend them more strongly -- someone who is serious about getting in shape and is willing to work with weights should not consider leg workouts "optional"! The good thing about her program is that it can be done entirely with dumbells and a bench, so if you don't have the time or money to go to a gym, it won't cost too much to buy what you need for a home workout. She does give options for using machines at a gym, although the dumbell workout is superior.
I got started with her program, over a year ago, and it did begin to shape me up. My muscles got bigger, I could feel my chest and arms firming up, and I gradually increased the amount I was lifting.
Now, here's what's wrong with her program and why you won't want to stick with it indefinitely if you intend to continue improving herself:
1. As mentioned above, she doesn't put enough emphasis on the need for working your ENTIRE body. I took her half-hearted plea to work the legs too as "permission" to ignore them. I didn't really start achieving my overall fitness goals until I began working my lower body.
2. She doesn't emphasize nutrition enough, which most bodybuilders will tell you is MORE important than your workout! An inferior workout program with a good diet will gain you some improvement and at least you'll be healthier; a superior workout program with a lousy diet will gain you minimal improvements at best and not much gains in your health. The book does talk about nutrition a little and gives some recommendations for good eating, but her "diet" is austere and won't appeal to someone just getting into fitness.
3. The weight recommendations are TOO LIGHT. It's fine for a beginner who's never done weightlifting before to start with small weights and gradually increase them, but Vedral has you increasing the amount you lift by minute amounts and then tells you that once you get to a certain point, you can stop increasing the weight and continue working out at that level forever! This will never dramatically reshape your body, and frankly, I find it hard to believe that some of her success stories really achieved the shape they are in merely following this program, without some serious extra weight exercises, cardio, and nutritional support. You certainly will not get the dramatic results in those photos just doing the dozen or so sets of upper-body dumbell exercises with the low weights Vedral recommends. Once I got into a more serious weightlifting program, I suddenly found myself regularly lifting FAR more weight than I had been while following the program in this book! If I had not "graduated" and realized this book was inadequate for further progress, I'd still be lifting much smaller weights and thinking I was doing fine.
4. The upper body workout is adequate for a beginner, but it's not good for someone who really wants a stronger, muscular figure. It's important to know which muscle groups you should exercise in what order, and Vedral has you doing exercises in which you'll overwork some muscles without giving them adequate time to recover. This won't be a major factor when you are working those muscles for the first time, but as you progress, it will begin to hinder your progress.
5. Some of her claims are overhyped and inaccurate. Vedral is an English professor, and her credentials as a nutritionist and personal trainer are sketchy. She leads you to believe that you can simultaneously burn fat while building muscle, which any fitness expert or bodybuilder can tell you is not true. You can experience *some* muscle growth while you are losing fat, but you can't gain weight (which is what building muscle requires) and lose weight (which is what burning fat requires) at the same time, nor do both consistently over the long term. You have to focus on one or the other. First burn the fat, then build the muscle. This book will also lead you to believe that weightlifting is a fat-burning activity. You SHOULD lift weights as part of a fat-burning program, for too many reasons to elaborate on here, but lifting weights alone WILL NOT burn fat. If you're fat, and you do weights but no cardio or diet adjustments, you'll be a stronger fat person.
In short, I'd recommend this book for a total beginner who needs a friendly, personable guide and an easy program to get started with, but only with the understanding that after a few months (assuming you follow the program diligently and make good progress), you will need to start reading more serious books and follow a more comprehensive program that works your entire body in a more scientific manner.
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