Fitness, health, and work capacity Book

Finally! I finished the book yesterday, 31 December, because I decided two years was quite enough, even for a book as overwhelming as this one. I really wanted to be done with it, so I pushed myself the last couple of weeks. So, what do I think?

To set it right, the book was too hard for me. I'm a humanities major and my interest in (exercise) physiology is a hobby, not a full-time job. Exercise Physiology (8th edition) by McArdle, Katch & Katch did come with excellent recommendations but it's not for a novice. I now understand that Elaine N. Marieb's Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology might have been a better choice as it "clarifies concepts, defines key terms, and offers just the right balance of anatomy, physiology, and clinical coverage to make the content complete without being overwhelming".

However, the book was still magnificent: a lesson in humility, if you will. My copy of McArdle's Exercise Physiology is now a battered and worn-out textbook, the way it should be. Textbooks should see a lot of wear and tear. Its pages are full of highlights, comments, question marks, references... I also did the tests that are available online, multiple times. They helped a lot because the extent of information in the book was indeed overwhelming and it was excellent to have someone nudge you in the right direction, the way professors should (even imaginary ones). My mastery level is abysmal, but to expect anything else from someone with my professional background would have been unrealistic.

I skipped two chapters ("Sport Diving" and "Microgravity: The Last Frontier") as I didn't quite see the point of examining them for my purposes. I did study the rest quite carefully. Since I don't have a solid foundation in the subject-matter, I couldn't handle some chapters the way one should. Still, I did get the big picture. The best part of the book was seeing the actual magnitude of the picture. As I said, a lesson in humility.

I'm quite proud of myself for having finished this, as it turns out, two-year project. I'm also quite glad that I can now move on and tackle something else. Periodization Training for Sports by Bompa and Buzzichelli is the first on my to-read list.