Book Review

Aerobic Fitness and Health

N Engl J Med 1994; 330:1692June 9, 1994

Article

Aerobic Fitness and Health
By Roy J. Shephard. 358 pp. Champaign, Ill., Human Kinetics, 1994. $48. ISBN: 0-87322-417-5

Shephard has followed up his very successful Endurance Fitness (2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977) with a thought-provoking, heavily referenced, academic summary of exercise and health. This book is destined to be as well received as his previous work. In Aerobic Fitness and Health the author turns to the subject of health and the recreational pursuit of fitness, a very appropriate topic in these times of escalating health care costs and obscenely expensive pharmacotherapy. Shephard has taken the time to write a legitimate crossover book -- a reference work that bridges basic and clinical science. Parts of this book will be lost on most clinicians, especially the chapter on the physiologic determinants of aerobic fitness, but most of it is concise, well written, and extremely well annotated.

This book is simply organized. It begins with an explanation of a model for physical activity and health and progresses to a discussion of the physiologic determinants of fitness. The author discusses the limitations of the epidemiologic data that point toward fitness as a therapeutic intervention and then imagines what might be possible if we pursued the advantageous effects of increasing fitness in general, as well as special, populations. Shephard is one of the few investigators in exercise science who can promote consensus and academic vigor in an area filled with disagreements and controversy. His style offers a wonderful mix of science and philosophy from a matter-of-fact perspective. The book, as written, is engaging in parts, but it suffers from heavy academic writing in other portions.

For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of this book was a section entitled “The Practical Importance of Aerobic Fitness.” This is Shephard at his best, using simple logic and a great number of facts to explain a complex and controversial concept. I also enjoyed the almost anthropological discussion in “Current Levels of Physical Activity and Health-Related Fitness,” which was fascinating as well as useful.

I believe the author has set the stage for future exploration by identifying areas in need of further research. For the researcher in exercise science, this book is worth having, if only in order to delve through (and use) the 70-page reference list. As one can tell from the cover, this is an academic book that stands out in quality. It should easily become the graduate-level reference work providing fundamental knowledge about exercise and health to physical educators as well as exercise physiologists. I would not hesitate to recommend it to clinicians involved in sports medicine as an adjunct to other primary references. Shephard has successfully encompassed the area of medicine and science that pertains to exercise and sport. If, as Shephard says, “the discovery of truth is its own reward,” then the reader will be well rewarded.

Douglas B. McKeag, M.D.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824