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In Ultimate Fitness, Gina Kolata, a science reporter for The New York Times, applies her investigative-journalist skills to the science--and too often, the pseudo-science--behind the fitness training advice aimed at helping us look good, be healthy, and maybe even live longer.

Kolata brings us back to the early 20th century when most physicians thought "an enlarged and irregular heart with murmurs was a diseased heart." In those days, an enlarged heart was called athlete's heart--clear evidence of the harm caused by too much strenuous exercise. As recently as 30 years ago, heart attack patients were warned never to do anything that made their hearts beat fast, and everyone who reached middle age was advised to begin taking it easy. Physician-created fears about the dangers of running and other strenuous exercise prevailed right up to the exercise "boom" of the early 1970s.

The book covers the fitness revolution that began with jogging, and before we knew it, there were aerobics classes, health clubs, body sculpting, performance-enhancing supplements, and StairMasters. But, given the sedentary nature of most Americans, the scientific question eventually became: What is the least amount of exercise we have to do and still get a health benefit?

In time, studies showed that moderate exercise like walking for 20-30 minutes three times a week could reduce the odds of premature death in men and women. Even better, the exercise did not have to take up 20-30 consecutive minutes; it could be, for example, a couple of minutes of stair climbing in the morning and 20 minutes of walking after work. Kolata expresses her own surprise at finding that the proven health benefit of moderate exercise accrues solely to the heart. Don't expect to lose weight, the prime reason why most people exercise.

It is the vigorous workouts that are Kolata's personal favorites. An avid exerciser, fully qualifying as an off-the-charts gym rat, Kolata hits her stride in this book when she takes on the conventional health wisdom surrounding health clubs, performance enhancing programs, and the latest workout tools. When her daughter became certified as a fitness trainer, Kolata got a firsthand over-the-shoulder look at the process and found it to be more about paying escalating fees than actual training on the proper use of weights and health club machines.

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