The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

Foreword, by Mark Allen

Preface

Introduction

The Maffetone Method Questionnaire; The Method; Is Your Workout Working?; Too Fat?; Are You Aerobically Deficient?

Part 1: Understanding the Basics

1. Defining Exercise

Health and Fitness; Aerobic and Anaerobic; Muscle Fibers; Go Aerobic; Activity and Exercise; Training and Endurance; Overtraining and Undertraining

2. Exercise and Stress

Stressed Out?; Any of These Sound Familiar?; Effects of Excess Stress; Stages of the Stress Reaction; The General Adaptation Syndrome; Your Stress List; Simple Ways to Avoid Stress; Exercises That Increase Stress; Stress Testing

3. The Structural, Chemical, and Mental Aspects of Exercise

Structural Benefits; Chemical Benefits; Mental Benefits

4. Developing Maximum Aerobic Function

Measuring Fat Burning; Top Reasons for Increased Body Fat; Why Build an Aerobic Base?

5. Developing the Anaerobic System

Anaerobic Training; Sample One-Hour Workouts; Build Your Base; Summary of Anaerobic Benefits

6. Exercise and Heart Rate

Measuring Your Heart Rate; 220 or 180-Formula?; The 180-Formula; Modifying Your Heart Rate

7. The Use of Heart Rate Monitors

The Maximum Aerobic Function Test; Steady Progress; MAF Test and Competition

8. Warming Up, Cooling Down, and Stretching

Warming Up; Cooling Down; The Right Rate; Active Warm-Up and Recovery in Competition; Stretching; Even for Golf

9. The Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome

Quantity versus Quality of Life; ADS; Correcting ADS

10. The Overtraining Syndrome

Three Stages of Overtraining; Menstrual Problems and Overtraining; Correction of Overtraining

Part 2: Individualizing Your Program

11. A New Beginning: Starting Your Program

Start Simply; Walking; Children and Exercise; Other Activities; Exercises to Avoid; Starting Out: Exercises to Avoid; Your First Workout

12. Modifying Your Program

Is Your Workout Working?; Goals, Equipment, Aerobic Base; Frustration; Direction and Measurement

13. Rehabilitation: Restoring Your Youth

Quality of Life; Heart Disease; Blood Fats; Hypertension; Blood-Sugar Problems; Osteoporosis; Rehabilitation; Walking in Water

14. Changing with the Seasons

Spring; Summer; Fall; Winter; Dressing for Successful Exercise; SAD

15. Exercise Footwear: Finding the Right Shoe

How Shoes Can Cause Stress; Arch Function; Taping and Other Joint Support; Other Ankle Dysfunction; Proper Shoe Fit; How to Buy Athletic Shoes

16. Anatomy of an Injury

NSAIDs; The Structural Injury; The Chemical Injury; The Mental or Emotional Injury; Mending Your Own Injury; The Correct Therapy

17. The Diaphragm Muscle

The Diaphragm and the Abdominals; Breathing in Step

18. If Einstein Were Your Coach

Bad Timing; Relative Timing

19. Training Schedules for Competition

A Marked Improvement; Less Is More

20. Diet and Nutrition

General Dietary Recommendations; The Top Diet Dos and Don'ts; Carbohydrate Intolerance; The Two-Week Test; The Importance of Snacking to Burn Fat; Follow the Plan; Balancing Dietary Fat; The Good, Bad, and Ugly Fats

Bibliography

Index