Product Description

A complete, full-body fitness program specifically designed to strengthen and protect the back

More than 50 percent of the 20 million Americans who join health clubs quit within the first year, mostly for one reason alone: back pain. Written by Adam Weiss, a chiropractic physician and fellow back pain sufferer, The BackSmart Fitness Plan presents a revolutionary program designed to target, protect, and strengthen the back. Employing his unique BackSmart Method, Weiss lays out a complete fitness program to provide readers with a variety of exercises designed to enhance their physical strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, and appearance, all without injuring themselves. The book includes:

• Hundreds of exercises emphasizing proper form and balance
• Proper use of free weights and machines
• Modified Pilates exercises
• Swiss ball movements
• Stretching

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178501 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Back Cover

"Back pain was a constant presence until I learned Dr. Weiss's principles. This simple guide will keep you feeling great in the gym or in the office, so you never have to be less than your best."
--Martin Boonzaayer, two-time Olympian and seven-time National Judo Champion

"We are now using the BackSmart Fitness Plan with all our patients at each stage of their rehabilitation."
--Jose A. Hernandez, D.C., Director, Pacific Spine and Rehab Center

The BackSmart Fitness Plan presents a revolutionary full-body program designed to strengthen the back and prevent injuries. Dr. Adam Weiss, a chiropractic physician, developed the successful BackSmart Method to overcome his own back injury without the use of medications. In this step-by-step program, he provides an organized routine of exercises to improve physical strength, flexibility, balance, muscular endurance, and appearance--all without causing stress or injury to the joints and ligaments.

You'll learn how to heal, strengthen, and protect your back while achieving peak condition and losing unwanted weight. The BackSmart Fitness Plan includes:

• Hundreds of exercises emphasizing proper form and balance
• Guidance on the proper use of free weights and machines
• Modified Pilates exercises and Swiss ball movements
• Stretching exercises to increase flexibility
• Healthy diet tips

With The BackSmart Fitness Plan you can reap the many benefits of exercise and work your way to a healthier, stronger, and pain-free body.

About the Author

Adam Weiss, D.C., is board certified by the National Chiropractic Board of Examiners and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. His BackSmart Method has helped thousands of patients, including professional athletes. Weiss lives in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

Customer Reviews

You Can Have A Better Back!
Before I started The Backsmart Fitness Plan, I was experiencing chronic pain for years in my upper back/neck area and having small children didn't help that situation. I started doing these exercises as often as I could. The more I did it, the more I saw results. If I have a setback, I always start with the wall stretch and work my way to the other exercises. There is nothing complicated about these exercises, but you have to do them! I know that my posture has improved and I can see that my overall core strength helps me do better in all of my daily activities.
I have been down many avenues to deal with my back problems--physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, Feldenkrais, and so on. Dr. Weiss' plan is more effective in the long run than any of the things that I have tried. You can have long term relief from chronic pain if you commit to learning and practicing these exercises!

Too Time Consuming
While the concepts in the book seem sound, following the program is way too time consuming for those that have jobs and family. I might be able to complete the workout schedule described if I had no job; but even then most of my day would be spent working out. The author himself is a self-confessed fitness junky and this carries over into the recommended workout schedules. Your best bet would be to mix and match concepts from this book with concepts from other books concerning back and total body fitness to create your own custom work out.

It seems a good, well rounded total body workout book that takes back pain and injury into account has not yet been authored.

Sports medicine
Runners, weight lifters, bikers, golfers, and other exercise buffs (I'm a runner) need serious guidance about injury prevention and how to improve your performance. I found this to be a great guide, not from an amateur enthusiast, but from a doctor who has seriously taken on the problem, even beyond the typical exercises I was familiar with from physical therapy over the years. And yes, they told me I'd likely have to do exercises for the rest of my life. And that's what makes this book so handy, you don't have a therpist with you day in and out.

This book is very specific on how to do the exercises, how to progress, and what not to do. The advice is practical and well researched, and very much consistent with everything all the specialists have told me during my decade of back problems .I found the guidance to be in depth, but still accessible to lay person

Exceptional benefits include the exercise alternates; free weights, exercise balls. Given the constraints of travel and gym availability, alternates are needed. Also, the guidance toward good nutrition and "healthy living" is on the mark.