Restless reader

LITTLE ROCK — Core Performance Women

Core Performance Women: Burn Fat and Build Lean Muscle by Mark Verstegen and Pete Williams (Avery hardback, Thursday), 320 pages, $32.50.

The first three Core Performance fitness books weren’t designed specifically for men, so why has Mark Verstegen reworked his advice specifically for women?

The well-known athletic performance guru and his writer, Pete Williams, raise that very question in the sixth paragraph of Core Performance Women:

“When Pete Williams and I were asked to write Core Performance Women, we were a little taken aback,” they say. “After all, we possess Y chromosomes. Plus, we viewed our previous books as not solely for men.”

Nevertheless, they concocted some metaphoric rationale involving ancient Sparta and today’s supposedly hyper-busy and self-sacrificing females. It isn’t convincing.No doubt the real answer’s contained in the verb “were asked.” When a publisher asks authors to target a lucrative market, what kind of dummies say no?

But does the book provide guidance of special interest to women?

Yes, savvy guidance, too, on nutrition, movement and the mind-set needed for beginning a focused but not obsessive campaign to feel and become strong enough to meet the demands of daily life.

Women do tend to have devastating hip-stability problems. Women do have to learn to ignore fabulous campaigns of misleading body-image information aimed at them by youthand appearance-exploiting marketers; and women do, notoriously, resist challenging resistance training.

So it’s not a stretch to say women might benefit from a lecture tailored just for them. But the original Core books weren’t lacking.

So if you’ve already got other Core Performance books, do you need

Core Performance Women? The only big advice change is dietary: Verstegen’s earlier books suggested eating “clean” six days a week; this one advocates aiming to eat well 80 percent of the time.

And this is an introductory approach. If you’ve been introduced already, you already know his program. So no.

But it’s a good starter book.

Verstegen’s known for training professional athletes; is this a book for athletes?

Not explicitly, but its nutrition guidance assumes the reader will be very active, and athletes will recognize in Verstegen’s workout plans some up-to-date approaches: warm-ups that eschew lowintensity general endurance (such as 10 minutes on a stationary bicycle) in favor of “prehab” movements to stretch and contract key muscle groups in the hips and torso; eating before and soon after exertion; active isolated stretching; contrast baths; jumping exercises.

Verstegen also has some old but not old-fashioned advice: never feel guilty about overindulging; set aside daily quiet time; eat breakfast; choose less-processed foods; shake off dependence on socalled energy drinks, tea and coffee (so you can truly enjoy them when you imbibe); respect your body’s need forcarbohydrates, protein and fats; keep a food journal; plan meals; prepare your own lunches.

So it’s just general good advice, no meal plans and recipes?

No meal plans and no food bans. The book does give specific recommendations for portion sizes. It lists foods to buy at Costco stores and options the author likes at eight brand-name fast-food chains.

How much gear does the exercise part require?

Heavy dumbbells, a pulley-cable station or a stretchband firmly attached to an immovable object at waist height, a large foam roller, three tennis balls.

Anything annoying?

Busy women don’t have time to read page after page of descriptions of what kind of too-busy and too-tired woman they might or might not be. They’re busy. Cut to the chase.