Laurence E. Morehouse (1913–1995)

Laurence E. Morehouse, Ph. D. is that rarity in diet/fitness literature--someone who was actually qualified to write about it. His doctorate was in physical education and physiology, and he was involved in designing fitness routines for the astronauts I suppose this really should be called minimum fitness--but it's a threshold I suspect few Americans come near--and useful as a start, or as something to do to keep some fitness when you're convinced you don't have time--no excuses. Mind you, this book was published in 1975, but I've read it's mostly still valid today.

The daily program can be summarized this way:

1) Turn and twist your body joints to their near-maximum range of motion.
2) Stand for a total of two hours a day.
3) Lift something unusually heavy for five seconds.
4) Walk briskly for at least three minutes to stimulate your cardiovascular system.
5) Burn up to three hundred calories a day in physical activity.

There's more to it than that--this isn't one of those books where the useful content can be put on a postcard. In terms of stimulating your cardiovascular system, Morehouse was revolutionary at the time in proposing that your exertion should be measured not by how fast or how long you go, but by heart rate. And the above is really a minimum--for the "total" fitness giving you a reserve, there are additional recommendations and exercises--still not demanding in terms of time or equipment consisting of crunches ("sitbacks") and "pushaway" from walls which is basically an easy pushup for those who can't manage pushups. Same concept.… (mehr)