Customer Reviews

The BackSmart Fitness Plan: A Total-Body Workout to Strengthen and Heal Your Back

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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 noticed improvement within a couple of days of starting the exercises. I have found doing the Daily Dozen Stretches in the morning like the author suggests and again in the evening, have helped me trendmendously over the past few months, I am not pain free yet but I feel a lot better than before I picked up this book.

Before I purchased this book, I woke up every morning with some pain and stiffness with bouts of my back "going out" on me and I'd spend a week or more doing nothing do to the pain and I lay around popping pain pills waiting to recuperate.

Now I wake up less stiff and sore and I am able to start my day immediately. I remain careful about how I treat my back throughout the day, but I'm very confident that the exercises are helping me get stronger and I feel more limber, my balance has improved, as has my flexibility. I recommend this book highly!

This is essentially a book of exercise advice - exercises and routines designed to help people with back problems. It's certainly comprehensive covering tons of stretches, pilates, swiss-ball, bodyweight, free weights, machines and cables machines.

It coveres a lot of non back exercises. It really is a manual of general exercise and health for people with bad backs rather than another set of exercises specifically for people with back problems.

My criticisms of it are that it isn't a lot of help to someone with a lot of current pain. There is only a little info on dealing with an acute back episode and most of the exercises are way too hard for someone struggling in their daily life. I'd have liked to see a very gentle remedial programme. But maybe the book isn't aimed at that. It also misses out some key back exercises in my opinion but then the author may know better and this may be deliberate.

It strikes me as a bit of a personal book. He developed the exercise regimes from his own pain. I wonder how useful that approach is for people who don't have the same causes for their pain.

Overall it's a good book and one worth buying for the back sufferer who already has the usual back exercise books. It gives you a whole-body approach. It offers good weights exercises that won't hurt your weak back which is useful.

I just bought this book last week , the info is very well written and laid out. The Author did a great job of presenting not only an easy to follow program, but also of laying out the science behind the order of exercise and the muscles you will be working.
I am just starting to work out after years of being a couch potato. I felt like an idiot in the gym next to all those muscle bound guys, and didn't want to shell out hundreds of dollars to have a trainer sit there and hold my hand. This book presents a great workout that is easily modified for any fitness level, and can take you into advanced training as well.
The diet plan is also easy and makes sense, and should not leave anyone hungry at all. Adding muscle will help you lose weight, look and feel better, and succeed in life. You can't ask for much more for your $...
If you are new to working out, I would highly recommend this book.

This book is a beacon of rational thought in a field with psuedoscience and chalatans who prey on the desperation of individuals who belive they are destined to suffer from back pain and years of wasted therapy. Dr. Weiss offers hope and the most rational advice I have seen to date in any book on the subject of back pain and exercises, let alone getting into shape without the pain.

I found relief with the BackSmart Fitness Plan suprisingly accessible book in which the language is personal and unintimidating and the medical explanations on injuries and prevent are presented with such elegant simplicity that you will think that you are talking directly with the doctor yourself.
While Dr. Weiss is an expert, he doesn't push one concept over anthor therapy rather he shows balancment and very useful exercises using body weight ony, free weights, machines and modified pilates and ball exercises never seen before to me or my friends who workout regularly. The use of the wall was very progressive and very fun to do in my workouts. the doctor also discusses the usfulness of the movements and the order in which they should be performed helped me a lot in understanding how the body works at it's best. His discussions add clarity without being condescending or filled with technical jargon like many books on this subject.

The photographs(over 100) are so helpful and carefully described that you will not want to part with this book. A great tool to over come my back pain and I have lost 8 pounds since starting this program and i feel my midsection getting firmer . Strongly recommend to any one of all fitness levels having back pain or none at all. Great book

This book is written in a conversational, chatty tone, which makes it seem more personable and less intimidating. The author included a lot of pit falls to avoid while training with or with out weights, which I've found very useful since they're pretty easy to fall into. It's like having a personal trainer and doctor walking you through your workout.
The unique combination and sequence of exercise are key. As a person who lives in the gym, I have tried most of the exercises out there and have usually left me aching and exhausted after a workout. However the Backsmart Fitness program recommended helps you stretch out your kinks while toning and shaping your body. Results? No more aching! You get a complete workout without having to suffer the usual aftermath of a hard workout.
The book also offers a commonsense approach to eating and exercising that is excellent advise for anyone.
This book is a very good long-term investment for your health.

My wife actual bought this book based on recommendations from her physical therapist and Chiropractor. She had been suffering from bouts of back and neck pain on and off for years and after our children were born she felt she had very little time to workout and she gain weight and her back pain flared up on her more often. After following the Backsmart program for the past two months she has lost weight and feels much better and stronger throughout the entire day which is a first in a very long time. I saw her results and I had to give it a try, since I have always been competitive in team sports like softball and basketball and I go to the gym a least 3 times per week year round doing a full body workout each time. Over the past 2 years I have been entering some local Triathlon events and doing fairly well in my age category but I notice my hamstrings were always sore afterwards and tight during my runs and my upper back would get stiff after the rides. I began the chapter with the wall stretches and immediately felt my muscle in my upper back relax and I felt more range in my shoulders and legs too. I started adding in the abs exercise which were tuff for me at first I could really feel my midsection working right through the entire set. I liked that the program offered different abs workouts each day, I haven't gotten tired of doing them like most exercise programs and I feel my midsection has gotten firmer as a result. A few years back my wife and I tried the Body for life program and we got good results with that but this Backsmart Fitness system has a lot more exercises and are very effective so we are doing the low carb Mediterranean diet and following this program since we both feel great , we recommend it to all are friends.

If you're suffering lower back pain, you're not alone.
Millions of people of all ages, body types, and activity levels have problems ranging from simple spasms to dreadful sciaticas or disk ruptures. I honestly don't know what I really have but my lower back has been bugging me for about a year now, mostly from lousy weight lifting forms while performing squats, romanian deadlifts, and dumbell lunges.

Today I tried out a few stretches suggested by Dr. Weiss in his book "The Backsmart Fitness Plan" while I was hanging out on Beach. The "daily dozen", as Dr. Weiss called them. Remember Karate Kid training on the beach watching the sunset?

The stretches did help to ease the rest of the day and seemed to have many healing benefits, if performed on a daily basis. I highly recommend this book for anyone suffering back pain or seeking to increase the flexibility and strength of their core muscles. People should never compromise their flexibility or core exercises to cut their workout time, as it may lead them to the stage I'm at now.
I've gained several kilograms of fat and lost a few pounds of muscle as a result of a long period of inactivity due to chronic back pain, albeit mild. A good thing about this program, other than it being designed to heal back pain, is that most of the exercises could be performed anywhere, perfect any lifestyle.

This book truly is a great book for real people for real results. I have been around the block when it comes to exercising and this book has taught me some new ones.
This book takes you from the beginning to the end of your workout starting with stretching and ending with balance and functional training moves eliminating any questions you may have regarding doing a complete workout each and every time.

Some highlights:

The uses of the medicine ball between your legs for hip rises are great and you can feel your inner and outer thighs with this one.
I liked the stretches and using the ladder to get more of a stretch is a very good idea. I can really feel my muscles unwinding after doing the daily dozen stretches and the wall stretches are one of a kind, again very good use of a every day thing that we have available to use right in front of us.
I loved the dumbbell workout against the wall I could really feel my muscles working while isolating the back against the wall.

The abs routine is very well organized and effective use of time and getting all sides of the midsection in one workout throughout the entire week.

The modified Pilates were fun to do and works the core very well. The organization of the book is one of the best I have seen in years and the recommended workout plans are very good for each type of person trying to lose weight or work a certain weak body area and bring it up to par with the rest of their body parts.

The section on why injuries occur when working out was some of the best advice I have read or heard in a very long time. Nice and practical information on how not to hurt yourself and which exercises in the gym to look out for.

Recommend to all fitness levels for men and women wanting to get into shape.

Intelligently presented, logical explanation of how and why you can change your lifestyle to make your back pain go away without drastic measures and effective changes for life by doing daily exercises that not only focus on the back region like most "back care books" that have been written, instead this book takes the reader through a whole host of exercises to work the entire body.

Just by my undertaking this program, I have lost 8 pounds and reduced a lot of my general stiffness I seem to have walked around with for years.

My advice to you would be to buy this book, forget anything else you read or hear, and just try it for a month. See what happens, and I bet you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

An excellent book that covers absolutely everything that you can possibly do at home or in the gym includes use of the stability ball and mixes the free weights and machine nicely that further works your entire body. It is well broken down into chapters covering each individual body part, which is both easy to read while displaying good detail, with helpful tips for most exercises. I believe that it will be useful for a wide range of people with different exercises focusing on strength, balance, co-ordination and flexibility. Overall it is a great all round exercise book for developing core strength for anyone