Look at You!: A Fitness Approach

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

This book is aimed at an elementary school reader. If the nation’s fitness level is to improve, it will be through an indoctrination of our children to adopt a more physical lifestyle. Gail Reynolds’ book should assist in this endeavour.

With its language and illustrations aimed at a twelve-year-old, the book gets its message across admirably well. It explains fitness; it tells how to measure fitness; and it shows how to attain that enviable state. The one fault is that the approach is a bit parochial. Bicycle hikes are advised, for example, as a good fitness activity. Most of Canada’s children live in large cities and bicycle hikes are not only impractical, they could very well cut one’s concern for fitness very short indeed. Also, a game like basketball is dismissed as being not conducive to high fitness levels. This is difficult to accept unless, of course, the skills of the players are so abnormal that the game is not truly played. Certainly, most children in the large urban centres would have much more opportunity to play basketball (and intensely) than to take a bicycle hike.

The author carefully explains some of the more esoteric terms, like “aerobic” and “anaerobic,” in simple language and with examples and illustrations taken from everyday life. She also goes to some pains to outline total fitness so that there is no misunderstanding or limitation as to what the parameters are. She also includes good advice regarding dehydration through sweating and how to prevent it, and body modification through weight loss.

In the area of testing guidelines for strength, Reynolds fortunately glosses over the use of a hand dynamometer for measuring strength. This instrument provides one of the worst measures of general strength yet is persistently referred to even by experts like Reynolds. Her other simple testing guidelines are of value, especially to a teacher trying to motivate a class of youngsters.

The book is complete with simple charts, a glossary, and ten summarizing points. It is a great text for an elementary physical education and health class — for which it was probably intended.