Sports Fitness & Training

The authors, two physicians and a trainer (The Runner's Complete Medical Guide, provide here a near-encyclopedia of sports and training terms and techniques. The oversize volume is cumbersome and the writing style heavy-handed (""Obesity and its handmaiden, sloth, reflect a lifestyle incompatible with fitness''); the detail with which the authors discuss such topics as the cardiovascular system and shoulder injuries may make this a good textbook for exercise physiologists but hard going for the average reader. Approximately half of the book is divided into specific sportsand the authors are so thorough, they tell trainers and athletes that one of the requirements for baseball is a bat, which they then describe. But if readers decide to wade through such excess, the volume is also jam-packed with solid, accessible information, including exercises for individual injuries and sources of training equipment. Illustrations not seen by PW. (June)