I am always intrigued by attempts to meld scientific and spiritual/occult perspectives into something of positive benefit. At first glance Zodiaction: Fat-Burning Fitness Tailored to Your Personal Star Quality is such a meld. Sadly, it does not live up to its potential.
I’m a Virgo, and it makes absolute sense that a key component of an exercise regime includes, or is based on, working the Core – those muscles that support and maintain the torso. My own experiences led me to that belief so when Barrett & Dolnicks say: “Virgo’s workout is a complete total body routine but appears to be exclusively about abs . . . If you have a strong core, your power center is thus strong, making your emotional or intellectual energy harmonious.” I was incredibly happy.
But Virgo is one of twelve signs, so I needed to widen my focus. I looked up my partner’s ideal workout. He’s a Taurus, and built like one. For Taurus the advice is to find something he likes, and then do it – at least 3x a week. (OK, that’s good advice, but isn’t it true for every person?) “Taurus needs a workout that is thorough and gentle. Extra credit goes to workouts you can do at home – as long as you do them. . . And any kind of in-your-body, get-the-job-done stretching and strengthening is nice too.” Hmmm…. My sweetie has found a workout he loves: Muy Thai and it’s the opposite of their recommendation, except that he will do it.
OK, let’s look a little further: my good friend is a Pisces. He recently lost a lot of weight by watching his diet (Weight Watchers, I believe, helped a great deal with that) and walking. He’s a Pisces. No surprise, Zodiaction recommends swimming for the Pisces. At that point I was disappointed at the cliché. Not every Pisces swims, or even likes swimming (my friend isn’t a fan of it). Worse, there isn’t an alternative suggestion for the 1000s of Pisces who don’t want to swim, or can’t for whatever reason.
Now for the positives: Each sign is asked to do 30-45 mins of cardio, 3x a week. This is sensible advice, and leads to better health. Some of the advice about diet or working with a trainer might be useful (try factoring in your Ascendant and see if the advice fits a bit better). And the yoga/stretches look like they are more tailored for the individual signs and would be useful for re-connecting with the relevant parts of your body.
Bottom line: Borrow this from the library and give it a read.
2 ½ exercise balls out of 5.
~review by Lisa Mc Sherry
Authors: Barrie Dolnick and Ellen Barrett
Bantam, 2007
pp. 208, $15.00
