In 2011, Ken wrote The Renaissance of Exercise—Volume 1 (ROE-1). Over 2,000 hardcopies sold at a price of $147.00 each. But Volume 1 excluded several chapters that Ken did not then see a way to expand and make more interesting and practical.
Ten years have passed and Ken has learned much more regarding the excluded topics. Time has also permitted his development of more equipment with enhanced philosophical and technical underpinnings.
This new volume includes two articles from the 1997 Exercise Standard by Michele Mingoia that recount the basics of research methods and procedures.
Then there is a three-part series from the 1998 Exercise Standard by Daniel Thompson that dive deep into the problems and inconsistencies inherent in MedX Testing.
Ken then takes his 1992 chapters on friction to much greater detail regarding friction theory, friction assessment, and friction reduction in exercise equipment. He provides the reader with exacting instruction how to remove and upgrade mechanical articulations.
Included are three chapters of equipment design projects.
The 1992 chapter regarding the Linear Spine machines includes greatly expanded sections showing how the Linear Spine Flexion goes way beyond both the McKinsey method and the MedX Lumbar addressing back-pain relief.
A completely new chapter (76 pages) is included on shoulder rehab that chronicles Ken’s own journey into the depths of treachery within the orthopedic community that almost cost Ken some of his body parts.
There are other new chapters to raise the total to 24. There are over 325 pictures. And if you dismiss the 17 or so pages of title, table of contents, preface, acknowledgements, biographical sketch of author, and separation pages, there are over 525 pages of information-packed words and graphics.
Enjoy!
ROE2: 546 pages, 325+ pictures.
Topics Covered
- Research Fundamentals
- Why to Avoid All MedX Testing
- Herman Pontzer Collapses Exercise Physiology
- How to Counterweigh Movement Arms
- Friction Theory and Application
- A Project to Compute a Harmonic Resistance Curve
- Assessing Friction
- Remedying Friction
- The Great Mechanical Conspiracy Between Friction, Camming, Movement Speed and Independent Movement Arms
- Pulse Modulation
- The Best Back Rehab
- The Best Shoulder Rehab: Ken’s Personal Quest to Avoid Shoulder Replacement Surgery
Contact
Ken Hutchins can be contacted at Ken@SeriousExercise.com
Feedback
"The Renaissance of Exercise is a must for every personal trainer and therapist."
— Drew Baye
"This book is a magnum opus; a deep love letter to humanity. In it, Ken Hutchins spills his proverbial guts, giving all of us the most important and immensely useful information about exercise that the world has ever seen. ROE II represents not only a crucially important follow up to the most valuable technical manual for exercise, it is also a remarkable example of the importance of analytic and critical thinking for any subject.
One of the biggest problems we face in the age of information and social media is the degree to which tribalism creates intellectual vacuums that prevent people from looking at all sides of a problem or question and embeds the believer with entrenched notions that become vociferously defended even when there is clear evidence to the contrary of their deeply held beliefs. Few of us have the courage to divorce ourselves from our ideas and allow our critical thinking to guide our path. This is moving our culture backwards to an intellectual dark age where thinking, philosophy and science are the relegated to the back of the line and where emotions and irrationality rule the day. With ROE II, Ken Hutchins takes the high road in a long journey to expand his already voluminous contributions to exercise philosophy and practice, and with an incessant quest to turn even his own most deeply held concepts, inside out.
Ken is brutally honest with admissions of his past mistakes while simultaneously stacking the deck with powerful substantiations to support his newly evolved theories and ideas. The sheer depth of the material covered is on a level heretofore unseen in any remotely similar tome, if there is such a thing out there. Multiple sections of the book are master classes in physics as it relates to exercise and, although technically and mathematically austere, Ken incredibly manages to keep even the most math-averse reader utterly fascinated. The section on friction is an axiomatic masterpiece.
The book is also crammed with dozens of case studies, personal stories (like the shoulder chapter), and reflections that help to concretize and humanize so many of the ideas presented. Recently, some folks expressed anger or distaste at Ken’s critical evaluations of Arthur Jones, despite the fact that all of these criticisms are remarkably cogent and difficult to refute. But it is sophomoric to think that criticism is derogatory and ROE II reveals—with elegance and kindness—exactly how much Ken loved and revered Jones. In fact, Ken’s elegant criticisms impart nothing less than a true veneration of Jones.
It is a strange time to be alive on this planet and it can be very difficult to determine what is right and good in our informationally overloaded world. When it comes to exercise, we are in the midst of the most absurd and asinine ideas that have ever been generated and proliferated. But ROE II is like a candle in the dark; a relentless and exhaustive example of how to check your ego at the door and always pursue the truth."
— Gus Diamantopoulos
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