cover image The Body of America: An Insider's Journey Through the Bumps and Pumps, Groans and Moans, Pecs and Wrecks..

The Body of America: An Insider's Journey Through the Bumps and Pumps, Groans and Moans, Pecs and Wrecks..

Blair Sabol. Arbor House Publishing, $14.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-807-9

Freelance journalist Sabol joined the armies of fitness freaks who have gained phenomenal numbers in recent years. Soon enough, however, she realized that she was going to ludicrous lengths in her search for the perfect body. Then she set out on an investigation of spas, aerobics classes, diet centers and gyms that promise vigor and mental and emotional bliss: the full life. Her findings are spiced with wry wit but cautionary as she describes experiences under Jane Fonda's rigid tutelage, regimens developed by Shirley MacLaine, Raquel Welch and other famous names. The author trains at status gyms offering ""Special High-Intensity Training,'' a grueling workout referred to by its initials (``the question becomes how much of this you can take''). Overexerted readers will welcome the book's conclusion, that a program of fitness should be based on moderation and the needs of one's own body. First serial to Mademoiselle, New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, New Age. (September 29)