Stronger: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives

Journalist Gross (Starstruck) presents a vigorous examination of the history and science of strength training. Charting the evolution of muscle-building exercise, Gross discusses how such ancient physicians as Galen and Seneca warned that working out too much risked under-developing the mind through neglect, how Victorian strongwomen were celebrated for their beauty despite prevailing beliefs that women should be “fragile and submissive,” and how Soviet researchers revolutionized powerlifting by developing “periodization” (a training method that organizes workouts into cycles of increasing intensity) in the 1950s. Gross also profiles powerlifter Charles Stocking, detailing how fellow lifters taught him proper form to minimize his risk of injury, how a painful mistake shortly before a competition led him to adopt periodization, and how continued training keeps him feeling healthy into his 40s. “Even into oldest age... every person has some power to change how time changes the body,” Gross contends, describing how geriatrician Maria Fiatarone Singh’s research provided high-intensity strength training to the elderly residents of a Boston rehabilitation center and found that the training was safe and effective at building muscle even for nonagenarians. Buoyed by enlightening history and a cerebral bent (Gross emphasizes throughout that muscle’s capacity to “modulate our power to act upon the world” enables “independence, autonomy, and agency”), this delivers. Photos. Agent: Todd Shuster, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)