BOOK REVIEW: Your Body, Your Responsibility:
Learn How to Live in Your Body Better
By Debra M. Corbo, PT, CPT and Douglas J. Splittgerber, CPT

If you’re like millions of Americans, you think nothing of taking over-the-counter pain relief tablets for any twinge or ache. It’s all part of aging, right? And soreness comes along with any physical exertion, correct? Wrong!—says certified trainer “to the trainers” and “bodymechanics specialist” Douglas Splittgerber. He says that no matter what your age, you can rebuild and maintain your body safely, and derive health and strength from physical activity.

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A Solid, No Nonsense, Practical Approach to Achieving and Maintaining Good Health, March 17, 2007 By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States).

There are many self help books on diet, gimmicky tools that can be viewed and purchased on late night TV slots, famous people sharing their secrets to instant body improvement by 'only a few minutes each week', pills, energy boosters - everyone has seen the gamut. And the question arises "with so many 'infallible aids' available, why is the rate of overweight adults in America as high as 60%"? And why are we all accepting that back pain, joint pain, decreased energy, arthritis, etc just inevitable factors of aging that cannot be curbed?

Well, enter Debra M. Corbo and Douglas J. Splittgerber, a husband and wife team and both physical therapists, who have joined to create this easy to read, very pragmatic and medically correct book YOUR BODY, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. It is a well written book that takes the time to explain the function of the muscle and skeletal system of our bodies and how approaching the near-neglected science of stretching and strengthening is obviously the key to maintaining weight, properly adjusted exercise, body control and maintenance, and care of our backs, hips, shoulders, wrists, hands, pelvic zones, something we as caretakers of our physical bodies can and, in fact, must do.

Not filled with empty promises of goals of fat loss or massively muscular beach perfect bodies, both Corbo and Splittgerber have written a book that takes some time and practice to understand, but the reward is an ongoing gadget-free approach to longevity. Their approach is labeled 'The Alignment Resistance Training Method of Stretching and Strengthening' and they understand that a picture is worth a thousand words: the book contains a first class 1 hour 15 minute DVD that demonstrates each of the maneuvers discussed in the book. Following the DVD is comfortably paced and one aspect of watching the well demonstrated exercises that makes it even more credible is that the authors are both older people - 48 and 56 - though they are in such superb physical shape that their chronological age matters little. It is just easier to have as your instructors people who are not buff and beautiful early twenty-something models who frustrate hopes of ever emulating them.

But perhaps the strongest point of this book/DVD is the list of 'promises' the authors afford: 'Get better results from your exercise efforts. reduce medical costs, improve your quality of life as you age' and remembering that your body is your responsibility. This is one of the best and most honest self-improvement programs available. Grady Harp, March 07



Your Body, Your Responsibility is highly recommended., July 9, 2007 By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)

Written by Debra M. Corbo, PT, CPT and Douglas J. Splittgerber, CPT, Your Body, Your Responsibility is a "user's manual" to keeping the human body healthy emphasizing an alignment resistance training method for stretching and strengthening. Your Body, Your Responsibility addresses why dieting alone fails as a means to procure weight control and optimum health; in order to effectively burn calories, the body needs muscles to nurture. Simple cardio exercise has its own benefits, but cardio exercise does not necessarily work out all muscles, and muscles that aren't used in the cardio may even decrease as the body pillages them for nutrients in favor of fat stores (it's the body's evolved survival technique to stay alive in times of famine, yet deleterious to human health in the modern age of plenty). What's a person to do? Your Body, Your Responsibility offers a basic education in how different muscles and joints work, and recommends a stretching and resistance exercise routine to strengthen all muscles and keep the self healthy. An accompanying 1 hour 15 minute DVD guides the reader through stretches, workout techniques, and no-nonsense advice about posture, self-care, and using one's body properly. Knowledge is power, and knowing how one's body functions mechanically empowers one to keep it in optimum condition. Your Body, Your Responsibility is highly recommended.