New Jump Swing Healthy Aging and Athletic Nutrition Program

Clarion Rating: 2 out of 5

New Jump Swing is a dense but encouraging health and fitness book with thoughtful information on a variety of dietary choices.

Donald Thomas’s nutrition and fitness guide New Jump Swing Healthy Aging and Athletic Nutrition Program shares the secrets he credits with securing his world records for longest after-dinner speech and longest sermon. “Regardless of where you start in life, he says, “you can go farther, higher and faster, if you believe in yourself and train properly.”

Relating Thomas’s diet and exercise regimen as an example, the book incorporates research and jump-roping techniques to help people of all ages and skill levels be healthier and lengthen their lives. In form, the work is a jumble of notes pulled from scientific studies, articles, and books, with no clear organization or thesis. Sometimes quotation marks and citations are used, sometimes not, and it is not always clear where the shared information came from or whether it is being quoted directly.

Tangents make the book longer and more confusing. They cover theories around why cells age and how to slow the process, health disparities for those in the minority, and arsenic levels in rice, among other things. The book’s ideas about diet and exercise are rooted in the martial arts philosophy Jeet Kune Do, and the book includes much information about practitioner Bruce Lee’s life and untimely death, including theories about how he died.

The book does not present a diet plan, though it discusses different nutrients, ingredients, and supplements in great detail. Supplements including flower pollen and beet powder are recommended, and the book favors a vegetarian diet while acknowledging that people can make different choices. A compelling argument that human physiology is suited to vegetarianism is forwarded, but without specifics on how to make the switch.

The section of the book related to Thomas’s exercise program is more successful in that it specifically explains its exercises, which involve jumping, twirling, and swinging a rope. Photographs illustrate different moves, making it easy to replicate the techniques. Little advice is given for starting a jump-roping program, modifying moves for older or less agile users, or regarding how long a session should be or how often it should be performed.

While the book covers some subjects in detail—including the effects of different kinds of oils on the body, the importance of complex carbohydrates, and the amount of protein people need to consume—it relies too much on medical jargon and scientific abstracts without clear ideas of what to do with its information. The book is well written but is organized into just four chapters, making it difficult to find information on specific topics.

New Jump Swing is a dense but encouraging health and fitness book with thoughtful information on a variety of dietary choices.

Reviewed by Sarah White

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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