INTRODUCTION

SINCE THE EARLY 1970s, as a by-product of the booming concern with self-improvement and personal growth and development, America has rediscovered physical fitness. One consequence has been that Americans—long dismissed as pampered and spoiled by more vigorous peoples—have become the leaders of a worldwide fitness revolution. In the process, there has been a marked improvement in our national health: for the first time in this century, death rates from heart disease and stroke have declined, while the incidence of lung cancer among men has leveled off and begun to decline.

Another result is that new industries related to health and physical fitness have been born, while existing industries have expanded and prospered:

• Health and “natural” foods have become Big Business.

• Sports apparel and equipment companies produce thousands of successful products to help us become more effective in our athletic endeavors—and look stylish while doing so.

• Multifaceted health and fitness clubs—with swimming pools, aerobics classes, Nautilus and Universal weight equipment, Nordic-Track, and racquetball courts—have mushroomed in communities around the country, as well as in thousands of corporations and resorts.

• Medical specialists in athletic injuries have set up shop in every city and town in the United States.

• Experts dispense training and fitness advice on radio spots and television shows, while celebrities produce best-selling exercise videocassettes.

• Dozens of sports and recreation expositions are held in major cities each year.

• Scores of new sports and fitness magazines have appeared and prospered while existing health and fitness magazines have undergone rapid increases in circulation.

Americans have become concerned with the quality of their lives. They are convinced that one way,

perhaps the best way, to improve the quality of their lives is to get in shape. And, as almost all experts

agree, there is no better way to get in shape—and stay in shape—than swimming. That is why I have

written The Complete Book of Swimming.