The fitness program for those who don't want to aggravate old injuries-or risk new ones.For many, General Fitness is a perfectly acceptable goal. The benefits are numerous and established, and regular exercise is something you can do on your own behalf.But the hard-core images can get in the way. Bodybuilding, the combative sports, and extreme exercise can all produce impressive bodies, but impressive injuries as well. If staying injury-free is a major priority for you, these may not be the best influence on your workouts.Joint-Friendly Fitness is an approach to exercise that puts using your body safely first, above all other aspects of your program. It draws on anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology to determine how the muscles and joints work properly, and then applies that to exercise instructions. The goal is to get more fit, toned, and flexible while managing the risk of your workout itself causing an injury.Joint-Friendly Fitness is designed to avoid both the obvious injuries that happen during your workout, and the not-as-obvious wear and tear that leads to new injuries and chronic conditions. And what makes it The Optimal Exercise Program is that you can achieve the level of general fitness you desire, from looking better in clothes and moving without achy joints, to supporting your golf game or your 5ks, in the time and effort you have to devote to it.In this profusely illustrated manual, you will learn: How to use free weights, machines, cardio, and other exercises in a way that is more effective for conditioning yet easier on the joints. How your joints and muscles work most effectively, what their vulnerable positions are, and how to protect them during exercise. And how to organize your program for sustainable training with the intent of staying injury free. Strengthen your muscles, protect your joints, avoid injury...and benefit from exercise over a lifetime.