A Physical Education | Casey Johnston

In this memoir, Casey Johnston describes her journey from a cardio influencer to a strength-training one. Her personal story of overcoming trauma and finding joy in working out is supplemented with scientific information about health, dieting, and fitness.

While this book aims to be educational and to make a compelling case for strength training, it remains a personal memoir first and foremost. The author's trauma and issues, however, resurface in repetitive patterns, which ultimately outstay their welcome and become a chore to read. Over and over she describes being afraid of failing at something or other, ultimately succeeding or failing at said thing, and supposedly learning a lesson, only to end up in the same situation again in the next chapter.

The educational aspect of this book similarly falls short. Sources for claims are collected at the end but not referred to from within the text¹. This makes it difficult to ascertain a claim's veracity, as it's not immediately apparent whether it's sourced from a scientific meta-analysis or a health magazine—or whether there's a source at all!

The memoir succeeds most in its goal to motivate the reader to give strength training a try: Casey Johnston dispels prejudices and possible preconceived notions and makes the discipline sound interesting and compelling, very specifically also for a female audience. But this best part is ultimately buried with the unclear educational passages beneath the overarching repetitious personal story, making this book a rather tedious exercise.

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