About the Authors

Robert Forster, P.T., is the CEO and founder of Forster Physical Therapy and Phase IV Scientific Health and Performance Center in Santa Monica, California. He has practiced sports physical therapy (PT) for thirty-four years and lectured throughout the United States and Europe on sports rehabilitation and safety in exercise. He is the exclusive PT provider for the Los Angeles Marathon. He received his education at Stony Brook University in New York before beginning his career at the distinguished Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles. He served as a private PT at five Olympic Games for Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Florence “Flo Jo” Joyner, Alyson Felix, and their teammates who have won a combined forty-two Olympic medals under his direct care. He has worked with pro athletes Pete Sampras, Kobe Bryant, Maria Sharapova, as well as mixed martial arts champions Joe Warren, Jay Dee “B.J.” Penn, and Chael Sonnen. He has published several research studies, writes a regular column in Triathlete magazine, and co-authored The Complete Water Workout Book. Robert has served on the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and recently created the Herbalife 24 Fit Exercise Video for the global nutrition and weight loss company.

Roy M. Wallack is a longtime Los Angeles Times health section fitness-gear columnist/feature writer, a contributor to many national magazines, former editor of Triathlete and Bicycle Guide magazines, and author of many books on high-level lifelong fitness, including Barefoot Running Step By Step; Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100; Run for Life; Fire Your Gym: High Intensity Workouts You Can Do at Home; and The Traveling Cyclist: 20 Worldwide Tours. Over the years, Roy “broke the news” on several important fitness stories and trends that now are common knowledge, including the cycling/osteoporosis connection; the injury-reduction of the Pose Method, barefoot running, and other forefoot landing methods; the fountain-of-youth effect of all-out intervals and rapid-contraction weight training, the rise of Crossfit and high-intensity training; and the groundbreaking concept of a harmful “black hole” training zone. A former collegiate wrestler, Roy has survived some of the world’s toughest endurance events, including the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race, the Badwater 135 UltraMarathon, the week-long Eco-Challenge and Primal Quest adventure races, the 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris randonnee, and the mountain-bike stage races Trans-Alp Challenge, BC Bike Race, Trans-Rockies Challenge, Breck Epic, and Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores. He finished second in the World Fitness Championship in 2004. A graduate of UCLA and Whittier College, he lives in Irvine, California.