I agree with
@TopNotch . My immediate reaction to the second cover was: Ick! It's promoting the "men do calisthenics and women do yoga" stereotype!
I practice yoga myself. I teach yoga. And I teach and practice it primarily as a strength-building activity. I know one can get a great workout and build a huge amount of strength from doing yoga alone. But the female figure on the second cover isn't practicing a strength-building pose. (Somewhat, she is. Lotus pose does require and help to build back strength. But mostly it's a pose that requires more lower body flexibility than most adult humans have, and it's associated with meditation, not a workout. Also: the male figure is also doing a yoga pose. Four-limbed staff pose--a.k.a. chaturanga dandasana--is a pose you will find more often in modern yoga classes than full lotus. But it's a pose associated with the physical strength-building aspects of yoga asana.)
But there is very much a gendered stereotype about fitness training that I think the second cover feeds into: both that women don't do "real" strength work, and also that men don't meditate or practice other mind/body disciplines. If the book discusses mental aspects of fitness training (which the subtitle suggests it does, and which I am guessing it does based on
@Damer 's focus on these topics in his videos and DAREBEE Guides) I agree with
@PetiteSheWolf : including a figure in a meditative pose on the cover is good because it (symbolically) illustrates this. Swapping the figures around as
@Damer suggested subverts the stereotype and sends the message that all aspects of fitness training are for everyone. So that is the option I like best.
Re: the Oxford comma: I personally like it and use it. In some instances it is necessary to make meaning clear. So I use it all the time for the sake of consistency. This being said, it's not necessary to make the meaning of the book's subtitle clear. And there aren't any other instances on the cover where it would be. So I would go with what makes the cover look better, typographically. (Which to me is to include the comma--especially in the second example. But this may be my preference for using it in general talking.) There is also a thematic argument to be made here. The Oxford comma is more popular in academic writing. Its absence is more popular in informal writing. So including it sends the message that the book is based on science whereas omitting it suggests the book is yet another book by Joe Fitness Guru that's based on JFG's personal opinions. (This is my take, at least. But typographical culture may be different across the pond.)
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