This may sound a bit odd, but my days of devouring training texts are long gone. The majority of books I read — and content I now consume — are are about evolutionary psychology, biology, and any other -ology you can conjure. (Maybe I should do a post on these books sometime?) But I still get [...]
This may sound a bit odd, but my days of devouring training texts are long gone. The majority of books I read — and content I now consume — are are about evolutionary psychology, biology, and any other -ology you can conjure. (Maybe I should do a post on these books sometime?)
But I still get around to training books here and there. Here are the six most recent ones that I’ve read.
1. Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
If Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t motivate you, you have no soul. Total Recall is his personal biography. From birth to Governor and beyond.
Diving into his upbringing was interesting. Seeing the risks he took and the passion he brought to life was motivating. I also enjoyed reading about his early acting struggles, and the developmental process there — practicing weapon handling so that he’d look like a natural on the big screen, etc…
Although this isn’t a “training” book, my favorite parts were small gems about both training and life that were perfectly nestled into nooks here and there.
He writes about how Sergio Oliva did ten sets of twenty rep chin-ups every day as his warm-up. This makes my warm-up (usually twenty chins) seem like terds, but it tells me I’m onto something (!).
Here’s a good passage on how physical effort intertwines with acting:
John believed that the rigors of weight training, dancing, or being out seven hours a day surfing waves that could kill you built strength of character, and he was sure that this would show through on the screen. ‘Look at the faces of people who went through horrible times; people from Yugoslavia or Russia,’ he would say. ‘Look at the lines, the character in their faces. You can’t fake that. These people have principles that they will stand and die for. They are tough because of the resistance they’ve fought through.’
Strength training builds character. That’s why it has to matter.
My favorite passage:
Our group fantasy that summer was that we were living like gladiators. We were rolling back time, drinking pure water and red wine, eating meat, having women, running through the forest and working out, and doing sports. Each week we’d build a big fire by the lake and make shish kebabs with tomatoes and onions and meat. We’d lie under the stars and turn the skewers in the flames until the food was just perfect.
Sounds like a perfect summer day…
2. Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat by Ori Hofmekler
Ori Hofmekler is the unsung intermittent fasting hero. He’s really the brains behind it all. You’ve probably heard of The Warrior Diet, which synthesizes his ideas into a “method” and philosophy. But Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat is the nuts and bolts.
This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It sciency. It’s a tougher read. It’s something you need to read five times before understanding much of anything inside. But it’s worth it.
Some things I enjoyed:
- The emphasis on negative feedback control — how anabolism is stimulated from catabolism, and other similar relationships.
- The biological and physiological mechanisms behind intermittent fasting — there isn’t a shortage of this stuff inside.
- The effects of anti-inflammatory drugs on growth, and how we essentially destroy the body’s natural detoxification system.
- The effects of cold temperatures on fat loss. This is something others have since popularized. Just shows Ori’s unsung role in a lot of modern ideas floating around.
Ori was (and still is) before his time.
I marked up just about every other page in this book. It will be re-read many times over.
3. The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove
Fun fact: Lou Schuler was one of the first people I emailed when I was looking to write for magazines. I sent him a crummy pitch, and he was kind enough respond (and open my eyes) with a full critique.
It’s funny: I emailed him a second time, asking for a second critique. He responded with, “Sorry, you only get one..,” or something along those lines. Can’t remember the response exactly, but I remember it resonating with me in a mysteriously profound way — it made me get up and send serious pitches to serious websites. So I owe a lot to Lou. He was a silent catalyst in my writing quest.
On to the book —
I’m a big tactile guy when it comes to books. With Supercharged in my hands, I felt like I was back in college. It’s more of a text book. And I feel like that was kinda the target audience: people without much training backing, or people that wanted to familiarize themselves with the new age training concepts. So if you’re a general training enthusiasts, New Rules of Lifting Supercharged will get you caught up on mainstream training concepts.
The book is half rules, and half programming (exercise descriptions included). I took much more favor to the rules part, since I already have a grasp on form and programming. This could easily swap depending on your where you are on the knowledge spectrum.
My favorite rules (paraphrased):
Rule #11: There’s no clear cut line between strength, cardio, and all of that jazz. This is precisely why I use AAA circuits. We get caught in this idea of aerobic work being jogging…and nothing else. But aerobic is all about heart rate. Not type of movement.
Rule #14: Genetics kinda sorta matter. Satellite cells are precursors to muscle cells, and studies show that gains on any program — even if Alexander the Great wrote it — just won’t be all that great if you lack them.
Pretty depressing, right?
Before giving up hope, know that you probably aren’t void of satellite cells. You might not be a thoroughbred or anything. But there’s always hope.
There’s almost always a genetic and environmental component to biology. I mention this quite a bit in the Skinny-Fat Solution. If you’re operating from a genetic suck point, you’d better own your environment.
4. Intervention by Dan John
Dan John hypnotizes me. I enjoy his writing. It’s simple, yet elegant. After reading his stuff I can’t help but say, “It all makes sense…I think.” And I only “think” because I think that “knowing” much of anything in this field is dangerous. I’m sure a lot of people knew that fat was a destroyer of worlds ten years ago.
Intervention is Dan John’s ethos. If you walked up to Dan and said, “Fix me…and then make me,” you’d naturally learn Intervention from then on. It’s a great read because you get to understand the mind of Dan. Understanding concepts is one thing. Understanding the mind is much more valuable.
It’s worth it.
On another Dan John note, I still think Easy Strength is a must-read for anyone with performance ambitions.
5. The Complete Keys to Progress by John McCallum
A reader (you know who you are, thank you so very much) sent me a copy of The Complete Keys to Progress. I finished this one a little while ago, but I enjoyed the writing format. It’s very much an “old guy teaches young guy the ropes” kinda thing — learning through story telling rather than facts.
No doubt The Complete Keys to Progress is an old school book. I enjoy it in that regard, even though I don’t 100% agree with a lot of the nutrition advice inside. The Chaos Bulk is the antithesis of old school bulking and cutting, after all.
But there are a few passages from the book that I think everyone needs to read. (Or re-read if you’ve already read it.)
If your muscles are big and shapely enough, then you don’t need too much definition. You don’t have to look like a skinned rabbit. You don’t want your muscle buried under a foot-thick layer of flab, but at the same time you don’t want to look like an exhibit from a medical school.
If you want a graphic example of the relative unimportance of sub-surface fat to a good build, take a look at photos of the ultimate in man’s inhumanity to man—the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps of the Second World War.
Those pitiful people, whose existence shocked and sickened the civilized world, have as little fat as a human being could have and still cling to life. They had, admittedly, very little muscular development, but even the starving remnants of their muscular structure didn’t show through the skin to any great degree.
Good definition is affected by your sub-surface fat. There’s no doubt about that. But it’s also affected by the size, shape, and condition of the muscles underneath.
6. Building the Gymnastic Body by Christopher Sommer
Coach Sommer is rather “famous” in the gymnastics realm of physical training, and is known for his article Building an Olympic Body Through Bodyweight Conditioning.
This book is about Chris’s progressions for gymnastics exercises. And that extends beyond just the planche and front lever. There certainly isn’t a shortage of exercises inside.
But there was one thing I didn’t like.
At the beginning of the book, Chris talks about being one of the few coaches to teach non-gymnastics athletes the importance of gymnastics training. Yet he didn’t really tell you how to transform the programming for non-gymnast athletes.
The gist of the book is very much “these are the gymnastics exercises, this is how to do them, here’s how to structure them.” It’s very good in that respect. But it assumes that you’re training to be a gymnast (in my eyes, at least) — that this is the only training you’re going to be doing.
This is good though. Because it just means the books I’m writing now — bridging the gap between athletics and aesthetics, meshing body weight and barbell talents, being strength capable and movement capable, using kaio-ken to save the world — will be all that much more valuable and special.
:)
Your opinion
Have you read any of the books above? What did you think?
And what about you? What training books have you nestled your nose into lately?