Our 3 Favorite Fitness Books
I wanted to write about 3 remarkable books that have had a huge impact on my fitness and health. These are by no means new books, but are books that I come back to time and time again.
The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion: Revolutionary Program That Lets You Rediscover the Body's Power to Rejuvenate It by Pete Egoscue.
When I was 18 years old I developed a strange knee problem that resulted in excruciating pain so severe I could not put weight on the leg and sometimes the knee would just buckle and I would fall. The pain came and went and was extremely intermittent, but the fear of it was always there. It would come out of no where several times a day. I couldn't really do sports out of fear of the pain and normal everyday walking made me a bit nervous. I went to physical therapy and tried a number of things for several months with no success until someone recommended this book. I read it quickly and immediately started doing the exercises in the book and 3 days later the pain was gone. I did the exercises continuously for a few months and then stopped. Occasionally the pain would come back and I would resume the exercises until they went away. I still use the exercises on and off on a regular basis almost 20 years later.
The book is really quite a miracle. I've since lent my copy to a number of people who have all had similar results. Another quick example is a friend who couldn't run a quarter mile because of her knees, but really wanted to run a marathon. I lent her the book and she diligently did the exercises and within a couple of months was running 10K races. She now regularly runs half and full marathons and she attributes that to the exercises in this book. This is not a sales pitch, but seriously the book is quite remarkable.
The basic idea of Egoscue's work is that pain is created by misalignment of the body. The book helps you diagnose how/where you are imbalanced and then provides a set of exercises based on your condition that will help to restore the balance and alleviate the pain. It's not just good for knee pain, but ankle, hip, and back pain. The exercises are very easy to do, but will require some amount of commitment to do daily - like anything else worthwhile. If you or someone you know is having pain in these areas I would really strongly recommend you get the book. It's been nothing short of a miracle for me.
ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer and Katherine Dreyer
Now that my knee pain was gone I began to enjoy running again, although with a busy schedule there was never enough time for it. It didn't really matter because there was a point whenever I run 3 miles or more that I would immediately develop shin splints. Shin splints are no fun and the only way I ever discovered to eliminate the pain was to just stop running until they got better. Then I would start running again, get to about 3 miles, develop shin splints and repeat the cycle.
Then I discovered ChiRunning. It teaches you how to run. It might seem like a strange idea, but really did anyone ever teach us how to run? Somewhere along the line most people have lost track of their natural way of running and Chi Running helps you re-discover your natural form. The technique greatly reduces the energy required to run by utilizing gravity to pull you forward and your legs are for keeping you from falling. There is more to it than that, but that's the basic concept. Beyond technique and form it is a great guide to the mental and emotional aspects of running as well. If you are into running and haven't read this book or want to be into running this is a great place to start. The shin splints have completely disappeared and I can far exceed 3 miles now.
Slow Burn: Burn Fat Faster By Exercising Slower by Stu Mittleman and Katherine Callan
Stu Mittleman is one of the worlds most accomplished ultramarathoners. In 1988 he succeeded in running 1000 miles in 11 days, 20 hours, and 36 minutes. In the year 2000 he ran from San Diego to New York City (3000 miles) in 56 days. This guy knows how to fuel his body for the distance and this book is how he discovered the keys to burning fat rather than sugar and muscle during extended runs and how you can do it too. It contains very specific and easy to follow guidance on thinking, diet and heart rate management to let you burn fat during exercise.
I haven't experienced any miracles with this book but I do think it has helped me build more lasting running practices (although I have a long way to go). My natural tendency is to really go all out, push myself too hard, injure myself, heal, start over. I enjoy running more when I run this way and find I make significantly more progress towards my goals. If you want to burn more fat during exercise and train for long distance aerobic events this book is a really great resource that you should take a look at.
Hopefully this quick summary of a few books on fitness has been helpful. What are your favorite books on this topic?
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