Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise


K. Anders Ericsson - 2016
    Rest assured that the book is not mere theory. Ericsson's research focuses on the real world, and he explains in detail, with examples, how all of us can apply the principles of great performance in our work or in any other part of our lives."-- Fortune Anders Ericsson has made a career studying chess champions, violin virtuosos, star athletes, and memory mavens. Peak distills three decades of myth-shattering research into a powerful learning strategy that is fundamentally different from the way people traditionally think about acquiring new abilities. Whether you want to stand out at work, improve your athletic or musical performance, or help your child achieve academic goals, Ericsson's revolutionary methods will show you how to improve at almost any skill that matters to you."The science of excellence can be divided into two eras: before Ericsson and after Ericsson. His groundbreaking work, captured in this brilliantly useful book, provides us with a blueprint for achieving the most important and life-changing work possible: to become a little bit better each day."--Dan Coyle, author of The Talent Code "Ericsson's research has revolutionized how we think about human achievement. If everyone would take the lessons of this book to heart, it could truly change the world."--Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein

Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimised practices for waking, working, learning, eating, training, playing, sleeping and sex


Aubrey Marcus - 2018
    Aubrey Marcus, author of the book is CEO of Onnit, a human performance company that he has built into one of the fastest growing companies in the world.How can we get the most out of our body and mind on a daily basis? Want to change your life for the better?Aubrey Marcus answers these questions in this handbook that guides the reader to optimise each moment of the day. With small, actionable changes implemented throughout the course of one day we can feel better, perform more efficiently and live happier. And these habits turn into weekly routines, ultimately becoming part of a lifelong healthy choice.From workouts and diet to inbox triage, mindfulness, shower temperature and sex this groundbreaking manual provides strategies for each element of your day. Drawing on the latest studies and traditional practices from around the world, this book delivers cutting-edge life hacks, nutritional expertise, brain upgrades and fitness regimes.Own the Day presents a path to change. It guides readers through a single 24-hour day of positive choices and optimal living that will form the groundwork for all their days to come. From foundational elements like workouts, diet, and mindfulness, to more routine opportunities to optimize your choices, such as shower temperature and inbox triage, readers will learn to make the most of every moment.Ultimately, Marcus creates a choose-your-own-adventure guide to living that brings the reader's mind, body, and spirit to life. It is a promise delivered on the back of real, concrete strategies for better living. And the all-encompassing results are what make this book's simplistic approach so successful. By focusing on optimal decision making for just one day —by making several small, key changes in your daily approach—you end up addressing your health at every level. And owning your day.

Movement: Functional Movement Systems: Screening, Assessment, and Corrective Strategies


Gray Cook - 2010
    The discoveries, lessons and approaches you'll learn: How to view and measure movement quality alongside quantity; How to ascertain dysfunctional patterns with the Functional Movement Screen; What clinicians need to know about the Selective Functional Movement Assessments; When to apply corrective strategies and how to determine which strategies to use; How to map movement patterns and understand movement as a behavior and not just as a mechanical idea. This book is not simply about the anatomy of moving structures. Rather, it serves a broader purpose to help the reader understand authentic human movement, and how the brain and body create and learn movement patterns. Our modern dysfunctions are a product of our isolated and incomplete approaches to exercise imposed on our sedentary lifestyles. A return to movement principles can create a more comprehensive exercise and rehabilitation model, a model that starts with movement.

Not a Diet Book: The Must-Have Fitness Book From the World's Favourite Personal Trainer


James Smith - 2020
    It’s getting to the root of why you always wear black; why you get undressed in the dark; why eating the foods you love make you feel guilty; why you’re afraid to step into the gym; why your confidence is at an all-time low; and how all of this is having a negative impact upon all areas of your life, relationships and happiness.So, be prepared to transform your attitudes, fix bad habits, lose fat, gain confidence, and become the best possible version of yourself with the last ‘diet’ book you’ll ever need. It’s so much simpler than everyone wants you to believe…

Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin & Free


Susan Peirce Thompson - 2017
    Are you ready to join them?In this book, Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. shares the groundbreaking weight-loss solution based on her highly acclaimed Bright Line Eating Boot Camps. Rooted in cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, and biology, Bright Line Eating explains why people who are desperate to lose weight fail again and again: It’s because the brain blocks weight loss. Bright Line Eating (BLE) is a simple approach designed to reverse that process. By working with four “Bright Lines” — clear, unambiguous, boundaries — Susan Peirce Thompson shows us how to heal our brain and shift it into a mode where it is ready to shed pounds, release cravings, and stop sabotaging our weight loss goals.Best of all, it is a program that understands that willpower cannot be relied on, and sets us up to be successful anyway.Through the lens of Susan’s own moving story, and those of her Bright Lifers, you’ll discover firsthand why traditional diet and exercise plans have failed in the past. You’ll also learn about the role addictive susceptibility plays in your personal weight-loss journey, where cravings come from, how to rewire your brain so they disappear, and more. Susan guides you through the phases of Bright Line Eating—from weight loss to maintenance and beyond—and offers a dynamic food plan that will work for anyone, whether you’re vegan, gluten-free, paleo, or none of the above.Bright Line Eating frees us from the obesity cycle and introduces a radical plan for sustainable weight loss. It’s a game changer in a game that desperately needs changing. “Bright Line Eating ushers in an end to cravings, an end to dieting, an end to that constant, exhausting, soul-sucking loop in your head about food and calories and pounds. . . . Living Happy, Thin, and Free is your birthright.” — Susan Peirce Thompson

Maximum Strength: Get Your Strongest Body in 16 Weeks with the Ultimate Weight-Training Program


Eric Cressey - 2008
    Eric Cressey's cutting-edge four-phase program, featuring constant progression, variation, and inspiring goals, keeps you focused on increasing strength along with muscle mass, helping you achieve the fittest, most energetic, and best-looking body you've ever had-with fewer hours at the gym.

A Beautiful Work In Progress


Mirna Valerio - 2017
    When you meet her on the trail, you might be surprised to see she doesn’t quite fit the typical image of a long-distance runner. She’s neither skinny nor white, and she’s here to show just how misguided these stereotypes can be.In this prejudice-busting, body-positive memoir told with raw honesty, an adventurous spirit, and a sharp sense of humor, Valerio takes readers along on her journey from first-time racer to ultramarathoner and proves that anyone can become a successful athlete.

The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected.


Martin Berkhan - 2018
    Forget sit-ups. Eat when you want but don’t snack. Breakfast? Who needs it. Spend less than two hours a week in the gym to double your results in half the time, because less is more. Sound like a reasonable diet and exercise advice? To most people, it doesn’t. But as crazy as it sounds, these statements are part of the winning formula behind Martin Berkhan’s controversial Leangains method—as evidenced by hundreds of clients and thousands of success stories from Leangains devotees all over the world. The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected is the definitive fat loss manual and body transformation plan for people who are tired of gimmicks, BS, and the same old spiels they’ve heard countless times before. Tired tropes like “Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper,” conventional “wisdom” about our eating habits and other nonsensical beliefs has no place in this book - but they are dealt with accordingly, which is to say that The Leangains Method is the perfect gift for the dabbler who can’t tell right from wrong and is highly educational for beginners or scholars alike. Conceived and outlined on www.leangains.com over a decade ago, the Leangains diet is commonly known as the “16:8" diet in mainstream media. The popular diet that shook the foundation of the fitness industry, kickstarted the intermittent fasting craze and caused a nutritional paradigm shift has been plagiarized more than any other diet in recent history. But its secrets have eluded everyone, and its efficiency has never been reproduced. Until now. And when its elusive creator pulls the curtain apart and reveals the treasured terroir of the Method, you will bask at its flavors and laugh at its imitators. Rest assured. People are often told that there are no secrets left. That statement was wrong a decade ago when Martin Berkhan introduced intermittent fasting and made breakfast skipping a thing. And in The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected he does it again. But he doesn’t make these outlandish claims casually, and skeptics will be delighted to know that the book and its methods are fully referenced, evidence-based, and peer-reviewed by fitness industry watchdog Alan Aragon. The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected is chock-full of insider secrets and cutting-edge science revealed for the very first time. You’ll learn why a calorie isn’t a calorie, and how to use this knowledge to your advantage. You’ll be taught the ingredients of the most efficient legal fat-burning stack in existence—and, should you decide to use it, be able to accelerate fat loss by up to half a pound per week. After that and much more, you’ll witness the unveiling of the greatest diet secret of them all. The magic bullet, the one thing that makes all the difference. Don’t listen to what they say. It exists. The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected is the alpha and omega of fat loss, conceived at the crossroads of lived experience and brutal honesty, the everyday practicalities of dieting, and the bleeding edge of science. It’s a body transformation plan that reaches beyond bodies and into minds, perceptions, and priorities. Its author makes a single promise. You’ve never read a book like this before, and you’ll never read its like again. Author’s note: The Leangains Method extols the benefits of a high-protein diet, and the nutritional recommendations in the book reflect this. It’s therefore unsuitable for vegans and—to a lesser extent—vegetarians.

How not to diet


Michael Greger - 2019
    Greger hones in on the optimal criteria to enable weight loss, while considering how these foods actually affect our health and longevity. He lays out the key ingredients of the ideal weight-loss diet—factors such as calorie density, the insulin index, and the impact of foods on our gut microbiome—showing how plant-based eating is crucial to our success.But HOW NOT TO DIET goes beyond food to identify twenty-one weight-loss accelerators available to our bodies, incorporating the latest discoveries in cutting-edge areas like chronobiology to reveal the factors that maximize our natural fat-burning capabilities. Dr. Greger builds the ultimate weight loss guide from the ground up, taking a timeless, proactive approach that can stand up to any new trend.

For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World


Sasha Sagan - 2019
    Read her work; you'll have a deeper appreciation for your every step, every bite, and every breath." --Bill NyeSasha Sagan was raised by secular parents, the astronomer Carl Sagan and the writer and producer Ann Druyan. They taught her that the natural world and vast cosmos are full of profound beauty, that science reveals truths more wondrous than any myth or fable.When Sagan herself became a mother, she began her own hunt for the natural phenomena behind our most treasured occasions--from births to deaths, holidays to weddings, anniversaries, and more--growing these roots into a new set of rituals for her young daughter that honor the joy and significance of each experience without relying on religious framework.As Sagan shares these rituals, For Small Creatures Such as We becomes a tribute to a father, a newborn daughter, a marriage, and the natural world--a celebration of life itself, and the power of our families and beliefs to bring us together.

Supertraining


Mel C. Siff - 2000
    Every topic is covered in almost 600 pages. * Strength and the muscular system * Philosophy of physical training * The muscle complex * Adaptation and the training effect * Sport specific strength training * Factors influencing strength production * The means of special strength training * The methods of special strength training * Organization of training * Strength training methods * Designing sports specific strength programs * Restoration and stress management * Combination of resistance methods * The use of testing * Overtraining * PNF as a training system * Models for structuring the annual training * Preparedness and the training load * Periodisation as a form of organization * Plyometric

The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Astonishing Dialogue Taking Place in Our Bodies Impacts Health, Weight, and Mood


Emeran Mayer - 2015
    While the dialogue between the gut and the brain has been recognized by ancient healing traditions, including Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, Western medicine has failed to appreciate the complexity of how the brain, gut, and more recently, the microbiome—the microorganisms that live inside us—communicate with one another. In The Mind-Gut Connection, Dr. Emeran Mayer, executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, offers a revolutionary look at this developing science, teaching us how to harness the power of the mind-gut connection to take charge of our health.The Mind-Gut Connection shows how to keep the brain-gut communication clear and balanced to:• heal the gut by focusing on a plant-based diet• balance the microbiome by consuming fermented foods and probiotics, fasting, and cutting out sugar and processed foods• promote weight loss by detoxifying and creating healthy digestion and maximum nutrient absorption• boost immunity and prevent the onset of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s andAlzheimer’s• generate a happier mindset and reduce fatigue, moodiness, anxiety, and depression• prevent and heal GI disorders such as leaky gut syndrome, food sensitivities and allergies, and IBS, as well as digestive discomfort such as heartburn and bloating• and much more.

Building The Gymnastic Body: The Science of Gymnastics Strength Training


Christopher Sommer - 2008
    

How to Think About Exercise


Damon Young - 2014
    In the office or at study we are ‘mind workers’, with superfluous bodies. In the gym we stretch, run and lift, but our minds are idle. Damon Young challenges this idea, revealing how fitness can develop our bodies and minds, together. Exploring exercises and sports with the help of ancient and modern philosophy, he uncovers the pleasures, virtues and big ideas of fitness. By exercising intelligently, we are committing to wholeness: enjoying and enhancing our full humanity.

Light on Yoga


B.K.S. Iyengar - 1966
    With more than 600 photographs depicting all the postures and breathing exercises, it remains the fullest, most practical, and most profusely illustrated guide by the world's foremost yoga teacher. Light on Yoga is a comprehensive and definitive source-book for the initiated, as well as the best introduction for the novice who seeks the healthful benefits of Yoga for mind, body, and soul.