People thought he was mad, until they heard his story, then they began to understand. Having endured years of bullying as a child, Ben tried to takehis own life. In adulthood, Ben struggled to feel content with the life that was mapped out for him. But having found his passion in running, Ben sold his possessions, escaped his old life and set off on what seemed like an impossible mission - The 401 Challenge.During his 10,506.2-mile odyssey criss-crossing the UK, Ben ran in 309 different locations, accompanied by more than 13,500 people. He visited 101 schools, burned an estimated 2.4 million calories, wrecked his back and braved every extreme of the British weather, while raising �330,000 for charity, touching the lives of millions.This is the inspiring journey of a previously lost and broken man who discovered that anything is possible, if only you choose to search for what makes you truly happy.

    Michael Thurmond of television's 'Extreme Makeover' explains his scientific approach to eating, the 'blueprinting system, ' which identifies a person's unique metabolism and body type and which foods will trigger the body to shed pounds - Provided by thepublisher

    I’ve been lionized by the public and the press. The world is at my feet. I’ve spread my wings and here I am, soaring above everything and everyone. But in reality, the descent has already begun.” At age 20, Thomas Dekker was already earning €100,000 a year—as an amateur bike racer. The next year, he turned pro and his salary quadrupled then rose again to €900,000 as he established his position as a super-domestique among Europe’s wealthiest superteams. The sport marveled at Dekker’s rise as the young racer set his ambitions on capturing cycling’s biggest prizes for himself. Before long, though, Dekker found himself corrupted by money, dazzled by fame, and cracking under the relentless pressure to perform at a superhuman level. In his tell-all book DESCENT: My Epic Fall from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End, Dekker reveals a sordid way of life full of blood bags, drugs, prostitutes, and money. DESCENT tells the story of a yearslong bender that exposes the brutal truth of his life as a professional cyclist. And Dekker is not alone; he names those who fell with him and those who aided in his downfall. In DESCENT, we take an unflinching look at the European peloton as it roars through its modern boom years—the height of the EPO era—and what we see is shocking. You won’t be able to turn away from this page-turning read about one man’s rise, fall, and redemption and what his story reveals about professional sports.

    A key factor in the diet's success is the meal plan, with its healthy, great-tasting, easy recipes featuring the Abs Diet 12 Powerfoods. Now, to meet the demands of today's time-strapped society, Zinczenko and coauthor Ted Spiker present The Abs Diet 6-Minute Meals for 6-Pack Abs to help readers make the right food choices--in less time than it takes to pick up a meal at a drive-thru.The Abs Diet 6-Minute Meals for 6-Pack Abs features:- 101 6-minute recipes: fast and easy recipes like Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Smokehouse Salad, Summer Vegetable Couscous, and more- the 12 Abs Diet Powerfoods, plus what makes them nutritional powerhouses and how they increase lean muscle mass and discourage storing fat- shopping lists, appliance recommendations, and more- a 7-day meal plan (for those who prefer not to mix-and-match)- a bonus chapter with 60-minute Sunday creations and 15-minute meals when you have more timeThis user-friendly cookbook is the perfect resource for followers of The Abs Diet as well as anyone who wants to change their body to improve their health, their looks, or their athletic performance.

    

    They simply stop getting faster and don’t understand why. The reason is simple: most runners are unable to run by feel. The best elite runners have learned that the key to faster running is to hear what their bodies are telling them. Drawing on new research on endurance sports, best-selling author Matt Fitzgerald explores the practices of elite runners to explain why their techniques can be effective for all runners. RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel will help runners reach their full potential by teaching them how to train in the most personalized and adaptable way. Fitzgerald’s mind-body method will revolutionize how runners think about training, their personal limits, and their potential. RUN explains how to interpret emotional and physical messages like confidence, enjoyment, fatigue, suffering, and aches and pains. RUN guides readers toward the optimal balance of intensity and enjoyment, volume and recovery, repetition and variation. As the miles add up, runners will become increasingly confident that they are doing the right training on the right day, from one season to the next.RUN marks the start of a better way to train. The culmination of science and personal experience, the mind-body method of running by feel will lead runners to faster, more enjoyable running.

    

    Hard workouts tear down the body, but rest allows the body to repair and come back stronger than before.The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery is the first comprehensive, practical exploration of the art and science of athletic rest. Certified cycling, triathlon, and running coach and yoga instructor Sage Rountree guides you to full recovery and improved performance, exploring how much rest athletes need, how to measure fatigue, and how to make the best use of recovery tools.Drawing on her own experience along with interviews with coaches, trainers, and elite athletes, Rountree details daily recovery techniques, demystifying common aids like ice baths, compression apparel, and supplements. She explains in detail how to employ restorative practices such as massage, meditation, and yoga. You will learn which methods work best and how and when they are most effective.Recovery is critical to performance gains. The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery offers recovery plans that target various training and race distances, in events from short distance bike races to ultramarathons, as well as examining recovery between seasons.This invaluable resource will enable you to maintain that hard-to-find balance between rigorous training and rest so that you can feel great and compete at your highest capability.

    The Haywire Heart is the first book to examine heart conditions in athletes. Intended for anyone who competes in endurance sports like cycling, triathlon, running races of all distances, and cross-country skiing, The Haywire Heart presents the evidence that going too hard or too long can damage your heart forever. You’ll find what to watch out for, what to do about it, and how to protect your heart so you can enjoy the sports you love for years to come. The Haywire Heart shares the developing research into a group of conditions known as “athlete’s heart”, starting with a wide-ranging look at the warning signs, symptoms, and how to recognize your potential risk. Leading cardiac electrophysiologist and masters athlete Dr. John Mandrola explores the prevention and treatment of heart conditions in athletes like arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation and flutter, tachycardia, hypertrophy, and coronary artery disease. He reviews new research about exercise intensity and duration, recovery, inflammation and calcification, and the ways athletes inflict lasting harm. These heart problems are appearing with alarming frequency among masters athletes who are pushing their bodies harder than ever in the hope that exercise will keep them healthy and strong into their senior years. The book is complete with gripping case studies of elite and age-group athletes from journalist Chris Case—like the scary condition that nearly killed cyclist and coauthor Lennard Zinn—and includes a frank discussion of exercise addiction and the mental habits that prevent athletes from seeking medical help when they need it.Dr. Mandrola explains why many doctors misdiagnose heart conditions in athletes and offers an invaluable guide on how to talk with your doctor about your condition and its proven treatments. He covers known heart irritants, training and rest modifications, effective medicines, and safe supplements that can reduce the likelihood of heart damage from exercise. Heart conditions affect hardcore athletes as well as those who take up sports seeking better health and weight loss. The Haywire Heart is a groundbreaking and critically important guide to heart care for athletes. By protecting your heart now and watching for the warning signs, you can avoid crippling heart conditions and continue to exercise and compete for years to come.

    This journal chronicles Ryan Hall’s 14-week preparation for the 2010 Boston Marathon, providing practical insights into the daily regimen of someone training at the absolute peak of human performance. It also reveals the spiritual journey of an elite athlete who is a follower of Jesus Christ.Readers will discover how Ryan deals with nagging injuries and illness, bad weather, disappointing workouts, and a slavish focus on results that can take the fun out of running. Ryan runs 140 miles a week, often at altitude and a blistering pace. Yet millions of everyday runners will identify with and appreciate his intentional return to running with joy and his lifelong goal of glorifying Christ on and off the racecourse.

    Zumba! Created by celebrity fitness trainer Beto Perez, Zumba combines fun, easy-to-follow dance steps with hot Latin beats to help you shed pounds and inches fast. Now the DVD and classes that have hooked millions are available in book format, with a complete workout program, fat-burning diet, as well as a DVD with a 5-minute instructional demo that shows the basic moves you'll need to learn plus 60 minutes worth of music to help you Zumba your way to the perfect body. Using the principles of interval and resistance training, the simple dance and sculpting moves (inspired by the traditional cumbia, salsa, samba, and merengue) tone and shape your body. And because it burns 600 to 1,000 calories per hour, you don't have to restrict your meals to boring or bland-tasting diet foods. The Zumba diet begins with a 5-Day Express Diet to jump start weight loss (lose up to 9 lbs in 5 days) and then offers 14-day meal plans and recipes that target weight loss in the stomach and thighs. You'll find: Hot moves that make you feel like you're on the dance floor-not on the elliptical machine! Recipes for mouthwatering meals that boost your metabolism Dozens of workout combinations so you never get bored An exclusive jump-start program to get you ready for that big event next weekend An easy plan to help you keep up your progress and maintain the weight loss So start moving, grooving and losing with Zumba today!

    But with the proper advice, these "hardgainers" definitely can realize their fitness goals. In Scrawny to Brawny, the authors draw on their years of practical experience as private strength and nutrition coaches to provide hardgainers with:o A progressive, state-of-the-art program that optimizes results with shorter, less frequent workouts that maximize compound exerciseso A unique, action-based perspective on nutrition that shows how to prepare quick muscle-building meals and snacks-and how to take advantage of several critical times in the day when muscle growth can be stimulated by food intakeo Vital information on how to identify and fix any weak links in their physiques that may be precursors to injuryDesigned not only for frustrated adult hardgainers but also-with its strong anti-steroid message-a terrific book for the large teen market, Scrawny to Brawny - by Michael Mejia and John Berardi - fills a significant gap in the weight-lifting arsenal.

    They said Mick had a sixth sense for great accuracy in his playing days - he could find a party from any range. Quinn says he only put £50 on each horse race - but liked to stay in the bookies for twenty races a day!Sentenced in 1987 to three weeks in prison for twice driving whilst banned, Mick's been accused of punching Peter Schmeichel on the football pitch and John Fashanu off it. On retirement, though, Quinn switched to horse racing, the Sport of Kings, but controversy led the blue bloods of racing to hang the scouse oik out to dry and he was suspended from training for two and a half years.Who Ate All The Pies? is the funniest and most honest football book you'll read for a long, long time.

    The "Juice Master's" workshops and roadshows contain such antics as the "Who Wants to Be a Slimionnaire" game. Jason Vale is the ultimate health coach - the "Juice Master" - and in this book he reveals how everyone can get slim, get fit, and get energised - or "juiced". His lively style and irreverent text nonetheless contains clear health messages for everyone: give up what he calls "drug foods" - those nutritionally worthless addictive substances, such as sugar and caffeine and return to a fresh diet. Eat the freshest plant ingredients and feel the health benefit of raw juice which is full of healthy enzymes- hit out at the food industry and reject its brainwashing advertising- use food combining to help your digestion

    With a supporting cast of fellow comedians, this is a warmly written and wonderfully honest adventure-through-sport that will both entertain and inspire.Along the way, we are introduced to the characters helping Paul with his quest. Celebrity names such as Bryony Gordon, Russell Howard, Roisin Conaty and Vassos Alexander pop up with wit and wisdom, alongside an alpine adventure to the Mayr Clinic with Michael McIntyre that pushes Paul to the limit. And not forgetting the 'words of wisdom' and derision from Paul's anti-running friend, Richard.