Strength for Life - Book Review
September 8th, 2008 Posted by David Lemberg
Strength for Life, by Shawn Phillips, is a powerful new fitness book. The subtitle is “Shape Your Body. Sharpen Your Mind. Energize Your Life”. Shawn Phillips fulfills all these promises and more in Strength for Life.
Strength for Life is full of rewarding surprises and is much more than a fitness book. Based on Shawn’s pioneering Focus Intensity Training techniques, his book presents a dynamic 12-week workout plan – the Transformation Training Camp. The purpose of this 12-week program goes far beyond standard workout routines. The goal is actual transformation – not only losing pounds of fat and gaining pounds of muscle, but also transformation of your attitudes, outlook on life, and ways of being.
Shawn has more than 20 years of personal experience in the fitness field. He knows it takes a lot to commit to and actually complete a training program. To make sure you’re set-up for success, he’s designed a 12-day Base Camp which precedes the Transformation Training Camp. During the Base Camp you revitalize yourself by eating “lean, green, and clean”; drinking plenty of water; getting plenty of rest; and developing your ability to focus. After Base Camp, you’re ready to powerfully begin the Transformation Training Camp (TTC).
This is a very smart approach, particularly for people who haven’t exercised regularly in a long time. This approach makes the TTC doable for anyone, from teenagers to seniors. And the Base Camp helps get you ready for abundant success in the 12-week TTC.
In the TTC weekly plan, you do strength training on some days and a high-intensity aerobic workout on other days. This structure allows for maximum development of lean muscle mass and maximum cardiovascular benefit. Core exercises are addressed as part of an overall abdominal workout. You get leaner, stronger, and healthier, based on a graduated program. Your resting heart rate slows, you develop greater aerobic capacity, you sleep better, and you feel great.
Strength for Life is a remarkable book - it is so much more than yet another how-to fitness book. The detailed information and instructions make perfect sense. As Shawn points out, exercises, sets, and reps are merely the tip of the iceberg, what he calls the 1st dimension of training. Shawn is – as are we at Total Lifetime Fitness – much more concerned with the “3rd dimension” of training – the dimension of QUALITY. Quality applied to strength training, aerobic exercise, and core exercises.
Shawn strongly emphasizes throughout Strength for Life that what really counts in training – any kind of training – is your personal focus and attention. Focus and attention in a workout provide quality – the 3rd dimension. Shawn tells us “The person who engages the body and mind more fully will produce dramatically greater results.” He continues – “Engaging your training with proper form, focus, and intensity can deliver results fast.” The 3rd dimension makes all the difference.
As a former professional dancer and retired chiropractic orthopedist, I have a lifelong familiarity with the importance of focus, attention, and proper form. I was lucky – when I began strength training more than 20 years ago I automatically applied the essence of my dance training to my new workout routines using weights and machines. Strength for Life teaches proper form, focus, and intensity as the basis of all fitness programs.
Importantly, Strength for Life also teaches how to maintain high levels of fitness beyond the Transformation Training Camp. Each 12-week period of a yearly training cycle could emphasize a specific type of training activity. One period could emphasize stamina – cardiovascular fitness. Another period could emphasize flexibility – yoga-like activity. Another period could be devoted to the TTC. And so on, throughout the years, the ever-changing variety refreshing you and allowing for the achievement of ongoing health and fitness in body, mind, and spirit.
Strength for Life breaks new ground in providing total lifetime fitness. It is a fitness book centered in the mind/body connection – effectively combining a vigorously active Zen approach to a challenging and rewardingly innovative set of fitness programs. The book is a remarkable achievement – much needed and much appreciated.
Click here to learn more about Strength for Life and to download a FREE sample chapter!
3 Responses to “Strength for Life - Book Review”
Excellent article! The book sounds very interesting, and I think I can learn a lot from it.
By Barry Anbinder on Sep 12, 2008