Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life [Hardcover]

Shawn Phillips has written a very well thought out book which explores and builds on the bestseller "Body for life" by his brother Bill Phillips. Shawn Phillips is clearly very intelligent and now over the age of 40, has two decades worth of experience in the gym. This wisdom and his philosophical way of writing makes it quite unique in this field of books.
The book is broken down into 4 sections. The first section is "a time for strength" where he explores the importance of strength on health and introduces you to "FIT" (Focused Intensity Training). FIT training is a form of training where he takes research from the benefits of meditation and describes a method of training where you are relaxed and focused and able to produce an intense weights work out. Also in this section he talks about the markers of aging and discusses the book "Biomarkers" (which include markers of aging such as decreased muscle mass, loss of bone density, increasing blood pressure, loss of cardiovascular capacity etc)and argues that strength training is the only form of physical training that can positively affect all of these and that in terms of maintaining or reclaiming youth muscle mass is one of the most important and thus the importance of strength training. Although this is a reasonable argument in my opinion you could put forward a slightly better case for developing a high level of cardiovascular fitness, but they were fair points.
The second section of the book entitled "Base camp- 12 days that will recharge your body and your mind" Shawn talks about people he has witnessed doing "the body for life challenge" and how many of them burn out half way through because they are in a state of exhaustion when they start. His base camp is about plently of sleep, a few light body weight exercises and good food. He also talks about motivation and setting goals and measuring progress "what gets measured gets done" he says. His advice about the "base camp" and rest is something that is poorly done in "Body for life" and after witnessing transformations since 1997 he has seen this repeatedly. I was very pleased with this section of the book- having read "Body for life" many times and spent hours on the website you could begin to belive that people maintain that intense training all 12 months, year after year. From my own experiences in the gym I could never understand how that is possible- I certainly would become exhausted and/ or really sick from doing that.
The third section of the book is "Transformation training camp: 12 weeks that will change your life" in which he outlines a very similar programme to that of "body for life" (with a few of his own modifications) and his ideas on nutrition. Nutrition does seems to be another big area of debate, but Shawn sticks to similar guidelines to his brother and believes in equal amounts of lean protein and carbohydrates at every meal. Other than perhaps an overkill with protein the nutrition guidelines seem quite sensible. I have found that keeping as best I can to the six meals a day but slighly smaller amounts of protein and slightly more (but controlled carbs) have been more sustainable year round (and more comfortable).
Finally the forth section "12 months that will set you free" is about the long term "strength for life" and working with 4, 12 week periods a year. He suggests having the "in season" or peak 12 weeks as the transformation and the other seasons as "off peak" were you may lead with another form of fitness (e.g. cv fitness or flexibility) while not neglecting the other forms of fitness in the ratio of 4,2,1. Again this seems sensible and is obviously written by somone with a lot of experience of working out and someone concerned about long term fitness and health.
Having read many books of its type in my opinion it one of the most complete with regards to strength training. However it does not mention anything about the various forms of weight training such as "muscular endurance" or "power training" and is certainly not an encyclopedia on the subject- although I do not think that is the intention of the book. I have found that I am only able to follow the "transformation" programme for a couple of weeks at most before becoming exhaused and needing to take a week or two of rest/just CV training before I can resume. This is even after my version of "base camp". I am sure I am not unique in this and wished he would talk about personalising the programme more. On the whole however, a really good book to add to the working-out library.

I received this book a couple of weeks ago and am very pleased with the entire book and completely recommend it.

This book is excellent for those who really don't know much about fitness and nutrition, but it's also good for those who know quite a bit, but need something new to tweak their routines.

And, that's why I purchased the book. Every so often, I feel a workout slump. I change my workout routines every month or so, as recommended and usually work out with weights 3 times per week and do HIIT cardio 3 times per week. I understand how to eat properly and do so consistently (unless I make a conscious choice to eat something less healthy). However, even so, I find that I often dread training. Truly. And, I might waste a couple of hours just putting off my training, because I dread it so much. Consequently, I need a book like this to get me on track. And, this one absolutely does. As a matter of fact, this entire week of training has been entirely different and I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow! And, believe it or not, I enjoyed my High Intensity Interval Training (Cardio) today for the first time in at least 6 months.

Shawn Phillips is an excellent writer. His tone is engaging, conversational, and accessible. After the entertaining introduction, he talks about getting to a meditative state when working out. It's really not difficult, either, but may take some practice for some. I find that working out in my gym at home is much more productive for me than working out at the Y, for instance, and have been doing this for some time for this very reason. It's so important to focus on the muscles you're working out and tune everything else out.

He recommends a 12 day period of rest and extremely light workouts to get ready for the program ahead. This includes ensuring one gets enough sleep. Sleep is incredibly important when training! And, it's something I haven't been getting enough of for several months prior to reading this book (even though I was aware of its importance!). I have since made sure I get at least 7 or 8 hours per night.

Even though Phillips' stresses the importance of this 12 day period, I, uh, skipped it. Only a couple of weeks prior to reading his book, I made some major changes, and I just couldn't bring myself to go back to the three extra-light workouts per week. However, the advice here is still worthwhile.

After the initial period, Shawn explains his Transformation program, and I think it's excellent. I haven't followed it exactly, but I have changed my workout schedule quite a bit. I don't want to explain too much of the book here in the review, but I have to say, I like my new schedule quite a bit and all the information here makes complete sense.

Nutrition isn't ignored, either, and he provides a lot of information. For those who have been following a clean and healthy diet for a while, not much of this is new or groundbreaking, but I've found that I still learned something new.

The claims of this title-- "The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life" is a bit lofty! However, I would say that the information you get here will definitely help you for the rest of your life even if there is some new groundbreaking information in the future and even if you only use some of the what you find here.

In this book Shawn Phillips outlines a brilliant new angle on traditional weight training.
This combines the usual resistance training with parts of meditation and martial arts to produce an extremely positive, inspiring and above all mentally focused form of workout. If you get into this new mentality it will turn "going to the gym" into a whole new world for you - and at the same time make you more confident and focused in your everyday life.

Personally I used to hate going to the gym - I found it pointless and slightly intimidating with all the big buff beasts pumping iron and groaning loudly in front of wall to wall mirrors. However, after damaging my knee I found myself limited in my usual outdoors aerobic exercises like football, running and cycling - and I was in need of a new way to stay fit.
Reading this book has allowed me to turn "the gym" into a personal free space that I now draw loads of energy from - and I am seeing clear and ongoing improvements not only in my physical condition, but also my mental strength and focus.

If you're struggling to keep fit - or in any way just struggling with life or work - give yourself a new chance with this book!