Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health & Life Hardcover – April 15, 2014

My latest obsession has been all things biohacking. When Ben Greenfield announced his latest book, Beyond Training, I was over-the-top excited. I have been listening to his podcast since 2009. As a marketer myself, it’s been fun to watch him grow his brand over the past few years.Beyond Training was no disappointment. I am no endurance athlete--which the book is geared towards--though I would consider myself a non-competitive female bodybuilder. Regardless, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in improving performance in all areas of life, not just short-term, sport-specific training.What I liked most about the book:- Easy-to-read. It was not hard to read or understand, and I am no biomechanist or health scientist. There are a few tough terms, but Ben explains them in layman’s language.- Comprehensive. I think Ben touched on just about all aspects of training, recovery, health, longevity, hormones, biohacking and everything in between. It felt like a very organized version of the topics he talks about in his podcasts.- Practical. Ben is human, just like the rest of us. If you ever wondered how he gets in all his biohacking, recovery, training and racing into his daily life, read this book. He shares his daily schedules and how he gets in everything he talks about without getting stressed out.- Resource Lists. Most of us don’t want to dig into scientific journals or spend boatloads of time researching supplements to ensure their efficacy. Ben does it all for you at the end of each chapter. You get a comprehensive list of all the supplements and where to purchase them. The book would have been more than worth purchasing for this aspect alone.- Addicting. This book was very hard to put down. I saved it for reading during my Bulletproof Coffee breaks and before going to bed.What I would have tweaked:- Prioritization. If you are relatively new to biohacking, it’s tough to know exactly which purchases you should save up for first. I would love a price list of all the hacks, how much they cost, and somehow ranked on a scale of 1-10. This would be very helpful for us budgeters, who want to allocate funds monthly to biohacking without breaking the bank.- Expensive. You could spend tens of thousands of dollars on all these hacks, if not more. Start with the stuff that is free or low cost, and work your way up the ladder.- Focus on other athletic types. It’s definitely geared more towards endurance athletes, as those are Ben’s specialty and his own personal passion. He does mention Crossfit a bit, but that’s a bit different than what I do. His book would probably need to be volumes long to include all athletic types, but there are a few questions I had about how his hacks affect physique athletes.- Overwhelming. If you get easily overwhelmed, this book might make you like there’s no possible way for you to do everything, all the time. My advice would be to pick one new “hack” to implement each week. That’s it!In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to both seasoned and new biohackers. This is one of those books you must have in your biohacking library and as a reference for when you’re ready to try a new hack for enhancing a specific area of your life.

If you only buy one book, only have time to consume one book about working out and nutrition....--->I'd pick this book.I remember reading a quote that said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". It made me think that I was on an endless loop about my nutrition and exercise. So I decided to start over and rethink what I ate and how I workout.I fell into the book because of the author's podcasts, but the author, Ben Greenfield, should have been a doctor. He is one of those guys that loves the science behind stuff, researches and collects all sorts of information. Me, I hate all that science, I just want to skip to the end where the recommendations are.....and that is what this book does for me. Ben synthesizes down tons of information into manageable bites that a mere mortal like me can consume.I promised myself that I would not be the typically middle-aged woman with fat as* at 50....so I have been on a quest.If you are like me and are on the same quest to better yourself then this book is worth a gander.This is an eclectic collection of information ranging from the obvious nutrition and fitness, to sleeping, gadgets and supplements. I have tried and utilized many of the helpful tips and feel I that I am getting more out of my workouts, sleeping better and still experimenting with different foods like chia seeds which I have little exposure.This book offered many suggestions and recommendations that I have not seen or tried before. I found myself earmarking "this page" and "that page" as I sat waiting for my kid's bus. Now I am reading it for the second time...this time taking notes."Insanity" tells me I have to keep trying, so I do keep my eye out for information that can be implementable and will work with my lifestyle. Some of these snippets of wisdom you will embrace, some you will just ignore. The cold water workouts did not appeal to me at all so they got put in the "ignore" pile. His recommendations for completely natural pre- and post- workout nutrition were both outstanding and delicious and I would not have found were it not for this book.I was in good shape before, but now at 54 when things are obviously sagging, I am in the best shape of my life...and this book definitely contributed.

I finished this yesterday evening, after 10 days of dedicating myself to reading a bit every night, even when they were times I wanted to quit.In that sense, this book is a bit like a marathon. It's hard, you find yourself wondering why you are doing it, but there are bits and pieces along the way that make the majority of it (boredom and pain) absolutely worth it.This is not an easy reading book.It feels like the author basically unloaded his brain into print format.This is difficult because it makes sifting through the varied information in order to find useful stuff challenging.it's good because the author has an opinion/thought on just about everything, and he is clearly both knowledgeable AND passionate. He walks his talk, no doubt there. So much so I think you may be better off forgetting the book and subscribing to his YouTube channel. Let me know what you think of his smoothies!However, for every bit where I thought it was useful (e.g. overview of HIIT, how to structure a basic program that gets you fitter without burning you out - which I have done and am now on week 2, recovering very quickly thank-you very much- by the way, I would recommend the book based on this alone. It is gold dust !) there was a bit where it felt the book was basically a sales job.For example:"Here's some stuff to remember about endurance running, now go to my website and buy this program."It also didn't help things that the links to the website no longer work, as it appears the website was in the process of being migrated when i read this book.Also, both good and bad, the author takes a few trips down some strange roads, informing you of the toxins in your shampoo, toothpaste etc (and he just so happens to have suitable products for you) plus he is very find of supplements (and happy to sell you his own, or link you to other peoples.)I think the book could have done with the services of a top notch editor to condense it into the actually useful bits, such as:1. Why HIIT is good, and why you ought to consider it in place of long slow distance running (chronic cardio)2. How to think about nutrition (nutrient density and bio-availability, as opposed to calories)3. How to structure a basic workout plan for the week:a) 2 or 3 tabata sessions,b) a high intensity body weight session- the author gives you the exact sequence here, and it is a good workout-c) a slow weight session.d) All but the tabatas to be followed by short, as in VERY short sprints of 4 seconds. Repeat the sprints 5 times.e) Every other week run hard for 4 minutes, rest for 4 minutes. repeat 5 times.f) Once a month, do a 90 minute stamina activity, e.g. hiking or a run.4. Consider some supplements. He recommends Alpha Brain, Tian chi and Energy Bits, of which the last one actually looks interesting to me.In summary, imagine you have a friend who is very knowledgeable about running and endurance sports, who has run triathlons etc, and you manage to actually pick his brains, with little or no filter.Fully half of what he or she has to say will fly right past your head, and the remaining half will be vaguely understandable but require effort to implement.Of that half, maybe 2 or 3 things will stick, but you'll be very glad they did.

Verbose. Should have been edited down significantly prior publication.

This really is the ONLY book you need to read for optimizing human performance! I keep it by my bed and keep referring back to it when I hear about "the next big thing" to see what Ben has to say on the subject. I'm not a pro athelete (far from it!!) and whilst I strive to be the best me that I can be, I don't want to destroy my body to get there. Ben's pragmatic approach to balancing life and sport was a revelation to me, and I now realise that although sport makes me happy, there is more to life to make you happier! The Ben Greenfield podcast is also full of really useful information at the cutting edge of performance enhancement.

If you are into fitness and health this is a very good book with lots of nice tweaks. Really helpful for those with a tendency to overtrain and how to save your health, reduce training time and improve your performance. He does some good podcasts too.

Informative book on training, diet and everything to do with triathlons.