You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises
3You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises
From an elite Special Operations physical trainer, an ingeniously simple, rapid-results, do-anywhere program for getting into amazing shape.
As the demand for Special Operations military forces has grown over the last decade, elite trainer Mark Lauren has been at the front lines of preparing nearly one thousand soldiers, getting them lean and strong in record time. Now, for regular Joes and Janes, he shares the secret to his amazingly effective regimen—simple exercises that require
List Price: $ 16.00
Price: $ 8.26
Paul S. Okstad
Best bodyweight exercise book out there,
UPDATE: There is now a companion app for iPhone available on the app store! Search for “You Are Your Own Gym” on iTunes. This app goes great with the book since it allows a user to use timers for the workouts.
INTRO
This is an awesome book with a great introduction using the author’s military experience. I’ve been using the workouts for a short while and already notice my ass getting kicked by stuff I wasn’t doing in the gym.
PRO’S
* The 10-week workout plans are awesome, and the beginner workouts will challenge strong guys that come from a weight training background. They are written in such a way that a beginner can jump in and get in shape with less than an hour a day (usually 15-30 minutes). They are very detailed and describe which exercises to do on which days. They also describe what type of set/repetition methodology to use, such as: ladders, tabatas, interval sets, etc. Slowly the workouts transition from high-volume/low-intensity to high-intensity/low-rep and finally alternates between the two rapidly. It may remind a lot of people of P90X, except it’s a fraction of the price and with more sensible theory explained.
* This book is an excellent fitness reference with over 100 bodyweight exercises categorized by one of the following types:
PUSH, PULL, LEGS, and CORE. In addition to this, there is a set of exercises that develops all of the body’s muscles.
* The theory behind the programs are also included so that users can formulate their own programs.
* Almost all of the workouts in the book can be done inside with minimal equipment. Great for people who travel or are on a budget.
* People who weight train at the gym a lot will notice they are getting more range of motion and working out more muscles. E.g. If you do squats at the gym, the side lunges and 1-legged Romanian dead lifts will hit other muscles you neglected while improving stability.
* Diet theory and suggestions are included in a dedicated chapter, but not so much data that it overloads the reader. The main emphasis of the book is still on exercises.
BOTTOM LINE
Great job Mark on putting together these 10-week programs. This is a great book and I hope to buy another copy from the next edition of “You Are Your Own Gym” by Mark Lauren!
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|Susanna Hutcheson “Copywriting for the Discri…
The trainer of Special Ops gives everyone the tools to get in elite shape,
The lack of quality editing greatly harms this otherwise wonderful book. Whoever edited the book should have known that to lose weight is not to “loose weight.” But, because the contents of the book are so valuable, I won’t take any stars away from my opinion of it.
I’m told a second printing is in the works (may be out by now) and hopefully all these messy things will be fixed. That doesn’t help those who bought the book in its current state, however. Get the second printing if you can wait.
Now to the contents of the book . . .
I was very impressed by the fact the author, Mark Lauren, says straight out that he doesn’t train movie stars. He trains men and women to survive, to be able to function well in life. That’s what’s really needed. The good looks, the great body, come as a side effect but is not the goal.
Lauren says, “I want you to understand, unlike many other fitness authors, I do not train movie stars, television celebrities, models, or other personalities whose livelihoods hinge on being fit. I train those whose lives do. For a decade I’ve used bodyweight exercises to create the leanest, strongest, most confident people of our civilization.”
“This book comes to us at a time when, despite their best intentions, most people are too crunched for time and money to devote enough of either to attaining their fitness goals. In this age of information we are bombarded with incorrect advice, useless gadgets and pills, and pure hype. The methods outlined by Mark Lauren are proven and time tested. I know because I’ve seen his results. I’ve commanded the best of the best, and Mark’s training has helped make them that way. Now he has honed his program into one for every man and woman.” That’s what John T. Carney Jr., Colonel USAF says in the forward. And that pretty much sums up what you’ll get from the book. And that’s a lot!
This is powerful stuff. It really spoke to me because I’m all about functional training. I don’t care so much about the shape of my butt as the shape of my health. I care less about the numbers of the circumference of my butt than the numbers of my blood pressure. The fact that these exercises make me look good is just a wonderful side effect!
Mark says that in less than two hours per week you can get as fit as an elite warrior. I follow the PACE program of Dr. Al Sears and the way he trains and his philosophy works hand in glove with what you’ll learn in this book. In fact, let me recommend Sears book to you. Pace: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution
Mark says, “The popularity of training equipment, systems, and fad diets is mostly the result of marketing — not a genuine attempt to help a generally out-of-shape society reach higher levels of fitness and well-being. In this age, where our homes and gyms are cluttered with fitness gadgets, the simplest and most effective method for developing strength and losing fat has been largely overlooked —knowing how to train using nothing more than your body.”
He adds, “Most weight training exercises isolate only certain muscles, requiring a fairly small portion of your body’s total muscle mass, unlike bodyweight exercises that incorporate many at once. These exercises have the added benefit of being much more demanding of core strength (6-pack anyone?) than exercises that require weights and machines.”
The heart of the program is interval strength training. This is one area where these exercises work well with PACE.
Many people are turning from aerobics (cardio) and other forms of exercise because of injury and discomfort as they age. The author says, “. . . things like running are extremely high-force, damaging to your knees, hips and back.” Oh, is this ever true! And when you get my age, you’ll really feel it if you’ve spent a lifetime pursuing these activities.
Even Kenneth Cooper who started the aerobic era now says it’s a bad thing.
Mark says, “. . . interval strength training is superior to aerobic activity in burning fat, as well as building strength, speed, power, and even cardiovascular endurance. All this in far less time than tedious ‘cardio’ sessions.”
I like the fact this is a no-nonsense book. Moreover, Mark doesn’t limit the information to men like many military and fitness writers. He writes to both men and women and treats both equally. He gets lots of points with me for that and I appreciate it. We all face survival and the need to function in daily living, regardless of our sex.
There’s also a nutrition section in the book. No recipes. Just some good, solid nutrition advice that’s pretty much on the mark as far as I’m concerned.
In some of the exercises you will need some sort of equipment. But it’s…
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|bookworm
Really great work out book,
Just started using this exercise book and being a 50 year old woman found the excercises not only easy to use but am noticeing faster results than my old regimine at the gym where I was using the equipment. I have more time being able to do them at home which is a big plus in my busy schedule.
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