2013 Year in Book Review

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Thursdays 1/16/14

Prehab

Theraband Routine
Dislocates
Keg Drill

Warmup

Practice jump rope for 3 minutes:  singles on one foot, running in place, reverse and double and triple unders.
Wrist Mobility
5 Bounce Arounds – DEMO
5 Bridge Wall Walks, ease into a deeper position each rep – DEMO

Strength

Perform 12 minutes for Quality
6 Bridge ups – DEMO
3 Skin the Cats – DEMO
1 Legless + 1 Rope Climb

Notes: Use a spotter for both the Bridge up and skin the cats as needed.  For the bridge ups focus on opening the shoulder and maintaining a tight midline.  Raise your feet with a box to help with opening the shoulder.  On the Skin the cat demo, notice that he does not bend his arms or stop halfway. If you are good at the legless rope climb, try maintaining a perfect hollow or L-sit the whole way up and down.  

Conditioning

10-1 reps
Bar Muscleup – DEMO with jumping progression demo
Pistols Left
Pistols Right
-20 min cap-

Notes: Banded Bar MU or jumping Bar MU can be substituted. Burpee Pullups can be substituted as well. Use a box/ghd/post to help with balance and to achieve full ROM. Keep the heel down throughout the movement. If you have knee issues, sub a high box step up.

Cool Down

Theraband Routine
Straddle Stretch, 1 min
Pigeon Stretch, 1 min each

In 2012 I set the goal to read two books a month, one fiction and one non fiction.  I fell a little short at seventeen total, but this practice will stick with me for years to come.  In 2013 I only read eleven different works, which motivates me to prioritize reading even more in 2014.  What follows is a short review on each book in the order in which they were read:

Pose Method of Running by Nicholas Romanov
I owe a lot to Nicholas Romanov.  His teachings on forefoot running are the basis of Crossfit Endurance, and if I had never completed that certification in early 2011, I probably never would have become a Crossfit Coach.  Two years after being certified I finally decided to pick up his written work to brush up on my skills.  It was a great review of things I had overlooked or forgotten, and has greatly helped my coaching of running clients.

If Naturopaths are Quacks…Then I Guess I’m a Duck by Shauna Young
When listening to Robb Wolf’s podcast, he always refers to the infinite wisdom of naturopathic doctors and their extensive ability to cure diseases with nontraditional medicine.  I had heard so much praise I decided to pick up this book to see what all the fuss was about.  Part nutritional guidebook, part annoyed rant, this book describes the general practice of being a Naturopathic doctor, the challenges they face in the present medical system, and highlights some successful case studies.  Shauna’s passion lies in curing Autism with the paleo diet and her work can be found at the No Harm Foundation website.  It is one of my long term goals to become a Naturopathic doctor.

Deep Nutrition by Dr Catherine Shanahan
The most nerdy, in depth, and best book I have read on the subject of the Paleo diet.  Her views actually align more directly with the Weston A Price foundation, which is often referred to as a “traditional diet”, and I like to refer to as “Paleo 2.0”.  The scientific explanations are exhaustive but still kept simple enough for the layman to follow, if you are interested in the subject.  She places a huge emphasis on the interplay of the food you eat and the consequent expression of your genes (known as epigenetics), and how it affects everything from the development of your facial features to your brain, to the passing of genes to your kids and grandkids.

The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition by John Berardi
This massive textbook is the reading material to become Precision Nutrition Level 1 certified, which I completed in June of last year.  Half nutritional science, half practical coaching info, this textbook serves as a complete guide to provide high quality nutritional services to clients.  Nutrition can be the hardest lifestyle change for people to commit to, but is arguable the most important factor when trying to elicit performance or body composition changes.

How To Be Rich by J Paul Getty
I am obsessed with personal finance books and this year was no exception.  Last year I read The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham in order to study the concepts followed by Warren Buffet.  When at the Getty Center gift shop I passed by this book and browsed the table of contents…Chapter 1: How I Made My First Billion.  Are you kidding me?  I was instantly hooked, and I absolutely loved reading this book.  It’s easy to think that the rich get richer and have it easy in business, but this books shows how intelligent, hardworking, and deserving he was to amassing his wealth.  He is a great role model for me as a salaried employee, young investor, and aspiring business owner.

F Wall Street by Joel Ponzio
Admittedly I bought this book because it popped up on Amazon and was extremely cheap.  I was also interested to read another book on the subject of value investing to supplement the information I gained from The Intelligent Investor.  It’s another no nonsense approach to investing in the stock market, complete with a very simple and specific set of rules to outperforming the market.  I am convinced that picking a plan to invest in the stock market is like picking a strength program for your back squat; there are a million programs out there and they are all good, you just need to pick one, stop thinking, believe in it, and execute it.  I will not be following the protocol set out in this book but I’m still glad I picked it up.

The Mood Cure by Julia Ross
This is my second book from Julia Ross, I had already read the similarly titled The Diet Cure.  The two books are very closely related in terms of content but I was pleasantly surprised when this book placed more of an emphasis on correcting mood problems from deficiencies in our diets.  If I could only recommend one of her books it would definitely be this one.  Even though she never says the words paleo diet, her nutritional recommendations, meal plan, and recipes are spot on with every other paleo book I have read.  This book ends up being a great total package towards wellness: how to fix mood problems like depression and anxiety, how to repair your thyroid, how to engineer better sleep, meal plans, recipe list, and complete supplement and dosage lists.  I have used some of her protocols successfully on myself and others.

Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
This is a wonderful how-to book on meditation, and the first introduction to the subject for me.  I have always dreamt of daily meditation but have not been able to begin my practice.  Even after reading this book I still have not begun, and my excuse is a lack of priorities in what I like to call “fake busy-ness”, or “busy but not really busy”.  However, I still keep this book in the back of my subconscious and refer to it often in my daily interactions.  The goal is to one day be mindful of my thoughts and actions and to experience every moment completely and fully.  I am optimistic about this future.

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
Without a doubt, no other book has directly affected my life in a practical way more than this book. I cannot recommend it enough.  This was a recommendation by Mr Money Mustache, a personal finance blog about early retirement.  On my 28^th birthday I set the goal of retiring by my 38^th birthday, in ten years.  I am confident I will achieve this thanks to the principles touted in this book.  Spoiler: if you learn to value your time over your paycheck, you will automatically work harder to increase your income and at the same time work to reduce your spending, thus leading to something known as savings.

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
After reading all these finance, health, and meditation books I was hungry and happy to start reading Zorba the Greek.  I instantly could see why it was recommended by Tim Ferris, showcasing the minimalist and stoic lifestyle that he advocates.  This book was much heavier than I anticipated, and I found myself ambivalent while relating to the main character and his basic human struggle to find happiness and meaning in life.  The juxtaposition of Zorba, who only lives in the present moment, was perfect to contrast the narrator’s perspective, and therefore also my personal views, on life and happiness.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My first book on tape, I finished this in the last week of the year to barely squeak out number eleven on the list.  And I am glad I did.  The descriptions of the zoo and the animals were vivid and animated.  So, too, were the descriptions of religious practices followed by the main character.  Half way through the book I remember saying to myself, I need to go to the zoo and to church much more often.  I knew nothing of the book previously, so I was somewhat surprised when he spent over two thirds of the book stranded on a boat at sea!  The descriptions here did not disappoint either, and it was extremely engaged with his daily routines and general thoughts to cope with his dire condition.  I watched the movie the following day and was very disappointed.  Read the book if you get a chance.

List your 2013 Book List or the book you are currently reading right now!