Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens [Paperback]

Frank Forencich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2003

Play as if Your Life Depends on It is an innovative and comprehensive look at human physical fitness and health. The orientation is primal, practical, and playful. It’s primal because it connects us with our hunting and gathering origins. Practical, because it teaches us how to integrate movement into our daily lives and train for the way we actually live. Playful, in the way that it creates new games and looks for humor at every opportunity. This book offers a perspective that is both wide-ranging and powerful. You'll gain a new orientation toward fitness as you develop a renewed enthusiasm for movement and your body.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frank Forencich received a BA from Stanford University and his human biology and neuroscience teaching credentials from Humboldt State University. He holds a black belt rank in karate and aikido and has twenty-five years teaching experience in functional fitness and martial arts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: GoAnimal (March 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972335803
• ISBN-13: 978-0972335805
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE END OF AMERICAN SPORT CULTURE, August 19, 2003

By 

Michael W Moore (Athens, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

Don't read this book if you are afraid to see into the future of being healthy.
Frank Forencich has put into words what may well be the best vision for the future of health and physical activity. As we more and more come to see the dangers of a sedentary life and the inability of the American sport and fitness industry to help all but a special minority of people, something has to give. Our need to make "exercise" a separate chore to be accomplished could be the best thing to let go. _Play as if your life depends on it_ shares what it could mean to do so, and provides the rationales behind it and extensive examples for getting started - all in an enjoyable, conversational read.

The missing fifth star is for the lack of references. I believe in Mr. Forencich's message that his approaches to activity are justifiable from any angle, including that of rigorous Western science, and most of the details he builds on are relatively straightforward and well-agreed upon physiology. I was surprised, then, that he has not included abundant references in the book or his web site ("...") to satisfy any skeptics and to put his case out to the scientific community, including medical professionals. While it really is crazy, as _Play..._ describes, for living creatures like people to need to seek the advice of a physician before exercising, it would be worthwhile to make efforts to help people like physicians agree with that, even in a book for everyone.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time To Play, June 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

This book is fun to read, thoughtful, and inspirational. Frank Forencich has figured out how fitness got boring and why "working out" really seems like work: we've forgotten the importance of play. This book is satisfying on a number of levels -- intellectual (it discusses the importance of function in an evolutionary context), emotional (it reminds us how fun it USED to be to exercise), and practical (it gives us good, simple roadmaps to recapturing the love of movement we had as kids). Forencich gives the reader a great paradigm: focus on function, and the other benefits of fitness will come naturally. The title isn't just tongue-in-cheek -- by the end of the book you realize that not just the quality of your life but your life itself might really depend on your playing as if your life depends on it. This book goes way beyond your typical exercise book. It's the only one of its kind I know of. As a fitness book, though, it's definitely the best I've read. Ever.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Revolutionary, July 20, 2003

By 

Photo Educator (San Francisco, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens (Paperback)

"Play As If Your Life Depends On It" will motivate everyone, from sofa slugs to physical dynamos.

Incorporating the idea that humans evolved in the African Savannah, the author makes a compelling case that we need to be physical in ways that honor our ancestry. While he doesn't advocate giving up the 9 to 5 in favor of hunting and gathering, he encourages considering one's every day movements and varying them in ways that emphasize grace and flexibility.

No program is instituted, but his concept is one that deeply resonates. Whether this translates into a spring in one's step, or a determination to engage in playful activity every day is left to the reader.

Truly a refreshing, sound idea without the vehemency or stridency and guilt that one finds in run-of-the-mill "fitness" books.