Customer Reviews

Slow Burn: Burn Fat Faster By Exercising Slower

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was simply amazing! Stu Mittleman covers in detail all of the areas that allowed him to run over 1,000 miles in 11 days. He covers your mindset/philosophy (if you are in a marathon you are not running 26 miles you are running 1 miles 26 times). He covers training and shows you how to slow down so you burn fat, not sugar, as well as proper heart rate zones etc and lastly he covers food. He'll teach you how to eat so that you put your body into a constant fat burning mode not sugar burning. His suggestions will help you to eliminate the ups and downs throughout your day and make it so you will feel high energy all day without getting tired! This really opened my eyes and Stu knows exactly what he is talking about because he walks his talk and has done so for over 15 years. This is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in health and/or fitness!

I am a fan of Tony Robbins and I decided to follow Tony's advice on how to exercise. His advice is based on the work of Stu Mittleman and I decided to buy this book and get a better understanding for myself.

I am very pleased. I was unaware that you can get such great results with such little effort!!!!!

I am a former football player (lineman) and competitive Powerlifter [web page]. I worked so hard to build a huge benchpress (560lbs bench--life time drug free) that I let my bodyweight swell to 360lbs @ 6'5 tall. As long as my benchpress went up I did not care if my waist line did as well.

It became clear that I needed to lose weight, but I was tackling weight loss as I did with weight lifting. High intensity for short training sessions. It was not working in the aerobic arena. I learned to run at football practice. Push it!!! You have to make 2 miles in 16 minutes no matter how your heart is acting or how winded you are. Make the time.

With Stud's book, I learned a far better strategy. Longer workouts, training in your target heart rate--with a heart monitor.

I HAVE LOST 25LBS OF PURE FAT AND ZERO MUSCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My benchpress has increased and my waist line has decrease. I train on an elliptical trainer 4-6 times a week for over an hour in my target heart rate. Something I never thought I would do. And it looks and is so easy, that when I am finished, I could do the workout all over again. Results are what I am concerned with.

I was so successful with Stu principles, that other powerlifters and even comptetive runners in the gym have come to me and asked for running and weight loss advice. Needless to say, I recommend Stu's book, Slow Burn.

BUY THIS BOOK, USE IT, AND CHANGE YOUR WEIGHT/HEALTH/QUALITY OF LIFE. If you were to pay $300.00 for this book, it would still be a good deal...

Mittleman's book makes an outstanding contribution to health and fitness for beginners and old-timers alike by presenting a profound insight--the way to health is not paved with suffering, but ongoing, daily joy. I have for years now subscribed to an "easy does it" philosophy like Mittleman's, an approach to movement which emphasizes exercise as pleasure, not pain. Like Mittleman, over the past 25-30 years, I have been exposed to countless, "no pain, no gain" thinkers in the world of fitness. And, like him, I've seen far too many people hurt themselves, sometimes permanently, by enforcing on themselves this attitude.

Mittleman does an outstanding job of describing what it looks like to have a "process-oriented" approach to the body, both in achieving basic health and establishing a productive, exercise routine. This is defined as being "in the moment," fully experiencing where you are right now with each and every workout. Not living for some future moment when you are done working out and have reached some (often mythical) goal. I agree heartily with that and also with Mittleman's suggestion that we treat our bodies as our "partners." I have taken this approach for about 20 years. It is an amazing (and ongoing) journey working through the socialization we receive in the West to distrust our bodies as our enemies. We are trained to either be terrified of our bodies (when they do something "mysterious," such as getting ill or injured), or to treat our bodies like our personal slave, to be subjected to our whim (either harsh workout regimes or used to gain fleeting pleasure through various compulsions and addictions).

Mittleman is from California, and, having lived there myself over 20 years (not presently, alas), a Mecca of alternative medicine, I was very familiar with various alternative healing modalities Mittleman proposes in his book. I was particularly happy that he reminded me of kinesiology ("muscle testing"), a concrete way of asking your body what it wants which, like him, I learned about first from a chiropractor. I hadn't used the technique in a while, but I tested it out on some running shoes and some supplements I had just bought the day I read the book and was happy to find my body approved of them!

I was interested to note that Mittleman eats and recommends a diet very similar to the Atkins diet, what Atkins himself eats, primarily protein and vegetables. This is a diet that takes a while for some of us to break into. Like Mittleman, I have been in the past a vegetarian (for 10 years from age 19-29), and most of my adult life bought into the belief first perpetuated among vegetarians in the early 70s and, later, Nathan Pritikin in the 80s, that protein is "satan." Years of too little protein left me seriously protein deficient, and going on a "protein-sufficient" diet, the Zone, in 1996 immediately ended 7 years of chronic fatigue in one fell swoop, never to return. For me, the Zone, however, was ultimately not enough, because it allowed a lot of fudging in the sugar-consumption department. Six months ago I switched to the Atkins diet, and have noted additional improvement in my general health and well-being eating only vegetables and some fruits for my carb consumption.

Mittleman is a real advocate of eating fish, a truly high-quality protein rich in important fats. Though he voices a concern I share about the inability to control what you are getting with fish (unlike beef, chicken, eggs and dairy, which you can get organic) because of the terrible pollution of streams, rivers and oceans today, Mittleman has decided for himself that the benefits of fish outweigh the risks of toxic pollution. He consumes it as his virtually exclusive protein source. As for myself, after spending well over $10,000 getting all the mercury fillings out of my mouth several years ago, I've strongly hesitated about eating fish as frequently as Mittleman does for fear of more heavy metal contamination. If that is not a concern of yours, you may well enjoy trying out Mittleman's suggestion of making fish your main protein source.

Mittleman has an interesting section on how he has experimented with his clients applying the theories of blood type and diet. I found it interesting that he is a Type O (as am I) and that Type O's naturally enjoy extensive, vigorous exercise, which is very true for me. I was also delighted to be lumped in as a marathoner type as one who exercises more than 3 hours a week. During the past few years I have stopped going to a gym and have worked out on my own, enjoying daily exercise sessions of walking alone alternated with walking plus lifting light weights, each session 1-3 hours, with an average of 2 hours. Being by myself in this process, I have occasionally slipped into a non-self-approving mindset that this is all "nothing" because it is so entirely effortless and simple--and feels so darn good. Mittleman reminds me in his book that this is the way it is meant to be.

One of my favorite statements from Mittleman is on what happened to him when he stopped eating high-carb, low-fat around 1986 (p. 214): "When I first started competing in multiday events, I viewed meal breaks as a welcome relief from an otherwise tedious and austere day. Food is instant gratification in a world devoid of pleasure; it exists only to provide me with immediate energy and pleasure and enough of an incentive to keep me going until my next meal break. Now, after changing my nutrition strategies to rely more on a balanced approach to eating, not just on carbohydrates for energy, I've come to recognize that moving itself is what I crave--not the eating. I feel as if I can move continuously, effortless, and forever. Food is now the means to an end, not an end in and of itself....In essence, my relationship to food has flipped-flopped. Eating is no longer the reward for continuously moving; being able to continuously move is the reward for eating right." I love this quote. I have it posted on the wall where I can see it when I exercise to remind me of what I have experienced personally, the utter joy of feeling when you exercise that you could go on forever. Sometimes it isn't enough to experience something--we need to be validated, too, that we are on the right track. I am very grateful to Mr. Mittleman for that validation.

This is a very helpful book. It has sensible and ready-to-use information. I personnaly experienced faboulus results. I went from being out of breath walking to the corner store to speed walking for an hour and feeling supercharged.

On my way to vibrant health and vitality, this book is a powerful tool.

Stu Mittleman has accomplished what seem to be several ridiculous feats. How could a man possibly run 1,000 miles in 12 days? How could a man run 100 miles per day for nearly 6 days? How could he do all of this and have a smile on his face, and minimal fatigue afterwards?

Slow Burn is revolutionary! Never would a runner imagine all of the little things that go into it. Mittleman teaches us how to visualize, how to use proper technique, how to breathe properly while running, how to alleviate the stress on the body, which foods we should be consuming, and much more.

This book is excellent, and anyone who needs to improve their physical fitness and well-being should set aside a day or two to absorb the information within. It's an excellent read.

As a fitness professional I've been giving this book to my clients to help motivate and educate them. Stu's book is easy to read and understand. He reminds me what I often forget about exercise,what a joy and blessing it is to move!

Like all exercise books, this is difficult to review, because everyone comes looking for different information, both in details and in amount, and with different motivations.

First, let me say, I write as a casual runner who keeps getting more into the sport and that is why I read the book. I want the nuts-and-bolts of programs & diets and not a bunch of anectdotal stories or paragraphs & paragraphs of material that could be said in one, maybe two, paragraphs. There seems to be a lot of the later in this book. Second, I love the basic running methodology, the heart rate material, & training advice, which, if a 20 page booklet with that information would receive 5 stars.

With that said, here is my basic take on the book:

The book is divided into three sections - thinking, training, & eating.

The THINKING section I could do without - believe you can achieve, set goals, and work for it ('baby steps'). If you are a runner, then you probably are motivated and have goals, so there is little new material in this section.

The TRAINING section is the best part, but, again, there is a lot of extraneous material and he spends 4 or 5 pages for what should be said in a page. The big error in this section, however, is that there are no in-depth training programs for particular distances. For example, if you are looking to train for a marathon, this section does not provide you with specifics. Yes, there are broad guidelines, which will help any runner, but not a specific program. Yet, he recommends his website "for more information about more specific 5K, 10K, and marathon training charts", but I found none at his site. Maybe you have to pay for them? Yet, that is why I bought the book. Overall, however, his Most Efficient Pace, Mostly Aerobic Pace, and Speedy Anaerobic Pace material is very helpful.

The DIETING part has some interesting tid-bits (I want to get my acidity tested), but, as a person generally interested in fitness, I didn't find a lot of new material here - eat a lot of veggies and fish, avoid processed foods and sugars - although possibly some strange stuff. The supplement section is interesting and useful.

In short, I think the book is very worthy of a library checkout, but is not necessary to add to your personal library. You will lose weight, burn fat, and be in much better shape if you follow Mittleman's program, so that is worth 5 stars, but the book itself, which should be a booklet, is not.

I hope that helps you in your purchase decision process.

I was in the USMC for 8 years and was basically forced to run. I say "forced" because I always had a very negative attitude toward running in general. I just never felt I was able to do it. Last year I decided to lose some weight and become more fit. I recognized that in the past I tended to start and stop exercise programs frequently. With the help of this book I was not only motivated to run my first marathon last year, but I am 40 lbs lighter and amazingly ENJOYING my exercise sessions. I also took his advice and purchased a heart rate monitor that I think was possibly the best purchase I have ever made except this book. This book is a bit weak on the physiology and heavy on the motivational/mental aspects but regardless, the concepts really helped me to look at running (exercise) in a whole new way!

Thank you Mr. Mittleman

You really can accomplish more, with less effort, than you ever imagined. You just have to change your focus and you will change your life. It worked for me !!. Armed with a Polar Heart Rate Monitor (the old M61) I was able to drop more than 200 lbs in about eight months, and the slow burn lifestyle (think, train, eat) has helped me keep those lbs off for over six years. Not only I went fro size 44 to size 32 pants, but also obtained substantial benefits that included weight control, cardiovascular improvements, lowered blood pressure, and improved muscular-skeletal strength and flexibility, but also the myriad of mental and psychological benefits derived from being in the best shape of my life.

The author lays out a program for creating energy and increasing endurance so you will be able to go the distance and feel great doing it. And it also helps you stay committed to the program, so you can be consistent everyday.

When I first started my slow burn training I was unable to jog even for five uninterrupted minutes without gasping for air. After a few months I was able to go jogging for 90 uninterrupted minutes six days a week. Think, Train, Eat, it really works.

The book not only presents a remarkable customized training program that will help you, but it makes also a very interesting reading.

This book is incredible, and I would recommend it for anyone who runs, or has ever thought about running. Not only does Stu Middleman give awesome coaching about how to get your body to burn fat instead of sugar, and stay in an aerobid heart zone, he and his wife are very accessable by email (they emailed me back within 2 hours), and answered personal questions about my running program. He also dispels some of the myths that people have about what they should be eating if they are training. After reading his book, I am now able to run 10 miles 3-4 times a week, whereas before I learned Stu's technique, I was not able to run more than about 5 miles at one time. GREAT BOOK!! I highly reccommend it!