Customer Reviews

Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life

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This book by Shawn Phillips is destined to be a bestselling book. While it builds on some of the ideas in Body for Life, which I believe is the best selling fitness book of all time, it is unique in many ways with a more integral approach to fitness, strength development and life as a whole.

Interestingly, Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength was written by Shawn's brother. The major difference that I see is focusing on multiple dimensions that make up fitness including the development of aerobic capacity in a systematic, time effective manner with a lack of fluff.

This book is easy to read, but it has everything you need to know to get stronger. It is written with an encouraging tone and obviously the author practices what he preaches based on the cover photo and other photos I've seen in his other titles. If you liked Body for Life, you will love this book because it goes even further. I suspect Shawn built on what his brother learned along the way with his book as well as his own deep experience.

There are other good reviews that detail the contents of this book, but if you are looking for a fast track and well-rounded program, this may really be for you. I've tried out the workouts and advice here and was very impressed. I must say some of the workout advice may not be appropriate for a beginner, but the program is progressive and you can always start with less and work up to more.

I used to be a Teaching Fellow in physiology and I also did biological research for a living. While I don't believe in a one size fits all approach, this is certainly a good guideline for both men and women. If you want other more specific and detailed information on strength building, I also recommend the following... Build Muscle Lose Fat Look Great: Everything You Need to Know to Transform Your Body, Brawn, 3rd Edition and Beyond Brawn: The Insider's Encyclopedia on How to Build Muscle and Might (Brawn). For supplemental diet advice or more information as it relates to the health of the skeltal system, see FrameWork.

I hope this review was helpful. I don't think you can go wrong with this well-organized, progressive and innovative approach. It is balanced and really considers every dimension of life and how it contributes to overall fitness. It also treats the body and mind as a unit. Interestingly, Ken Wilber reviewed this book and it quoted on the product page. Ken has over 20 books in print some of them for 20 years and is the only living author that I'm aware of who has been asked to do a compilation of his life's work by Random House. I have read much of Wilber's material and reviewed most of it on here. I also compiled a listmania list on my profile page for those who would like to know more.

I received this book a couple of weeks ago and am very pleased with the entire book and completely recommend it.

This book is excellent for those who really don't know much about fitness and nutrition, but it's also good for those who know quite a bit, but need something new to tweak their routines.

And, that's why I purchased the book. Every so often, I feel a workout slump. I change my workout routines every month or so, as recommended and usually work out with weights 3 times per week and do HIIT cardio 3 times per week. I understand how to eat properly and do so consistently (unless I make a conscious choice to eat something less healthy). However, even so, I find that I often dread training. Truly. And, I might waste a couple of hours just putting off my training, because I dread it so much. Consequently, I need a book like this to get me on track. And, this one absolutely does. As a matter of fact, this entire week of training has been entirely different and I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow! And, believe it or not, I enjoyed my High Intensity Interval Training (Cardio) today for the first time in at least 6 months.

Shawn Phillips is an excellent writer. His tone is engaging, conversational, and accessible. After the entertaining introduction, he talks about getting to a meditative state when working out. It's really not difficult, either, but may take some practice for some. I find that working out in my gym at home is much more productive for me than working out at the Y, for instance, and have been doing this for some time for this very reason. It's so important to focus on the muscles you're working out and tune everything else out.

He recommends a 12 day period of rest and extremely light workouts to get ready for the program ahead. This includes ensuring one gets enough sleep. Sleep is incredibly important when training! And, it's something I haven't been getting enough of for several months prior to reading this book (even though I was aware of its importance!). I have since made sure I get at least 7 or 8 hours per night.

Even though Phillips' stresses the importance of this 12 day period, I, uh, skipped it. Only a couple of weeks prior to reading his book, I made some major changes, and I just couldn't bring myself to go back to the three extra-light workouts per week. However, the advice here is still worthwhile.

After the initial period, Shawn explains his Transformation program, and I think it's excellent. I haven't followed it exactly, but I have changed my workout schedule quite a bit. I don't want to explain too much of the book here in the review, but I have to say, I like my new schedule quite a bit and all the information here makes complete sense.

Nutrition isn't ignored, either, and he provides a lot of information. For those who have been following a clean and healthy diet for a while, not much of this is new or groundbreaking, but I've found that I still learned something new.

The claims of this title-- "The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life" is a bit lofty! However, I would say that the information you get here will definitely help you for the rest of your life even if there is some new groundbreaking information in the future and even if you only use some of the what you find here.

I recently finished my first reading of Shawn Phillips' new book, Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life (SFL). I'm already reading it again. Even though I've read dozens of books about fitness, this one now stands as my favorite.

For me, like nothing else I've found, SFL unifies consciousness with body, presence with fitness and vision with efficacious action. With SFL, transforming both nutrition and training into deeply enriching, enduring and even meditative practices strikes me as thoroughly achievable.

Yet with what authority can I make such claims?

Many of us benefited immensely from the author's brother's (that is, Bill Phillips') 1999 mega-bestseller. That bestseller was Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength (BFL). Using that system, I personally completed multiple, 12 week transformations. I clarified and achieved goals. I burned fat and grew muscle. My physical strength skyrocketed. Many felt astonished when they saw me in person and when they viewed my before and after photos. Frequently others, even strangers, stopped me for advice.

With time, I also learned and put into practice other fitness strategies. (These others included a 12 week transformation using Shawn Phillips' earlier, BFL-similar, 2002 book, ABSolution: The Practical Solution for Building Your Best Abs.) In the process, I learned volumes about the impact of training and nutrition on my mind and body.

During such journeys I studied, learned and made ongoing progress in my fitness. I reliably kept my body fat low - and I've kept it low. Thanks to patterns of action learned from such practices, even when I've sometimes "drifted," I'm convinced that I've kept nutrition, training and fitness at much higher levels than I ever would have without the influence of BFL.

So I'm not out to knock BFL. It has helped guide me and countless others in a positive direction.

Yet, I've continued to grow in so many ways - including by learning about meditation and mindfulness - and I've increasingly recognized how my needs have exceeded what the original, BFL book alone includes.

Enter Shawn Phillips and his Strength for Life (SFL). The author draws on nearly ten years of experience examining both the short and long term challenges and successes encountered by those putting BFL into practice. In doing so, he acknowledges both the strengths and limitations of BFL.

By my standards - especially within the wider context of a multifaceted and value-rich life (I'm now a parent) - SFL makes the following vivid. In one's fitness efforts, one can enjoy the present moment, relish the journey and yet also make lasting, positive change.

Even so, I'm delighted that while for me, SFL supersedes the older program's limitations, it also harnesses BFL's underlying strengths.

I predict that BFLers will find familiarity - yet also freshness and vast, new depth - in SFL. And I'm betting that newcomers lacking prior, BFL experience will find this program accessible, inspiring, self-contained and remarkably comprehensive. I predict that even veterans will find value in its remarkably holistic approach.

Getting derailed from one's fitness efforts can involve limitations of technique. Yet far more often, I'm convinced, limitations of consciousness lead to such collapse. Given this, I deeply appreciate that SFL emphasizes consciousness as much as the body. With both nutrition and training, SFL clarifies how one can focus positively, deeply and consciously on enjoying the moment while making progress - not only with one's fitness, but also with one's whole life.

For me, SFL incorporates balance in other ways, as well. It does this not only by discussing how to relate to food positively. It also does so by equally valuing exertion and recovery, even during the course of a single workout - and by sensitively addressing the concerns not only of men but also of women.

The SFL book leaves behind the BFL "before" and "after" pictures, and instead includes what for me qualify as beautifully illuminating, illustrative charts. These contribute significantly to my understanding of the book's concepts and its program's content.

The SFL book provides what I regard as the essentials involved not merely in making a major change once, but in sustaining a vitally strong lifestyle thereafter. It considers the cultural assumptions about "health" that so many of us absorb without conscious awareness. It explores our relationship with food and "exercise." It presents the 12 day Base Camp, 12 week Transformation and 12 month Seasons of Strength. And it examines different types of motivation, explaining why some forms have the strength to endure more than others. All the while, with remarkable clarity and brevity, it offers the reasons why it makes its recommendations - which I find crucial since in my fitness and life efforts I want to connect as consciously as I can to "why I do what I do."

I'm especially grateful for the evident effort, care and thoroughness the author brought to this project. For me, these shine through on page after page.

As a complement to SFL, I also highly recommend the concise book, Eat by Choice, Not by Habit: Practical Skills for Creating a Healthy Relationship with Your Body and Food, by Sylvia Haskvitz. By my standards, Eat by Choice, Not by Habit (EBC) wonderfully integrates the consciousness of Marshall Rosenberg's amazingly powerful Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process. I predict that complementary incorporation of EBC in transformation and fitness efforts will further support the harmonious relationship with food, training and life toward which SFL so helpfully points. EBC will facilitate this in part by providing additional tools for dealing with "failures" in compassionate, self-accepting and insight-producing ways. I predict such ways will dramatically help a person cultivate inner peace, growth and further progress.

By my standards, then, this new, SFL approach offers more nuance, clarity, completeness and sustainability than BFL. Moreover, the writing makes it joyfully energizing for me to read. Whether you've previously changed your life with BFL; remain a fitness veteran; want to "get fit" for the first time; or want to make a lasting transformation - I passionately recommend Shawn Phillips' aptly entitled new book, Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life.

I wish I could have given this book 2.5 stars. I had great hopes for this book. Like many, I have participated in the 12-week Body-for-Life challenge. While the challenge itself was beneficial and I achieved great results, I was left wondering "what now" after the 12 weeks were done. Therefore I was thrilled to find "Strength for Life" and it's program for extending exercise past a 12-week program throughout the year and to fit it into a busy lifestyle.

The book is laid out similar to Body-for-Life, and Shawn Phillips program also covers a 12-week period. Initially, however, he incorporates a 12-day "base camp" for warm up purposes and to get your body ready for exercise. There is no explanation for the length of 12 days other than simply to have a catchy system of 12-days base camp, 12-weeks strength program, 12-month fitness plan. The 12-12-12 program - cute. He also spends a lot of time on the mental approach to fitness and intensity levels, similar to his brother Bill.

In his actual 12-week strength program, Phillips utilizes super sets instead of the drop sets used by his brother in Body-for-Life, and also throws in some circuit training on the weekend - called the Fit Circuit. Like Body-for-Life, he also recommends HIT cardio training on non-strength training days. This is a nice alternative program to Body-for-Life, but nothing revolutionary. I do like his variety based on body parts rather than the "one-size-fits-all" approach with Body-for-Life. Shawn Phillips clearly explains why he changes up sets and reps for different body parts to achieve a better workout.

Phillips 12-month approach to fitness seasons is something I liked. He divides fitness into three areas - strength, stretch, and stamina - and proposes a 4:2:1 ratio of activities in a "season" thus rotating the focus area every 12 weeks or so. While he recommends one 12-week strength training session a year, I like to idea of using the Body-for-Life system for 1/4 of the year and the Strength-for-Life system for another 1/4 of the year, both sandwiched between programs with a flexibility and aerobic focus. I think this type of approach to fitness will help keep things fresh and avoid the boredom typical with most exercise programs. I am looking forward to giving it a try!

The section on nutrition is very elementary and nothing you haven't read before (eat good fats, whole grains, lean protein) and like Body-for-Life Phillips recommends eating 5 smaller meals a day. Of course with that recommendation comes, what else, the emphasis on nutritional shakes. His push for the consumption of his own nutritional shakes is evident throughout the book. If he is not directly pushing shakes (p. 92 "consider using a quality nutrition shake in your daily plan", p. 93 "I created Full Strength, the next-generation nutrition shake - the future of fast food", p. 102 "an ideal time for a quality nutrition shake", etc.) he is placing the product in sample meal plans and referring you back to those pages elsewhere in the book. Phillips even blatantly adds his own terms to the glossary to push his product ("shake brake - a brief five minute break for refueling your body and recharging your mind that is integrated in Full Strength premium nutrition program designed by Shawn Phillips", "Full Strength - the world's finest, most premium total-nutrition shake designed by (guess who?)"). As I questioned some of Phillips nutritional recommendations, I thought I would check out the "about the author" page to see what his credentials are. This is all it says:

"Shawn Phillips is CEO of Phillips Performance Nutrition, maker of the world's total-nutrition shakes. He lives with his wife, son, and daughter in Golden, Colorado."

I think that explains things.

Although the exercise routine in this book is nothing revolutionary, it is a nice variety on the Body-for-Life and Gold's Gym programs and I would recommend it for a 12-week change-up. Phillips "seasons" approach to exercise and fitness could be a nice way to keep things fresh and keep people exercising year-round. If you can get past the blatant marketing of Phillip's nutritional shakes, this book is a nice complement to other fitness programs. I just recommend you skip chapter 10 ("Your Path to Nutritional Freedom") and instead check out some quality books on nutrition like SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven G. Pratt and Kathy Matthews and The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete by Artemis P. Simopoulos.

Hopefully I have provided a fair, accurate review of this book. There are many positive reviews of this book, but many are by people (22 out of the total 41 reviews so far) who have reviewed only one product (this book) and that makes me suspicious. I definitely recommend picking this one up, at least from your local library as I did, and check it out. Throughout all the nutritional shake marketing hype there is some solid fitness advice in the area of strength training with weights. Good luck with your fitness goals!

Strength for Life is a must read for anyone interested in long-term personal and physical conditioning. This book goes far deeper than your average fitness text. Shawn Phillips redefines strength training as much more than building the body. Spiritual, enlightening, and motivational, this book is a must for anyone who is serious about long-term strength.

So I am a transformation junky...problem is I've never had a real transformation until now. I decided that for once, I would follow someone's program, and do it EXACTLY how they wanted it done...presto, it works! Do anything in this realm 90% and expect 90% results and your crazy. This has been my personal block for many years. Tweaking and tuning someone elses life work to make it mine, for what? So that I could quit 6 weeks in and say it didn't work very well.

So here is the deal, or should I say my experience. I decided at 35 yrs old that I was finally going to change my family tree (for the better). I was finally ready to make changes in my life that would resignate for generations to come. It was September, 2008. I own a small construction company on verge of total collapse. I found myself working harder every day despite a shrinking market. My weight hit 245 lbs (I am 5'10"). I hit the 20 year mark of full time pack a day smoking. I have young kids and I may well have been intentionally killing myself.

What I decided to do was take control of the things that I could control. As it turns out, I couldn't have picked a better time. Since September, the economy has continued to tank. What can you do? Work on the things you can control. I stopped smoking October 1st. I did a bunch of research on Amazon and decided to buy Shawn Phillips book. I was floored by the reviews and loved the spiritual componant that people kept mentioning. I even enjoyed the 2 and 3 star reviews because as usual, they were not well written, but moreover, the Author of the book responded to each one, not defensively, but with love and passion.

To make a long story short, I think I have cracked the code to creating real transformation. It is actually very simple - 2 steps:

1) do a ton of research and pick the best teacher in the idustry. There is no question in my mind that Shawn Phillips knows what he's writing about. For sure, he is not another fitness guy...and this is definately not another fitness book. This guy writes like an enlightened spiritual teacher in the realm of fitness...but he's not really talking about fitness. His ideas around strength are truly changing the world!

2) follow the plan exactly - that way you eliminate the variables (mostly just ego). I appreciate people having their opinions, and if you are already in the best shape of your life, do it your way, fine. But if you are anything like me and you turn to this book for help, just do what it says. If you do it 90%, you will probably only get 10% of the results.

In 5 months, I have lost 37 lbs. My chest is 4 inches bigger while my waist went from 41 to 35 inches. My vitals couldn't be better. I am stronger mentally and physically than I have ever been in my life, and I look forward to a very bright future. The economy still sucks, and so does my business, but here is the silver lining. Had I not decided to take charge of the things I could control, I'd be really bummed out right now. No kidding, if I looked and felt like I did last September with all the other crap that is happing, I'd be one truely depressed guy. To the contrary, I am strong, and getting stronger every day!

As a wellness professional and someone who has been involved with fitness and optimal health promotion for over 20 years, addressing the need for a "base camp" as mental and bodily preparation is the most important idea and recomendation in this work. For most Americans, any strength and fitness aspirations/goals require first getting adequate sleep and a real reduction in the moment-to-moment levels of stress and a true letting go and healing of the stress the body is holding. Only then will people be willing and able to listen to their bodies and consistently build strength in the ways Phillips simply and beautifully describes and explains. Well done!

Strength-for-Life is the most well written, thought out, step-by-step book on how to develop your inner and physical strength to start living life to the fullest. The principles are concrete. The method is simple. A must read for anyone wanting more out of life...and who doesn't?

In Strength-for-Life, Shawn takes us beyond health, beyond the 12-weeks, to the promise of life at FULL Strength. Reading this book helped me to see both what I'd done right and wrong in my previous transformations. It felt great to finally get the answers I've been waiting for. I feel reenergized and renewed knowing I can both enjoy an amazing transformation in less time and hold on to my new, stronger self for life.

Shawn's experience and understanding of what goes on with people who are challenging themselves to transform, is clearly evident in the solutions he provides with his simple, yet revolutionary "Base Camp, Training Transformation Camp, and FIT" methods. Most importantly, Shawn gives the answer to the most common question after any transformation; "what do I do now?" In Week-13 and beyond he delivers a plan that can be used year after year to enjoy one's new-found strength in an active life using the principles learned along the way.

Strength for Life is a sophisticated program for developing strength that lasts a lifetime. If you follow the program outlined in the book you will get stronger -- I can vouch for that, as I've been working the program for about 10 weeks now. I've lost over 20 lbs, gone from a waist size of 44 to 40 (I am 6'9" -- so that is not as big as it may sound, relative to my frame -- I was a 38 in high school and was a skinny beanpole at the time) and feel more energy than I have in about 6 years. I had been starting to feel the pains and aches of a sedentary middle age -- and when I had a hard time bending over to tie my shoes I decided it was time to do something about it. 10 weeks later I am running with my kids, kayaking on the ocean, going out for walks instead of sitting down at the TV. I am just getting started, really, but I can't say enough how much better I feel.

Of course, there may be other programs that would work to achieve similar results. The most important thing is to find a program and stick to it. For me, at least, the best way to get results is to follow a program as if it were scripture -- to follow the advice without deviation until it becomes firmly entrenched into my routine. But I've tried other programs over the last several years (such as the "Abs Diet") that didn't bring me nearly as much success and were not as well thought out as this one. More importantly, what is needed is a program that you can really follow for life -- with adaptations to fit your own experience and growing knowledge of your own body -- and this one fits the bill.

I was drawn to Strength for Life because it was written by Shawn Phillips, the brother of Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength author Bill Phillips. About 7 years ago while teaching in London I picked up Body for Life and decided to follow it. I lost a lot of weight and got a lot stronger -- and it lasted until I came home and got back into my old routine. Then I found myself spending all my time working and hardly any time exercising -- part of the problem was that I'd gotten bored with a program that put looking good as its top priority.

Shawn Phillips' book offers a similar program to the one in "Body For Life" -- but it is aimed in part at people like me who can't see the value of following a tough weight training program indefinitely for the rest of their lives. He modifies the program in a few ways -- but above all adds a "mindfulness" dimension to the exclusive body focus of "Body for Life." Strength, for Shawn Phillips, combines mental focus and body discipline. Each workout becomes both about building strength and practicing mindfulness.

In addition, while he makes clear that the quickest way to lose weight is through a smart combination of strength training and aerobics exercise, he also knows that a good routine is one that offers variety. Following a 12 week intensive body transformation program over and over for the rest of your life is just not something that most people are able to do -- and in the long run such a plan would be destructive since the body needs to rest.

What Phillips suggests is that you follow his 12 week transformation program once a year -- and consider that like the on-season of a sports program, or like the build-up to a yearly marathon. Use the other three quarters of the year to focus on another dimension of strength, such as flexibility or endurance, or as a time to build expertise in a sport of choice. This is a plan that I could live with. Even now, during the intensive 12 week program, it only takes about 45 minutes a day to do my workouts -- and the food I eat tastes much better and leaves me with a lot more energy than before -- and the results have been astonishing.

The nutritional guidelines are easy to follow and merely simplify and clarify nutritional advice that the best experts and research provide: don't eat junk food, eat small meals 5-6 times a week instead of 3 large meals, eat a healthy balance of lean proteins and good carbs and the right kind of fats. There is a lot of very useful advice packed into this book on how to think about eating and exercising and other matters, written by someone who has obviously been living this for a long time and reflected carefully on what works and what doesn't. For example, he suggests that you think about eating in a whole new way: not as a way to fill a hunger, but as a way to provide your body with the energy it needs to accomplish what you need to in the next few hours. That simple advice has been like a paradigm shift for me -- eating better no longer feels like a restriction, rather it feels like liberation, because I see it as enabling myself to accomplish what I want to.

My only qualm about the book -- and a point that I think could be improved in an otherwise excellent program -- is that it doesn't seem to give enough attention to stretching. The program includes a stretching routine one day a week -- but everything I know about exercise and fitness says that stretching, after a warm up, should be included as part of every aerobic and strength training session. An excellent complement to this book, for anyone who really plans to take it seriously, would be Nicholas DiNubile and William Patrick's "Framework."

This book is so unique - it's both spiritual and tactical. When there is alignment around the why for being healthy in my life then there is no need for discipline in my approach - great health comes as an expression of who i am vs. something that takes a lot of work to get to.