Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance Hardcover – May 19, 2015

I bought this book to just improve my hip mobility, but found so much information here, I have gone far beyond my hips. I have improved my hip mobility, my knees feel great (50-year old knees that have run several marathons in the past 5 years), and now I am working on my shoulders. I feel better and move better than I have in years (I also sleep better). My squat and deadlift have improved immensely, and now I am working on the pistol squat. I am going to nail that move!

One warning: This is a big technical book, that is more of a textbook than just your average fitness book. Geared toward coaches and trainers and physical therapists. But if I can find value here, so can others looking to improve mobility.

A virtual gem if you are patient and read carefully, practicing along the way. This text defies description bc it reaches farther than anyything available, hits the major components of bodymechanics in regard to stability, safety, performance! This trainer not only goes deeperand farther than the best trainers available to us, but makes you concious of the faulty ( as in leading to injury) positions of what we commonly think of as the best trainers. I had a serious hip problem of 21/2 yrs. which was compounded by serious degenerative disc disease seen on frightening xrays. Since following Kelly's protocols I am nearly pain free after less than a month. I am 77 and 5'1" 90 lbs. The more squats Zi do correctly the better I feel! Remember you have to read and practice in a mirror copying the "correct " poses! You will be surprized at what hard work and discipline can accomplish. ( I do the exercises w/o drugs or supplements of any kinds!

My Crossfit coach suggested I buy this book and I am so glad he did. Kelly prescribes certain mobility exercises for different ailments and hang-ups that I follow on my rest days. I have shin splints and I have a terrible problem with getting myself into an overhead squat. I've been working through the prescribed movements to help me with both for almost a month now and both are beginning to get better. Now, when I have a problem (big or small) I go straight to this book to find the solution. I recommend it for anyone with mobility issues - Crossfit or not - athlete or not. Exceptional work!

Excellent. I discovered Kelly Starrett on his YouTube site and had to have the book. Second edition is about to come out and I would recommend it just based on how good the first edition is.

If you are into fitness, this is a must have.

If you have mobility or other physical issues, the last third of the book is invaluable. I pair the book with his videos for best results. The book helps me discover the the methodology more easily and then I can pinpoint my search of his Youtube channel for better instruction.

I have made more progress in addressing twenty year old physical problems in a few weeks than in all of the other modalities that I have used combined.

You can improve your posture and mobility and Kelly's book teaches you how. Don't just skip to the exercises, the first sections are loaded with knowledge of bimechanics written for people with no medical background. The concepts are extremely important to understand for long term mobility and health.

I was diagnosed with kyphosis (similar to scoliosis, think hunched back) in high school. It was not that bad, most people would never notice, but I had some back pain. Doctors just said there was not much I could do.

10 years later I started lifting and came across Kelly's work and started working to improve my body mechanics. I have significantly improved the curvature of my spine and mobility in my spine, hips, and shoulders. I notice big differences when I look in the mirror and have much less back pain.

I am in my 20s, but see my parents loosing their mobility in their 50s. I have shared th book and ideas with them. I am sure this will help me stay functional long past my 50s and 60s.

In "Becoming a Supple Leopard" Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza have scored big. This book is the basics of human movement patterns well presented and well taught. Throughout Kelly and Glen present good posture and proper movement techniques as enabling enhanced superior athletic performance, with echos into occupational body mechanics and ergonomics, and also into military evolutions.

Kelly starts with simple standing and shows us how to do it properly, with tests to determine if we are doing it properly. He progresses into torque and lever mechanics as they apply to the human body. The majority of the book is explaining and demonstrating with well designed pictures the basic athletic exercises (deadlift, pushup, dip, etc). He does the same with stretching and development of flexibility techniques.

Many may think this book is too simple, too basic. But the fact remains that many of us damage ourselves over time with improper movement and posture habits. Our human body is designed do millions of repetitions of every movement. If we put undue stress on various areas by poor mechanics, we will weaken and damage our bodies. Many great athletes get by for a time with poor body mechanics, but it does catch up with them. Yes, we age and are mortal, but we let ourselves age far too fast through improper uses and mechanics of our bodies. The vast majority of Americans stop being active just at the moment they need to be more active. But, we have let (Kelly's list page 25) no warm up, no cool down, sleep deprivation, dehydration, poor nutrition, prolonged sitting, chronic inflammation, stress and insulin sensitivity rob of us the use of our body far before we should. This book is not about those errors, but about the body mechanics necessary to maintain the ability to perform for many more years than average in our society.

Kelly stresses that we will perform as we practice. Kelly stresses that many tasks are mechanically identical using the same postures and strengths and self support systems to the basic exercises. Example from this book: round back deadlifts lead to round back tackles with a much higher incidence of injury. Kelly's point is that if we teach proper movement mechanics, we will perform better, perform longer, have less pain, have fewer injuries, have less wear and tear failures (e.g. ACL tears, disc herniations, spinal stenosis) and feel better and look better far longer than average. And the best place for this teaching is in the gym, concentrating on the basic movements.

There should be at least one well used copy of this book in every coach's office, in every PT department that deals with athletes and the aging, in every gym, in every sports medicine clinic. Kelly's point is that the practice of correcting dysfunction and exercise mechanics is neccessary and needs to be done in the gym as we teach our youth to move, our young adults to move and perform, and our aging to age gracefully.

This book is another notch in Victory Belt Publishing and Glen Cordoza's ventures moving from MMA technique books, to paleo diet books, to exercise. From Victory Belt Publishing we now have Marthone's "The Kettlebell Rx," MacKenzies "Power Speed Endurance," Starrett's "Supple Leopard." And forth coming is "Beyond Parallel," due out late May or early June . Victory Belt has a winning formula in taking great Crossfit coaches and publishing their wisdom. Let's hope they keep it up.

The book reads well. The book is well organized and well laid out. The pictures are excellent elaborating on the text. This book will become a standard text filling a need for many years to come.