Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Free+Style: Maximize Sport and Life Performance with Four Basic Movements

Top positive review

One person found this helpful

Major nuggets/gems gained from this book

ByC. J. Blackmanon August 3, 2015

This is hands down one of the best books I've read about movement, and training the fundamental patterns required for competitive success or optimal movement.

The descriptions are very thorough, the pictures are well done and simple to understand. The book is definitely not a light read but because it is tangible in content and and includes a lot of information I can refer back month to month or year to year.

Love this book, and I have watched the authors vids on YouTube and Instagram and have gained a wealth of knowledge from both the book and his media channels.

Top critical review

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178 people found this helpful

It's Okay or Awesome, Depending on What You are Looking For

ByBlake Adamson July 26, 2014

I bought this book, having ready Kelly Starett's 'Supple Leopard' and looking for some other books on foundational fitness concepts. This is not it. I was expecting Mr. Paoli to lay out some basis for his choice of the four movements he considers important 'basic' movements. The pistol squat, handstand pushup, burpee, and muscle up are his foundational four...not a lot of logic behind these highly advanced movements, which the average person may never achieve, with the exception of burpees. So, let me hit the negative first...but, stay with me long enough to hear the positive.

Most people that are not CrossFit folks will find this a strange place to start. For the initiated CrossFitter, these are the pinnacle moves (minus pull-ups and double unders) that every athlete hopes to achieve. Pictures atop a kettlebell with a load overhead doing a pistol squat is the iconic CrossFit move. For the everyday fitness person looking to improve their general fitness, movements like the pistol squat, muscle up, and handstand pushup are not on their 'to do' list. These are very, very advanced movements that require significant practice to become proficient. Minus dancers, gymnasts, and children - attempting these movements will be very discouraging. They are true 'end range' movements that require significant strength and skill to accomplish well. Additionally, you will have to have access to rings, pirouettes, plyo boxes, etc to work on these, which the average person does not have at their local or home gym. So, from a foundational perspective, Free+Style falls short...it is a book for the advanced athlete, CrossFitter, or someone who is looking at the long game and wants to learn some challenging and new skills. Not only are these skills advanced movements, the last part of the book is about even more advanced movements you can add to our repertoire. If I can't get a pistol squat, I am not sure I am going to be doing a back flip.

So, what is good about it? After being initially disappointed, I started looking through the book and realized that there is a lot of great information and progressions to learn these movements. I have been working out for years and trying to learn a new skill every six months, which the muscle up, pistol squat, and handstand pushup have been on my list. As I looked through the book more, I found some great advice, insights, and detail about how to begin developing to learn these skills.

In the past few days, I have begun implementing the progressions into my 'skill day' workouts and I continue see progress in learning the pistol squat, handstand pushup, and muscle up. They are not easy - at 46, the range of motion, balance, strength, and skill these take are very difficult. But, as I am working on my mobility, I look at these as something I would like to achieve over the next year, not in the next few weeks.

I would have liked to see more of an introduction and in depth understanding of why these movements were chosen over other more accessible movements. But, from what I can tell, this book is primarily aimed at the CrossFit movement and hoping to capture some new audiences along the way. I would count myself in, with the understanding that these are not basic, nor easy. The book is laid out well, lots of great photos with detail shots, and for 30 plus dollars you get a pretty hefty book coming in at over 400 pages!

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Showing 1-10 of 69 reviews(Verified Purchases). See all 122 reviews

Major nuggets/gems gained from this book

ByC. J. Blackmanon August 3, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great book, very useful. I return to it all the time.

ByJustin McClintockon May 10, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book lays out fundamental movements along with the why and how, and details progressions to build them and use them. As a coach I love the straightforward presentation and clear demonstrations, and as an athlete I love the advanced progressions. I also got to attend a seminar with Carl, and it was great-- straight out of the book. Buy it, you'll use it often.

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One of my favorite books about human movement

ByRandyon April 23, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

One of my favorite books about human movement. Carl does a great job explaining how he views exercise. He gives progressions for the four basic movements he believes are most important. This progressions can basically be applied to any exercise program. I liked this one so much, I wish Carl would write another book! I come from an exercise background but I still found tons of great information!

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Well thought out movement explanations

ByCaryOon July 5, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

If you really want to understand core movements and improve sports performance, this is the book to thoroughly study.

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Paoli’s greatest strength is his ability to regress and progress a ...

ByGregon January 29, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Carl Paoli’s Free+Style is a comprehensive look at four basic physical movements and a thorough description of how to apply these movements to other sports, exercises and everyday life. Paoli’s greatest strength is his ability to regress and progress a particular movement, modifying it to make it simpler to perform or showing how it can be advanced into more difficult feats of strength. He manages to break down complex tasks into discrete actions, explains how to perform each action as efficiently as possible, and how to reassemble these actions into a more refined and stronger complete movement. Moreover, he outlines how to develop progressions for other movements not contained in this book. The book falls a bit short on a complete description of biomechanics, omitting explanations such as why external rotation promotes more stable shoulders and hips and allows for more efficient movement. And some exercise descriptions in the brief section on programming do not appear to refer to the titles of movements in the main section of the book. Still, Free+Style remains one of the better books available on human performance, and Paoli’s skill in describing human movement for individuals at every level of physical fitness is second to none.