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

by Shawn Phillips

Shawn Phillips is an internationally respected strength and fitness expert who has helped athletes, celebrities, and tens of thousands of others over the past twenty years. Now he's sharing his fresh... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345498461
• ISBN13: 9780345498465
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

for me, Strength for Life surpasses even Body for Life

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 acc

Strength For Life!

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

Reenergized, Renewed and Ready...

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.

Highly recommended... easy reading... encouraging tone.

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.

Strong Guidance

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.