A few months ago now, I created a vision board so I could create some goals I wanted to achieve by the end of the year. One of these was to read 3 books. The reason for this is I wanted to educate myself more both on the fitness industry and some lifestyle type books. With creating this blog and my fitness instagram I figured some motivation would be great and reading some new books would be really useful. So hears my review of the three.
James Smith - Not a Diet Book
With so much fitness tips and advice being thrown about the industry, it was refreshing to be set straight on a few things and also learn some more about bits of information. The book was an easy read and I couldn’t put it down. I think with fitness we can become obsessed with our own little bubble, and aren't willing to step out of that and test themselves. I had so many things proved wrong from this book and from other content he produces. These are some small things I learned:
1. I learned that carbs at the end of the night don't get converted into fat even when in a small surplus, this only happens in a much larger deficit.
2. Deficit/Surplus/Maintenance doesn't matter from day to day, what's more important is that you work over the course of a week, month etc. It's like a bank account one day of spending too much isn't going to ruin your goals if 90% of the time you're saving money.
3. Women's fitness, you may be reading this thinking why on earth would you want to know. Well I'll tell you narrow minded people out there. Men and women are different, so if you've got a female friend asking you for advice you need to know what maybe different. You need to know how their cycle may play into their weight and that at certain points they will be stronger. One week pushing PB's and then the next they maybe struggling with that weight. So for tracking progress it maybe worth tracking weeks of your cycle rather than comparing week 1 to week 2. So you compare week 1 to week 1 of the following month. Sorry women, it's never simple.
If you've got any interest at all with regards overall health and fitness, read this book. I could not recommend it highly enough from both an educational viewpoint and a motivational one. It's the whole reason I started my journey
Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Wow, this book. It just hit the spot. Now I have to be honest, no ones got things figured out or get's them right first time including myself. Understatement of the century but reading this and then reflecting on myself on both the positive and the negative was a real eye opener. You really delve deep into yourself and ask yourself some very personal questions, should come with a warning sticker attached to the front. But the who reason for this is sometimes in life you need to tear up some parts before you can lay the new foundation.
The premise of this book is about evaluating your attitude, it's a bit tricker to explain than the other books I read but basically he wants to reevaluate your priorities. To give a F*ck about certain things and not about others. Priorities at the end of the day. The book is a bit of a slap in the face. Read with caution (but still read it).
Tim Ferriss - The 4-Hour Workweek
Ngl a tough read for someone who's not read in such a long time, but I did find some gems in this book. It really was perfect timing with the pandemic hitting and people going into lockdown/working from home. It taught me ways I can keep productive and how I could potentially look to start to develop my passion into a business. The aim of the book is to retire early when you can travel the world and experience new things when you're young. And you do this not by becoming a millionaire with zero responsibilities. A useful tip I picked up is that deadlines can improve productivity. By setting myself a timer to do a job I become more devoted on that task and can get it done quicker than if I set myself a day to do something. You can then rotate this between a few jobs for example:
- 30 mins blog writing
- 30 mins reading
- 30 mins YouTube/Netflix
Doing this I found I get more done in 1.5 hours than I would if I set a to do list of: do some blog writing, read your book etc. By having a time constraint in you can improve your productivity.
That's my quick review of all three, I wanted to keep it simple because I don't want to give too much away. If anyone has any suggestions for what to read next, let me know in the comments.
Hope everyone has a good Friday & weekend.
Thanks
Cameron
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