Philip Maffetone > Quotes

“Reducing excess body fat is best accomplished by avoiding junk food and eating healthy foods.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Overfat Pandemic: Exposing the Problem and Its Simple Solution for Everyone Who Needs to Eliminate Excess Body Fat

“My general philosophy regarding endurance contains four key points: 1. Build a great aerobic base. This essential physical and metabolic foundation helps accomplish several important tasks: it prevents injury and maintains a balanced physical body; it increases fat burning for improved stamina, weight loss, and sustained energy; and it improves overall health in the immune and hormonal systems, the intestines and liver, and throughout the body. 2. Eat well. Specific foods influence the developing aerobic system, especially the foods consumed in the course of a typical day. Overall, diet can significantly influence your body’s physical, chemical, and mental state of fitness and health. 3. Reduce stress. Training and competition, combined with other lifestyle factors, can be stressful and adversely affect performance, cause injuries, and even lead to poor nutrition because they can disrupt the normal digestion and absorption of nutrients. 4. Improve brain function. The brain and entire nervous system control virtually all athletic activity, and a healthier brain produces a better athlete. Improved brain function occurs from eating well, controlling stress, and through sensory stimulation, which includes proper training and optimal breathing.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing

“Warm up at least 12 minutes, or be naturally warmed up. Work up to training with weight at 80 percent of your maximum, about six reps, with rest between sets of at least three minutes. Cool down at least 12 minutes, or be naturally active following your workout. Recovery includes seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“An unfortunate but common problem in sports is that athletes are too often fit but unhealthy. The indications include the common incidence of physical, biochemical and mental-emotional injuries. Athletes are often forced out of training and competition due to these conditions, and, sadly, some die at early ages during competition due to health problems.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“Coffee is among the most studied food in science. One of its well-known abilities is to promote fat-burning. As the beverage highest in caffeine, it has been shown to reduce stored body fat, especially belly fat, and lower the risk of diabetes, liver and colon cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic inflammation.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Overfat Pandemic: Exposing the Problem and Its Simple Solution for Everyone Who Needs to Eliminate Excess Body Fat

“One can be healthy but have poor fitness ; or very fit but unhealthy.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“MAF is an open system that can be used by itself, or be integrated into any approach you may be currently using, or help you start all over again. That’s because MAF provides assessment tools that help take the guesswork out of exercise, food and stress management. These tools, such as the MAF Test and Two-Week Test, can help you better understand whether your workouts and eating patterns are really right for you.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“Never train anaerobically more than two to three times each week, and separate anaerobic sessions by at least 48 hours to assure good recovery. If your workout schedule includes six or seven days each week, at most three anaerobic sessions are acceptable; if you work out four to five days each week, two anaerobic days are more appropriate; if you work out only three days each week, only one of these sessions should be anaerobic; and if you work out fewer than three days each week, anaerobic workouts are not recommended since it would be too easy to create an imbalance.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“By measuring an athlete during all aspects of training, I made the important discovery that anaerobic stimulation, which can come from any anaerobic workout and any physical, chemical, or mental lifestyle stress, had the potential to interfere with the development of the aerobic system, thereby reducing endurance potential. An important aspect of building the aerobic base, I quickly learned, is that during this process, anaerobic training should be minimized—ideally eliminated—from the training schedule. And, athletes need to become more aware of how stress affects them.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing

“not only does stretching not “warm” your body and prepare it for exercise, but it can be harmful.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“An important rule is worth mentioning here again: Have fun in your workouts. They should be enjoyable and invigorating.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Big Book of Health and Fitness: A Practical Guide to Diet, Exercise, Healthy Aging, Illness Prevention, and Sexual Well-Being

“Healthy food is critical for runners. Each day the body breaks down during the catabolic phase of training. With the anabolic phase of recovery the body is rebuilt, repaired, and made stronger. The raw materials necessary for this revitalization come from the foods we eat. The best foods create a superior body—simply put, we are what we eat.”
― Philip Maffetone, 1:59: The Sub-Two-Hour Marathon Is Within Reach—Here's How It Will Go Down, and What It Can Teach All Runners about Training and Racing

“All anaerobic training should be preceded by an easy aerobic warm-up and followed by an easy aerobic cooldown. • On the days between anaerobic exercise, perform an easy aerobic workout.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“Rather than increase your pace, gradually increase your total workout time.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“For example, if you’re presently jogging a mile in 12 minutes at a rate of 140 bpm, after three months of training at this heart rate your pace may quicken to 10 minutes per mile. Even though you’ll be jogging, or running, faster, you’ll be exercising at the same heart rate and feel almost the same as when you were jogging at the slower pace of 12 minutes per mile.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“MAF emphasizes the balance of all components of both health and fitness. This begins with the need to improve the aerobic system because it supplies the energy that’s essential for all physical, biochemical and mental-emotional health and fitness.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“My workout is part of my day. I don’t change clothes, wear special shoes, drive anywhere, pay a membership or even get sweaty. It’s simple: I don’t want to bulk up or enter any weightlifting competition — I just want to improve overall health and fitness by making my entire body stronger.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“Perform slow weights in the course of two, three or more hours throughout the evening. Weekend days can also work well for those with a busy weekday schedule.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“Sarcopenia can be accelerated by bed rest, immobility and muscle disuse, chronic inflammation, hormone imbalance, low protein intake, many commonly used prescription drugs (such as statins, and those used for blood sugar and blood pressure control) and over-the-counter drugs such as Ibuprofen. Excess body fat can predispose someone to sarcopenia. (Sarcopenia associated with excess body fat is called “sarcopenic overfat.”)”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“The art and science of MAF Strength Training is one of the simplest ways to build or preserve muscle and bone strength no matter your age. It requires little or no extra time. In fact, while I was thinking about how to write this paragraph I just did another single set of six simple squats.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“Excess muscle loss is known as sarcopenia, and is one of the most common causes of physical impairments later in life. It leads to further reductions in physical activity, bone loss, and increased joint, ligaments, tendon and other soft-tissue dysfunction contributing to injury and pain. The loss of muscle, and reduced muscle activity, can also impair brain function.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“Sulforaphane, lipoic acid, and alpha-tocotrienol are powerful phytonutrients that can block the damage from free radicals. •   Glutathione, the body’s most potent antioxidant, can block the actions of nitrogen compounds. •   Flavanoids, gingerol, curcumin, sesamin and other nutrients in fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods can block the process of inflammation. •   Tangeretin, limonine, and tocotrienols can block other areas of cancer progression. You may not have heard of these nutrients, but they’re all readily available in a healthy diet that includes vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, especially in their raw state.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Big Book of Health and Fitness: A Practical Guide to Diet, Exercise, Healthy Aging, Illness Prevention, and Sexual Well-Being

“The acronym MAF stands for maximum aerobic function. That’s what this method is all about. We can accomplish this through addressing all areas of lifestyle that are under our control, including physical activity and exercise, food and nutrition, and stress. In doing so, we can significantly improve health and fitness, quality of life, control aging, and achieve the most amazing feats. This may be running a faster marathon, having a more highly functional brain, being more creative or whatever your goals, including all of these and more. And, improvements begin the very first day!”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“To remain healthy and injury-free, follow this simple equation: Training = Workout + Rest”
― Philip Maffetone, 1:59: The Sub-Two-Hour Marathon Is Within Reach—Here's How It Will Go Down, and What It Can Teach All Runners about Training and Racing

“Slow weight training is basically strength training spread throughout the day, and crafted around a few special guidelines detailed below.”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones

“You can build your aerobic system with easy exercise, and if you never work out hard, you’ll still reap great benefits.”
― Philip Maffetone, The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

“We can adapt to this stress with adequate aerobic function, and when we allow sufficient time for recovery, which, for most people means a maximum of one or two hard training efforts a week.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“FOOD (single serving) Folate (mcg) Avocado 118 Spinach 263 Asparagus 243 Beets 136 Leaf lettuce 119 Lentils 358 Brussels sprouts 157 Broccoli 168 Green peas 94 Orange 54 Papaya 112 Turkey 486 Beef 221”
― Philip Maffetone, The Endurance Handbook: How to Achieve Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy, and Get the Most Out of Your Body

“As I’ve discussed many times, eating well means planning ahead and carefully shopping so you always have only healthy food at home, work and during travel.”
― Philip Maffetone, The MAF Method: A Personalized Approach to Health and Fitness

“The MAF Strength Training method is simple, safe, easy, effective, fast and free (you might have to buy some weights, but look in your basement or ask a friend and you may find what you need). It’s a natural activity, developing strong muscles and bones similar to those conditioned through outdoor work, such as lifting and carrying logs or rocks, building a stone wall, or digging the garden. (I sometimes do that too.)”
― Philip Maffetone, Get Strong: The natural, no-sweat, whole-body approach to stronger muscles and bones