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1% Fitness: Move Better. Train Smarter. Live Longer.
Unlike other workout books, 1% Fitness includes free lifetime access to a dedicated members site where you can download all 14 weeks of workout routines and watch all corresponding exercises from the book. It's web-based, so you can view it from any computer, any country, and on all smartphone devices.
With everything else we seek efficiency. Whether preparing food, surfing the internet, or commuting to work, we're looking for the smallest investment in time for the greatest return. And many times this means paying a little up front; which depending on our circumstances, the majority is obliged to do.Well, what if that same efficiency was possible with exercise?That all of the fat loss, muscle gain, cardiovascular and metabolic improvements, and reduction in disease risk and mortality can be achieved in far less time.Would you do it?If you're already exercising this means more free time, so it's an easy decision. And if you're not already exercising, it's just as easy; as once you understand that the investment in time is less than 100 minutes per week (1%), it's a no brainer."Give me 1% of your week, and I'll give you the body you've always wanted...with maybe more time to enjoy it." - Coach Mike1% Fitness shows you how to build the ideal physique and improve your long-term health, with a minimal commitment to exercise. Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Diet and Health Expert, Mike Sheridan delivers his 9 performance principles and progresses you across 7 workout phases, so you're primed for success no matter what your training level. Phase 1 establishes a baseline of strength with bodyweight training - using at home workouts that everyone can do, and 4 levels of progression for each bodyweight exercise (so everyone can improve).Phase 2 introduces the reader to traditional weight training - using workout plans that abide by the principles in the book, and functional strength training exercises designed to minimize workout time, and maximize workout results.Phase 3 is all about HIIT (high intensity interval training) - with Coach Mike outlining HIITs superiority over endurance exercise (for fat loss, cardiovascular health, and metabolic improvements) and highlighting it's importance in the prevention of muscle loss and physical degeneration, and the maintenance of strength, power, mobility, stability and functional independence with age."When you spend the limited time you have available to exercise (100min) focusing on building muscle, you burn more fat in the remaining 9,980min a week." - Coach Mike1% Fitness is the exact progressive approach Mike's used with his personal training clients to help them transform into lean, strong, healthy, athletic machines. It's the culmination of 15 years of practical fitness training experience designed to bring you the optimal solution for transforming your body and improving your life without spending hours in the gym.
- GenresFitness
329 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2015
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February 2, 2016I will preface this review by saying I read this on my Kindle and I was able to purchase it when it was offered as a promo for free. Regular Kindle price is $9.99.
This is Sheridan's premise: "That all of the fat loss, muscle gain, cardiovascular and metabolic improvements, and reduction in disease risk and mortality can be achieved in far less time." Specifically, he says you can do this in 108 minutes or less a week through strength/resistance training. And I will say from the start that I do agree with him that strength/resistance training are a crucial component of a fitness plan, I do not believe that it is all you must do. (And with enough time and resources, I am confident that I could find just as many references to make my case.) Neither does he, really, but I'll get to that a bit later in the review.
Here are the reasons for the low rating.
Editting. Sheridan needed to invest in a good editor for his book. Problems include wrong word choice, missing or extra words, typographical errors, numerous sentence fragments, and more. One example is "happens on a comfortable thrown that washes your business away" (referring to a toilet). Another example is this sentence: "Bicep curls seem to only be superior for improving ATTENTION every day life." Or the chart where he talks about doing Reps/Weight when the chart is actually weight/reps. There are many more examples.
Formatting. I don't know what the physical book looks like, but the Kindle one is awful. There are many times when lines are repeated from one page to the next and the illustrations are basically useless on the Kindle. If you enlarge them to try to read the charts and graphs, most of the line graphs are still too small to see, and the legends and captions for almost all of them are too blurry to read.
Errors and questionable facts. Sheridan's whole premise is that you need only devote 1% of your time each week to this fitness plan. Which he describes as "10,8000min in a week*1%." First there are obvious typos in there. Second, the actual number of minutes in a week is 10,080. You lose all credibility when you can't even get this much correct. As another example, he describes abdominal muscles as primarily fast twitch. I can find no reference that supports this. In fact, most of the references I found state that all of your core muscles are predominantly slow twitch. Those are just two examples, but there are many more.
Marketing Bait and Switch. Anyone picking up this book is going to think that they are getting a way to become fit in just a few minutes per week. However, Sheridan tells you in the introduction that he expects you to have read and to be following the principles in his other two books. One is his diet book that, from what I can infer from what he says in this book, is basically an Atkins-style low- or no-carb diet. The other book I think talks about his "lifestyle" changes. (I refuse to give this man money to buy these books. I don't like this trend of self-published authors to deliberately write books that force you to buy additional books to get the full plan or read the full story. If your book isn't good enough to stand on its own, don't write it.) Also, when you get to the end of this book where he finally describes the exercises, there are charts that name the exercises and tell you the number of reps, but there are no pictures or descriptions of them. I challenge all of you to do a Glute Bridge L2 right now. What is that? Who knows? (I also just noted that you go from Glute Bridge L2 to Glute Bridge L4 with no L3. I assume this is another editing problem.) In order to get the descriptions, you need to go to his website and provide an email address to sign up for his mailing list. At which point he sends you a discount code so you can go to another website to get the videos for the plan. However, even with the discount code, the website wants you to enter your credit card information. This is beyond deplorable in these times of rampant identity theft and credit card theft. If he wants to put the stuff behind a password protected wall, that's fine. Do not ask people to provide credit card information. (FYI, if you go to YouTube and search for his name and the name of the exercise, you should be able to find most if not all of them.)
Misleading. He asserts you can get fit in just 1% of your time each week (what he states is 108 minutes which, as noted above, is wrong and should actually be 100.8 minutes). However, you are supposed to be doing his lifestyle changes outlined in a different book which involve 30 minutes per day of walking along with some functional exercises and activity breaks every 45-60 minutes. So, way more than 1%.
Citations. Sheridan provides a ton of citations. Unfortunately, they aren't formatted consistently (some don't even include a publication date), and I was never able to figure out how they are ordered. I tried to look up the citation for a couple of things he referenced in the book, but I shouldn't have to read through up to 8 or 9 pages of references (per chapter) to find the one study I want to read.
So again, I do agree that a fitness plan needs a good strength training program. However, I cannot recommend this plan or this book.
This is Sheridan's premise: "That all of the fat loss, muscle gain, cardiovascular and metabolic improvements, and reduction in disease risk and mortality can be achieved in far less time." Specifically, he says you can do this in 108 minutes or less a week through strength/resistance training. And I will say from the start that I do agree with him that strength/resistance training are a crucial component of a fitness plan, I do not believe that it is all you must do. (And with enough time and resources, I am confident that I could find just as many references to make my case.) Neither does he, really, but I'll get to that a bit later in the review.
Here are the reasons for the low rating.
Editting. Sheridan needed to invest in a good editor for his book. Problems include wrong word choice, missing or extra words, typographical errors, numerous sentence fragments, and more. One example is "happens on a comfortable thrown that washes your business away" (referring to a toilet). Another example is this sentence: "Bicep curls seem to only be superior for improving ATTENTION every day life." Or the chart where he talks about doing Reps/Weight when the chart is actually weight/reps. There are many more examples.
Formatting. I don't know what the physical book looks like, but the Kindle one is awful. There are many times when lines are repeated from one page to the next and the illustrations are basically useless on the Kindle. If you enlarge them to try to read the charts and graphs, most of the line graphs are still too small to see, and the legends and captions for almost all of them are too blurry to read.
Errors and questionable facts. Sheridan's whole premise is that you need only devote 1% of your time each week to this fitness plan. Which he describes as "10,8000min in a week*1%." First there are obvious typos in there. Second, the actual number of minutes in a week is 10,080. You lose all credibility when you can't even get this much correct. As another example, he describes abdominal muscles as primarily fast twitch. I can find no reference that supports this. In fact, most of the references I found state that all of your core muscles are predominantly slow twitch. Those are just two examples, but there are many more.
Marketing Bait and Switch. Anyone picking up this book is going to think that they are getting a way to become fit in just a few minutes per week. However, Sheridan tells you in the introduction that he expects you to have read and to be following the principles in his other two books. One is his diet book that, from what I can infer from what he says in this book, is basically an Atkins-style low- or no-carb diet. The other book I think talks about his "lifestyle" changes. (I refuse to give this man money to buy these books. I don't like this trend of self-published authors to deliberately write books that force you to buy additional books to get the full plan or read the full story. If your book isn't good enough to stand on its own, don't write it.) Also, when you get to the end of this book where he finally describes the exercises, there are charts that name the exercises and tell you the number of reps, but there are no pictures or descriptions of them. I challenge all of you to do a Glute Bridge L2 right now. What is that? Who knows? (I also just noted that you go from Glute Bridge L2 to Glute Bridge L4 with no L3. I assume this is another editing problem.) In order to get the descriptions, you need to go to his website and provide an email address to sign up for his mailing list. At which point he sends you a discount code so you can go to another website to get the videos for the plan. However, even with the discount code, the website wants you to enter your credit card information. This is beyond deplorable in these times of rampant identity theft and credit card theft. If he wants to put the stuff behind a password protected wall, that's fine. Do not ask people to provide credit card information. (FYI, if you go to YouTube and search for his name and the name of the exercise, you should be able to find most if not all of them.)
Misleading. He asserts you can get fit in just 1% of your time each week (what he states is 108 minutes which, as noted above, is wrong and should actually be 100.8 minutes). However, you are supposed to be doing his lifestyle changes outlined in a different book which involve 30 minutes per day of walking along with some functional exercises and activity breaks every 45-60 minutes. So, way more than 1%.
Citations. Sheridan provides a ton of citations. Unfortunately, they aren't formatted consistently (some don't even include a publication date), and I was never able to figure out how they are ordered. I tried to look up the citation for a couple of things he referenced in the book, but I shouldn't have to read through up to 8 or 9 pages of references (per chapter) to find the one study I want to read.
So again, I do agree that a fitness plan needs a good strength training program. However, I cannot recommend this plan or this book.
May 7, 2017
Sheridan is an understudy of one of the most respected names in the world of fitness: Charles Poliquin.
Google Strength Sensei and you’ll discover why I decided to include this book in my quest for physical perfection. It is jam packed with solid, proven, and time-tested training principles. The program is easy to follow and laid out in a way that builds on itself. Not all programs do this. It is all encompassing and explains in-depth what it is you are working to achieve.
Ideas like Time Under Tension have been working its way around the fitness industry for decades but I didn’t really understand how important it was to manipulate this principle until after I read this book.
Read more at www.outworkindustries.com
Truly a good starting point for any fitness enthusiast and a good developmental tool for someone that is looking to expand on their working knowledge of the physical domain.
r/Tony
Google Strength Sensei and you’ll discover why I decided to include this book in my quest for physical perfection. It is jam packed with solid, proven, and time-tested training principles. The program is easy to follow and laid out in a way that builds on itself. Not all programs do this. It is all encompassing and explains in-depth what it is you are working to achieve.
Ideas like Time Under Tension have been working its way around the fitness industry for decades but I didn’t really understand how important it was to manipulate this principle until after I read this book.
Read more at www.outworkindustries.com
Truly a good starting point for any fitness enthusiast and a good developmental tool for someone that is looking to expand on their working knowledge of the physical domain.
r/Tony
December 20, 2019
Great
Good workout... I wish I would have known someone when I was younger to eat for living and to continue to keep moving.
Good workout... I wish I would have known someone when I was younger to eat for living and to continue to keep moving.
November 20, 2025
great read
Simple and effective plan with workouts. Things don’t need to be complicated. Just consistently performed through life. It’s all laid out
Simple and effective plan with workouts. Things don’t need to be complicated. Just consistently performed through life. It’s all laid out
February 15, 2016
Like his previous books, 1% Fitness presents a persuasive case for Mike Sheridan’s alternative fitness plan. Mr. Sheridan has clearly done his homework and is passionate about his mission. According to Mr. Sheridan, fitness is only about 10% of the total plan to a leaner, healthier, stronger body – which means one’s success is 90% dependent upon how well one follows the alternative eating plan laid out in Live It Not Diet! This assertion flies in the face of conventional methods – and I tend to agree.
Sheridan takes the reader through nine fitness principles, beginning with a significant change in daily activity and posture intended to mimic a more primitive hunter-gatherer movement. He then moves in to more intensive, weight bearing and free weight exercises over three progressively challenging phases. In all honesty, I wound up pretty lost after the initial couple of principles as there is so much data and detail to absorb around each successive principle. Perhaps the free online videos and training resources Mr. Sheridan offers as follow-up to 1% Fitness would be easier to digest, but I have not yet taken the time to register and check them out.
I am no nutrition or fitness expert, but I do care about the state of my health. I have found Mr. Sheridan’s previous books informative, persuasive and though-provoking but I found 1% Fitness difficult to digest and cumbersome with the amount of detailed information thrown at me. Beyond implementing some more primitive daily movements and basic stretching type of exercises discussed early on, I would not be comfortable trying to tackle the more intensive exercises on my own. I believe some links within the e-book to the video instruction Mr. Sheridan has compiled would have gone a long way to helping a more visual person like me understand the techniques being described.
While I believe 1% Fitness is a valuable resource, especially used in conjunction with Mr. Sheridan’s previous books, if one is not already somewhat knowledgeable in health and fitness – the detail may be a bit challenging to wade through.
Sheridan takes the reader through nine fitness principles, beginning with a significant change in daily activity and posture intended to mimic a more primitive hunter-gatherer movement. He then moves in to more intensive, weight bearing and free weight exercises over three progressively challenging phases. In all honesty, I wound up pretty lost after the initial couple of principles as there is so much data and detail to absorb around each successive principle. Perhaps the free online videos and training resources Mr. Sheridan offers as follow-up to 1% Fitness would be easier to digest, but I have not yet taken the time to register and check them out.
I am no nutrition or fitness expert, but I do care about the state of my health. I have found Mr. Sheridan’s previous books informative, persuasive and though-provoking but I found 1% Fitness difficult to digest and cumbersome with the amount of detailed information thrown at me. Beyond implementing some more primitive daily movements and basic stretching type of exercises discussed early on, I would not be comfortable trying to tackle the more intensive exercises on my own. I believe some links within the e-book to the video instruction Mr. Sheridan has compiled would have gone a long way to helping a more visual person like me understand the techniques being described.
While I believe 1% Fitness is a valuable resource, especially used in conjunction with Mr. Sheridan’s previous books, if one is not already somewhat knowledgeable in health and fitness – the detail may be a bit challenging to wade through.
February 28, 2016
I have been trying to improve my lifestyle recently through food and exercise recently and have found Mike Sheridan's books to be really helpful in understanding what my body does and doesn't need. I am definitely one of those people who believe that in order to carry out regular exercise, I'd need loads of spare time and an expensive gym pass, so I have been putting it off. Reading this book has given me the confidence to get stuck into it without feeling like I've got to give up loads of time to get to where I want to be with my body.
I love the fact that all of his books go hand and hand and putting all of the aspects together in order to improve my lifestyle really works! I now understand more about health, diet, exercise and fitness and would highly recommend these books to anyone who wants to know and understand their own bodies better.
I love the fact that all of his books go hand and hand and putting all of the aspects together in order to improve my lifestyle really works! I now understand more about health, diet, exercise and fitness and would highly recommend these books to anyone who wants to know and understand their own bodies better.
January 31, 2016
Love it
Great book with a ton of helpful information. We all want to be healthy but may be doing everything wrong. This book will help steer you in the right direction. The author gives great advise with the research to back it up. Great for anyone looking to be healthy.
Great book with a ton of helpful information. We all want to be healthy but may be doing everything wrong. This book will help steer you in the right direction. The author gives great advise with the research to back it up. Great for anyone looking to be healthy.
February 25, 2016
amazing! great book for everyone who need/want to be healthy and active
June 19, 2016
"...if you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak" - this guy
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews