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 approach to fitness with everyone. Strength for Life is an easy-to-implement program to help you get in fantastic shape, enjoy abundant energy, and maintain a lean, strong physique–not just for 12 weeks but for the rest of your life.

Let’s face it, with the demands of family, work, and life, many of us simply don’t have the time to stick to a rigorous workout schedule. Through his own life experience, Shawn Phillips has recognized this challenge and risen to it, literally reinventing fitness with a results-oriented program that you can embrace even with your hectic schedule and do either at home or at the gym. Homing in on the idea of building mental and physical strength rather than just sculpting your body, Shawn has pioneered a technique called Focus Intensity Training ™ (FIT), which uses the mind-body connection to yield incredible results. The program features

• a workout plan that can take as little as 35 minutes a day, 3 times a week
• illustrated exercises with clear step-by-step instructions
• 3 workout phases–a 12-day Base Camp pre-training period, a 12-week Transformation Camp, and a year-round continuation plan geared to keep you going strong and vibrant for the rest of your life
• a simple eating plan to fuel your body for optimum energy and performance–one that will free you from dieting forever
• goal-setting exercises to help you achieve lasting motivation and reach your loftiest visions

It’s never too late to get in shape. If you’re in your twenties or thirties, Strength for Life will show you how to achieve peak levels of fitness year after year. For those forty and beyond, you can look forward to recapturing the energy and vitality you thought you had lost. By following Strength for Life, you will make yourself stronger, leaner, sharper, and more confident. As Shawn “Strength is about being more, doing more, giving more. It’s not just surviving; it’s thriving. And most important, strength is about having a reserve, a deeper, fuller capacity of body, mind, heart, and soul.”

Genres: Health, Fitness, Nonfiction, Self Help

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Brian Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Your body, the only one you will ever have, is the foundation of your life. And it's either an anchor limiting your freedom and potential or a source of radiant energy, vitality and joy, elevating your life and the lives of those around you. It's your choice... will yours be a source of strength, from which you will impact the world, or an obstacle, preventing you from your dreams and desires? ... As my friend, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway is fond of saying,"If you're going to bother setting a goal, aim high!"... My advice to you, aim high; aim for strength." ~Shawn Phillips from "Strength for Life"

That pretty much sums up the theme of Shawn's great book, "Strength for Life." Aim high. Aim for strength.

Shawn's a good friend and hands down one of the "strongest" and most energetic guys I know. He's also an incredible blend of philosopher and spiritual body builder--bringing meditation into the gym while enhancing--not compromising--the intensity of his training. This is definitely the most powerful book on transforming your strength--the true vitality and power with which you show up in the world--that I've ever read. If you're tired of simply pushing weights around mindlessly, would like to bring mindfulness to your time at the gym and are interested in transforming your life from the inside out to create more strength than ever before, get the book right now and get it on.

The book's packed with "Big Ideas"--everything from creating a "base camp" to get yourself ready for transformation (which, as you'll learn, is different than mere "change") to working out your gratitude muscle (what "fitness" book have you read lately that talks about that?). His "HIIT" and "FIT" training principles are revolutionary and, if you follow his suggestions, it's literally impossible not to transform.

Here are some of the Big Ideas:

1. Transformation - It’s better than change.
2. Strength - Properly defined.
3. Alarming Stats - Yikes.
4. The Gap - Get out of it!
5. Too Old? - The answer is “No!”

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Here's my video review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXfhw...

And click here to find 250+ more of my reviews:
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Brian

[Joel Gides · Rating 4 out of 5]

The exercise program itself is top notch in my opinion. His nutritional advice is so so. My experience: I was on his program and lost 4 lbs. stayed on the diet part 6 months. Decided to try another method on www.loseit.com which is a calorie restricted diet. On loseit I lost 9 lbs in 2 weeks. I never lost that much weight in that amount of time in my life. Thus all of these nutrition buffs that try to sell you the idea that counting calories doesn't help or isn't necessary - they are delusional. It's math/science and I saw it for myself. I went from 209 lbs down to 188. I also have friends and family that have achieved even greater results using loseit. So in summary I come back full circle- strength for life has excellent exercise routine advice, nutritional advice to me is more speculation and good ideas but may not lead to weight loss. I still give it a 4/5 because the value of this workout plan rivals all of these other crazy post modern fitness addicts that correlate fitness with preparing themselves for those crazy running through mud and climbing over walls under ropes and marathons by doing 300esque workouts/Tony Horton p90x suicide-esque workouts that are undoubtedly ... UNNECESSARY!!!! Other than for the ego manic to prove themselves once again. Cheers!

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book and probably a good program for getting into shape. I definitely believe all of the principles covered will work if followed properly. I found it very similar to his younger brother's book "Body For Life" which obviously was a huge success. Shawn has a casual, simple writing style that works well to motivate and build confidence that the program is achievable.

I thought this would be more of a maintenance program to just keep one healthy and fit forever, but it is really a 12 week high-gear transformation gig that you should repeat once a year. The work outs are frequent and seem fairly intense, and the meal plan is basically the same as "Body For Life"...5 meals instead of 6 I guess.

This isn't the do-nothing-and-look-great model because no such model exists, but if you are dedicated and focused on Shawn's program, I believe you will have the desired results...give me 12 weeks, and I'll let you know.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fundamentals for anyone wanting better health. PERIOD. This commonsense approach to understanding the need to build muscle in order to continually burn fat has changed how I exercise and eat. The first step is a two week process of resetting your body by doing very basic exercises and clearing all of the junk out of your diet. The real deal is a 12 week (just in time for a 20th year high school reunion) program of weight training with high intensity targeted cardio. Combine the the workouts with knowledge on how to eat AND in what order to eat your carbs, protein, fruits, and veggies for the maximum energy, and you've got yourself required reading for anyone who has failed at dieting programs. I've always had problems losing that last bit of fat on top of my abs, but with this change in lifestyle (not a diet) and exercise program, it's melting away.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very similar to Body for Life. There are a few minor differences in the 12 week transformation program, but overall it presents the same message. I am a big fan of books like this that make nutrition and working out easy to understand and that present a simple plan for getting in shape and staying in shape.

[Janne Asmala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid advice bringing together previously proven formulas with great stuff on long-term fitness and body-mind connections. Still, I couldn't escape the feeling that the advice on nutrition and stretching weren't as solid as the rest of the book; no dynamic stretching, no PNF, no recipes, and not a word on structural integrity.

[Olivier Compagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strength training with an implicit integral approach. I admit, it's the only strength training book I've read (advice from a friend).
It gives a lot of attention to your life ASIDE from the gym too: diet, sleep, mind, and a wise sense of how the program fits in your life on the long term. Last but not least, it approaches strength training with a meditating purpose as well.

[John Hibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very well written. However, the workout is unique and I plan to implement it.....which is the only reason I borrowed it from the library anyway.

[Kendell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend this highly to anyone who would like to start weight training and feel stronger!
Excellent pictures, guidance and dietary recommendations.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, informative. More intereting to read than Shawn's brother, Bill Phillips "Body-for-Life" book.