The Happy Body

by Aniela Gregorek, Jerzy Gregorek

Becoming lean and fit is not a matter of training for a few weeks, like Rocky, to become a world champion. That only happens in Hollywood movies that portray professional athletes exercising for hours every day until they’re exhausted. Real athletes never do that. They train only to the point that they can recover for the next day’s training. Their progress comes in small increments, not heroic triumphs. Unfortunately, movies have persuaded people that they can become lean and fit virtually overnight. Even the weight loss and fitness industry bought into this distortion and began pushing people to become like Rocky. When that approach failed, because people were injuring themselves or burning out or jumping from one program to another, trainers began to entertain their clients instead of finding solutions to their problems. If you want to become truly lean and fit, you must work at it like an athlete, following a structured routine—and that is easier and more pleasant than you may expect. The principles that work for athletes also work for ordinary people of all ages. Athletes, of course, have coaches. The Happy Body program, on the other hand, will teach you everything you need to know to be your own coach. This innovative program establishes, for the first time, exact scientific and testable methods and goals to engineer your own weight loss and fitness within precise time periods. That empowers you to self-correct your progress at every step. The Happy Body is a total health program, not just an exercise or diet plan. It will teach you to safely lose 1.0 to 2.5 pounds every week, and keep them off, without getting stuck at plateaus. You will have full control over the process, right down to the ounce. In addition to teaching you how to lose weight, the program will also help you to restore the flexibility and posture you had as a young child, and to be leaner, stronger, and faster than you have ever been. In essence, The Happy Body program will not only make you as youthful as you were at twenty, but twenty as you would have been if you had followed the program at that age.

Genres: Health, Self Help, Nonfiction, Fitness, Nutrition, Sports, Bodies

310 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Daniel Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was inspired by the interview on the Tim Ferris show to get this. Nice little lifestyle program, based on Olympic Lifting with a balance of eating, mobility, posture, strength.
Initially I got good results, especially with mobility, but after about 12 weeks I was bored. Despite that, learned a lot.

[Justin Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Happy Body program combines Diet, Exercise, and metal relaxation it to an all encompassing system to increase youthfulness. Youthfulness being defined as being the proper weight with high energy levels, low stress, and great flexibility.

Overall I liked this book. It does an excellent job of explaining the why and much of the how. Though it relies on standard "saturated fat is bad" for you science from the now discredited Ancel Keys "7 Countries Study". However, the exercises, which will take you from the couch to Olympic style weight lifting, are excellent. Combining that with a bit of mindful meditation and aromatherapy to help reduce stress hormones, like cortisol, and the rest of the system.

If you live in the right part of California, you can be instructed directly by the Gregoreks. There is mention that if you are a trainer, you can get certified by them, but no means of finding one of these educated trainers in your area.

[Vishal Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally a balanced body book

This book has it all. First comes flexibility, then comes strength, and then comes speed. The author gives you clear expectations with before and after tracking. There are stories to inspire you.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good exercise/health program. But a not very good book. Recommended for content, but the format of the book is a bit of a pain and the endless anecdotes are tedious to get through.

[Mark Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good review, nothing new or earth shattering.

[Dorena Rode · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book (Kindle Version) and started today with their Program, although using a modified food plan (Dec 12, 2017). I usually eat 8 hours a day and they have the program at 12 hours. Also, they suggest 3 hours between "meals" and I am used to closer meals in the morning. I am hesitant to move away from their plan, but I also realized that the quantities were too low for me based on what they consider maintenance levels. I don't "exercise", but I have an active lifestyle (gardening, wood cutting, etc.). I have a body composition scan scheduled for February and if my modified plan isn't working, I can get closer to what they recommend.

I liked that they explained the rationale for each recommendation. And I actually loved the testimonials. I have a Ph.D. in physiology and like one women, cannot imagine 13% body fat. I also cringe at the idea of 'weight-lifting' since it sounds hard. The testimonials talk about meditation after the work-out, but I haven't yet found specific instructions for that. Perhaps I missed it. I was also disappointed that the book doesn't specifically address issues like my "weak" knees that can't believe they can really do squats and not be injured or the fact that their food plan has me (type 7) at an estimated 1200 calories to start, when I know I can lose a 1.25 pounds a week at 1800. Other people have mentioned the authors steering away from fat, but I can understand that is just a sign of the time when they developed their methods. That also indicates that if the food is clean, doesn't matter too much about some of the details.

[Nathan De · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really like the overall concept of The Happy Body program, in which you engineer a youthful and happy body via diet, exercise, and relaxation. This links nicely to the Gymnastic Bodies program that also focuses on active mobility to combine strength and flexibility, which I do believe is the often forgotten secret to increase your healthspan. However, unfortunately the book often did not meet my expectations. There are too many testimonials that try to sell the program and there is not enough explanation on why the program is designed the way it is. Also, besides some anecdotal stories, there is not enough justification provided for making some very controversial claims: e.g. you should not run or do aerobic exercise because it increases the aging process and decreases your lean muscle mass... In addittion, with respect to the diet guidelines, you can infer from the recipes that the program mainly tries to reduce the consumption of saturated fat first and second also tries to reduce your eating of refined carbs. But this is never spelled out... I would advise not to read the book, but just listen to Jerzy his podcast with Tim Ferriss, which does the program and the author much more justice.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The paperback copy that I got from the library looked (apart from the glossy color cover) like it was printed on an average photocopier. All black and white inside and mediocre print quality. However, I found their quantification of youthfulness with flexibility, strength, and speed in specific exercises to be very interesting. I also have started to learn their sequence of 18 exercises that they recommend doing daily. I liked how they recommended how much weight to do of each exercise as a percentage of the first exercise in the sequence, so we can develop balanced strength.

[Milan Zivkovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book to help yourself

I read this book in kindle format and it wasn’t pleasure at all since it isn’t optimized for such format and it required lot of zooming and scrolling, but it is such amazing content that I have been doing it until end of book and even order printed version for future study...
This is really amazing book full with concrete informations and detailed how to. It contain guide to make yourself happy no meter in which phase of life you are or which gender you are...
Thanks for such great work...

[Cameron Copper · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting concept for a balanced lifestyle.

I found the plan's specific measurements and requirements for the diet portion to be confusing. Additionally, I had to spend some time online figuring out how the workouts should be designed. Because this plan is based off of an ideal body weight, the measurements and weights are different than I am used to with other plans.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seems like a great philosophy

This seems like a great philosophy for a rich, complete life. I don't want to feel like I'm aging, particularly with excess weight and aches and pains. I look forward to following this program and seeing how it works for me.

[Tomas Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book, it makes you want to do all the things they recommend but when I was doing all of the exercises I felt I wasn't doing much, I prefer to do other things at the gym plus some of the exercises feel imposible.

[Adam Falla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different but effective workout for anyone struggling with injuries or flexibility

[ADNAN ALI · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is more of a manual then a book but in any case it is very well written.

[De Vogon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the book was ok, through the exercises. From "the happy belly," though, there was a lot of emphasis on eating meat. Gah.

[Tara Zirker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A life changing book. My husband has suffered back pain for years and we’ve made our rounds among all the experts and practitioners but nothing has helped too much. Three weeks into doing The Happy Body program and his pain is 75% gone. The progress is thrilling!

I love finding the real experts in life and these two are the real deal. I read the reviews before ordering and was prepared to to piece together the program if needed, but it wasn’t necessary at all. For me this guide is intuitive and super easy to follow. I also love how there’s so many case studies to show different types of health journeys. These are highlighted and can be easily skipped over if you don’t want to read them. I know some other reviewers weren’t fans, but, again, I liked them.

All in all, we’re all in on THB and so happy we found this.

[Atiqah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t expecting to be done with The Happy Body this quickly. You can go through it fast because it’s filled with useful illustrations and tables that take up space in this book.

Everybody knows and has felt the feeling of dreading exercise, gritting our teeth through the 40-60 minute session and barely seeing results. The Happy Body program promises you can get your ideal body through routine and habit. The beauty here is it doesn’t rely on your willpower.

What I love about this book is the abundance of client testimonials. I have only one issue with this book and that is the lack of proper third-party evidence, which can only strengthen the arguments presented by the authors. The bibliography is populated only by other self-help and self-development books. For a majority of readers, this is an instant deal-breaker.

The take-home message that I could extract from this book is: Take care of yourself. Nourish yourself, exercise, and relax properly, and your body will be able to take on life at its full potential.

Read full review on Bookmarks & Blue Light

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! First nutritional program I can fully follow and be happy with.

[Alberto · Rating 1 out of 5]

add overhead squats

[Adam Berger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is one of the best and most practical books on healthy living I have ever read. It explains in very easy language most of the questions I have had over the years regarding diet, body composition, flexibility, strength and rest.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not the target audience for this book but:
The sequences are great. If my mobility is lacking it's because I've been slacking on these.
The diet advice is all over the place and not backed by nutritional science. I'm sure it can work if stuck to.

The book isn't organized well and it's hard to plan out exactly what to do. The information is all there but it's hard to find and not very clear.