Books & more: Be strong!

“Strong people are harder to kill, and more useful in general.” (Mark Rippetoe) And here we go again! In the infinite abundance of fitness books and guides comes another one. Or rather: it has been here for a while. But it does not fit in with the others. Not at all. Because nothing is quite like it. Not the style, not its approach, not its price.

Oh yes, the price. Almost forgot to mention. It comes down to: Get-Your-Butt-Up! That's it. And that's exactly what this book does. It doesn't sell its readers anything. No sense of elite fitness lifestyle or XY-trendy sports community or promises of programs that wouldn't be necessary if the customer wasn't inherently lazy, or even pharmaceuticals.

This book deals with becoming stronger. And comprehensively so.

That strength training in one form or another is indispensable for the soldier should be clear to everyone. Endurance is good and important in combat situations, but it does little good if one has to carry a comrade in the “fireman’s carry” (with full gear and equipment), hand up heavy machine gun ammo, or throw an adversary head-first through a brick wall. For this, we need strength; the more the better. And this book shows us how to achieve it.

It was written by a wrestler, which is already sympathetic in itself, as wrestling is the foundation of modern military close combat (see e.g.: FM 3-21.150 Combatives, US Army). An active wrestler also has the opportunity to constantly measure his strength against others, and thus enjoys the opportunity to track its development both absolutely and relatively. Another point that sets this book apart from many others is that, as the title suggests, it strives for strength development, and is therefore explicitly not designed for bodybuilding. For those who want to know how to get a six-pack or a beach body, “Men's Health” or a bodybuilding magazine with bronzed men in thongs is probably the better choice.

As wrestlers naturally have to avoid falling out of their weight class, but at the same time be as strong and agile as possible, this text offers many useful tips for maximizing one's body without unnecessarily bulking up. It is also to the credit of the book that even absolute beginners can read and work with it, although a certain basic level of experience in the weight room would certainly not be a disadvantage for better understanding of some things. The writing style is casual and relaxed, making it extremely entertaining and motivating for the reader. The most important topics, from basic exercises, training with simple tools (€0 Bulgarian Bag), bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, nutrition, interval training, etc., etc., are presented in a palatable way to the reader throughout.

In conclusion, there is a heap of further reading in the appendix.

Our verdict: One of the best books of these days. Hats off.

HERE is the download link. (Also available for Kindle and as a PDF). Print it out, make notes in it, take it to your workout.