Best Exercise Science Books That Will Push You On Your Fitness Journey

In my previous article, we talked about some of the traps, like instant gratification and the guru trap, which are common why people fail in their fitness journey. What I mentioned before are just a few of the many which you need to be aware of for your fitness journey. Best exercise science books are readily available in the market, but if you’re not aware of the traps you will encounter, you are doomed to fail.

The One Way Trap

Similar to the Guru Trap, the One Way Trap is usually promoted by a small group or individual as a superior discipline to everyone else’s. 

When this happens the promoter of the “one way” typically possesses a large capacity in one area but very limited in other areas.  As a result of this myopic mindset the Guru typically shuts down any possibility that there may be a better way than their own. 

This is the “my way or the highway” approach; the guy or gal who tells you to ditch everything you’re doing because they’ve found the Holy Grail of health. 

For example, I recently read a strength-training book by an MD and a well-known gym trainer that claimed: “you don’t need yoga.”  Unfortunately, they failed to back up this statement with any scientific studies or acknowledge the fact that yoga is one of the oldest, most popular and most beneficial forms of exercise known to mankind (predating weightlifting by several thousand years).    

It’s understandable when someone gets benefit from something that they would want to shout from the rooftops and share their benefits.  Unfortunately, overzealous zealots rarely find the Holy Grail of health or anything of lasting value for that matter. 

When we take a look at some of the more recent developments in the fitness world we find a lot of buzz around HIIT (AKA high intensity interval training) and for good reason.   When performed properly it has the ability to deliver the same benefits of a 90 – 120 minute workout (low intensity jogging, walking or cycling) in 5% of the time.   And while this awesome time saving feature may sound like the best thing since gluten free bread, what most people don’t understand is that no matter how great your exercise routine is or how little you need to do it, sitting for excessively long periods of time could kill you.

Yes, that’s right, the longer you sit, the higher you are at risk of an early death, regardless of how much you exercise.   And to assure you I’m not just a hypocrite hammering gurus while making more unfounded claims, I’d like to direct your attention to a landmark study of 7,985 adults published in Annals of Internal Medicine.  In this study, researchers found a direct relationship between time spent sitting and your risk of early mortality of any cause regardless of exercise.[i]

In other words, even if you manage to find an awesome exercise program like HIIT, which takes only 15 minutes a day three days a week to get amazing benefits, if you’re sitting for the rest of the time, chances are you won’t be feeling so awesome. 

Sadly, these myopic views of health aren’t just found in weight lifting or high intensity interval training but can be found just about everywhere you turn.  This includes disciplines on the opposite end of the spectrum like yoga or tai chi, where gurus can be found claiming their superiority over all other disciplines.

So while each guru from each discipline may display some amazing results, testimonials, and scientific data to back up their claims (a lot of which is legitimate) it’s important to look at the bigger picture and not get hung up on one myopic way. 

Solution to the One Way Trap

Whatever you’ve heard in the past, whatever your beliefs are in the present, I want to encourage you right now to suspend them for a moment and open up your mind to a new world of unlimited possibilities.

If there is one major lesson I’ve learned which is effective 100% of the time it’s this:

There is no single person or guru who has all the answers!

Remember, we are all human and as such we have flaws (myself included).  Once you truly understand that nobody is perfect, you can begin to expand, open to new solutions and achieve true greatness.  Most importantly, right now it’s time to embrace a new more powerful philosophy:

Learning and growing is the key to success!

This isn’t just fluffy cheerleader pep talk either.  If you read my book “Get High On Confidence” you may remember a study conducted by Dr. Carol Dweck, which I’ll share here.

In the first study, 373 7th graders demonstrated that students who believed intelligence was malleable (AKA Growth Mindset) showed an improvement in grades over the two years of junior high school, while those with a belief that intelligence is fixed (AKA Fixed Mindset) showed a decline in grades over the same period.[ii]

In the second study, an intervention was created in order to teach the growth mindset, which promoted positive change in classroom motivation compared with a control group. Simultaneously, students in the control group displayed a continuing downward trajectory in grades, while this decline was reversed for students in the experimental group.

In conclusion, researchers noted: “The key message was that learning changes the brain by forming new connections and that students are in charge of this process.” 

So what does this mean for you?

These and other similar studies show that people with a “Fixed Mindset” believe that making a leap forward to acquire a skill or level of intelligence they don’t currently have is difficult to impossible.  When they see an obstacle, instead of moving towards it, they withdraw and conclude that they are not capable.  And while many will view this as a lack of motivation or laziness, more often than not, it’s usually just a case of a fixed mindset. 

In contrast, people who have a “Growth Mindset” believe that the way to leap forward and succeed is to learn and grow.  When they see an obstacle, they move towards it and conclude that if they learn and grow they can become capable and succeed.  

In reality, the most advanced humans are advanced because they’ve learned multiple disciplines from multiple perspectives and multiple teachers.   This has been my philosophy for the last 20 years, over which I’ve accumulated and continue to accumulate skills, abilities and strategies from the masters of multiple disciplines and will share with you throughout this training.  Ultimately, this means you get the benefits without having to spend 20 years of your life and $100,000 figuring out the answers to building superhuman power. 

So I urge you to stay open to learning and growing.  Your mental and physical abilities are certainly not set and can expand tremendously with a broader perspective and time tested wisdom to gain new results.

The Comfort Zone

Ahh yes, the good old comfort zone.   Ever wake up and find yourself saying something like, I don’t feel motivated to workout so I’m just going to eat instead?  Or maybe you’ve been working all day and you find yourself thinking, I’ve been working all day, I deserve to relax, sit on the couch and eat treats, savory dishes, and maybe a glass of beer or wine.

While there will be times for relaxing and relaxing is important, more often than not, falling prey to the comfort zone is really just a distraction from doing the things that will make you really feel good – without negative side effects. 

Solution to the Comfort Zone

Fortunately, habits can be changed and to solve this life-crushing trap, we’ll be using some ninja tools to change the root of the problem.  So instead of drinking three cups of coffee or throwing your TV out the window to get motivated, we’ll be addressing the root of the problem – your underlying beliefs. 

And by the time you finish this program, instead of falling prey to couch crush, you’ll be much more inclined to take action and move your body because you’ll get an unmatched high from getting “Fired Up” that simply can’t be replaced by food, drugs or TV.

To supercharge your immunity, boost libido, double your strength & start feeling young & alive again, discover the most powerful, fun, and rewarding fitness book available online: “Fired Up”  by Chad Scott.


[i] Keith M. Diaz, PhD; Virginia J. Howard, PhD; Brent Hutto, MSPH; Natalie Colabianchi, PhD; John E. Vena, PhD; Monika M. Safford, MD; Steven N. Blair, PED; Steven P. Hooker, PhD.  Patterns of Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A National Cohort Study – Annals of Internal Medicine 3 OCTOBER 2017

[ii] Lisa S. Blackwell Columbia University Kali H. Trzesniewski and Carol Sorich Dweck. Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Dev. 2007 Jan-Feb;78(1):246-63. Stanford University


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