Get Smarter. Train Smarter.
It's impossible to learn too much about your body and the way it works. It's impossible to be too motivated when it comes to your own progress. It's impossible to be too careful about your nutrition if you're really serious about your health.
These books will help you with all that and more.
Training
The Purposeful Primitive is a book of essays about famous lifters, mental and physical preparation for lifting, the value and meaning of really hard work, and a whole lot more. Marty Gallagher is a freaking fantastic author. Other than Dan John, you don't get a whole lot of strength- and iron-heads quoting Shakespeare and the Prometheus myth. Awesome stuff. And don't worry ladies, you won't wind up looking like the guy on the cover.
Beyond Bodybuilding
Beyond Bodybuilding is that rare thing: a book of training programs that can make you bigger AND stronger. Written by Pavel Tsatsouline, this book has something for everyone. There is a greater emphasis on strength gains than muscle building, but Pavel also shows how the two can go hand in hand.
Enter The Kettlebell teaches the fundamental kettlebell lifts: the swing, the clean, the press, the deadlift, the snatch, and the military press. A fantastic book with programs for the most raw beginner up to the most advanced kettlebell student. This is the first kettlebell book we would recommend for anyone.
Nutrition
The Warrior Diet
The Warrior Diet is not like most other diets. Intermittent fasting means you don't eat much, if anything, during the day. Then, at night, you feast. Ori Hofmekler claims that this was the eating schedule of the Spartan warriors. They were tough. But there are a lot of other, non-Spartans doing the Warrior Diet with great success. Worth a look if you're interested in trying something new that could potentially give you better results.
The Paleo Diet For Athletes
This diet is awesome.
Wait, no, this diet is awesome.
