Someone once shared with me the piece advice that you should never trust a man with two first names. Dan John is making me reconsider that particular piece of wisdom. Apparently something of a living legend in certain strength and conditioning circles, I only found him after reading a few posts of his on a random internet forum. I subsequently discovered his website, blog, and articles; I liked what I read, so I bought Never Let Go.
The book is a collection of articles, some of which were previously published online. Of course, having them in print form has a number of advantages, particularly if you haven’t read them before. I had only read one or two of them, so a lot of the material was new to me.
There is a lot of good information in here, from specific programs for developing strength, size, or endurance, to more philosophical thoughts on structuring programming, training for the long term, and evaluating the utility (or lack thereof) of certain programs. John’s background as a religious studies teacher gives him some interesting insights into the way people tend to think in regard to their strength and conditioning programs. He also has been around the block more than a few times (someone apparently made a joke about Dan John having coached Milo while he was lifting the bull), and isn’t afraid to acknowledge his failures along with his successes.
Indeed, one of the things I appreciate most about this book is that Dan John has used himself as a bit of a human guinea pig, and is willing to talk about his experiences doing so, both good and bad. I’m sure that his willingness to point out the flaws in various training programs hasn’t made him a lot of friends, but I appreciate his candor and forthrightness.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Dan John is just fun to read. One of the great difficulties in trying to learn more about strength and conditioning is that sometimes even the good information is presented badly. Dan John’s writing is clear, but it’s also engaging, and at times, insanely humorous. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much reading a strength and conditioning book (or rather, I’ve never laughed so much WITH the author, rather than AT him). Hell, even my wife found some of the parts I read aloud funny.
This book is accessible to anyone, though it’s worth noting that you can’t follow every program in this book at once. Well, you could try, but you’ll probably die. This is the kind of book you read, enjoy, and then go back and cherry-pick ideas from. Right now I’m playing with the “one lift a day” idea, though I’m not doing it exactly as outlined in the book, because of time and strength factors. There’s a lot of other stuff I’d like to play with in here too; I’m sure I’ll get to it sooner or later.
If you must trust a man with two first names, Dan John seems like a good place to start.
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Discover how to get the most from fitness.
Anything will work for three to six months. What then? That's the dynamic message I got from Dan's book. Oh, there was a lot more here. But I generally take one or two new and interesting ideas from a book --- assuming it's a good book. And this one is.Dan's book is really a collection of essays. They're not in any particular order. I say that because he mentions his fat period twice --- once in the early part of the book and again towards the end. Both are written in the time he is recovering from his fatness.But that doesn't take away from the messages of the book.Dan believes in making things simple. Not easy, he says. But simple. I like that idea more and more as I get older. It makes more sense for anyone. Our lives are already far too confusing and full and rushed and out of control.Dan recons we should focus on our main goal and plan our activities, our workouts and exercises accordingly. If you want to lose weight, you must follow different activities than someone who wants to get power or strength or run a marathon, for example.Again, this makes sense and simplifies things for us. This is the way Bruce Lee was able to be so great in martial arts. He tried many things and discarded the things that didn't work or didn't help him in his main persuit --- his goals for his unique purposes.I find this idea empowering. And you'll find it in abundance in Dan's new book.While you might think the book is written for weight lifters or bodybuilders, it's really for anyone who wants to get fit.Some of it you may discard. You may find parts of it just don't apply to you. But there is enough encouragement and no BS information in the book that you'll thoroughly enjoy it and come away the wiser. You'll profit with more useful workouts that actually get you to your goal.Dan cuts through the myths and the outright lies we see in advertising and muscle mags and gets to the heart of the matter. He tells it like it is. And since he's not a young man, we know he's probably tried it all and seen most of it and is well equipped to give you honest solutions.Buy this book if you need encouragement in your training and fitness program. Moreover, buy it if you want to learn how to cut through the BS and get to the real meat of how to get from where you are to where you want to be.Highly recommended.- Susanna K. Hutcheson
Top reviews from other countries
Pedro Navarro
Esencial (una enciclopedia del deporte)
Reviewed in Spain on January 25, 2024
Peter Houlahan
Excellent- will be a life long resource
Reviewed in Australia on May 20, 2021