Description
Primal Endurance shakes up the status quo and challenges the overly stressful, ineffective conventional approach to endurance training. While marathons and triathlons are wildly popular and bring much gratification and camaraderie to the participants, the majority of athletes are too slow, continually tired, and carry too much body fat respective to the time they devote to training. The prevailing “chronic cardio” approach promotes carbohydrate dependency, overly stressful lifestyle patterns, and ultimately burnout.
Mark Sisson, author of the 2009 bestseller, The Primal Blueprint, and de-facto leader of the primal/paleo lifestyle movement, expertly applies primal lifestyle principles to the unique challenge of endurance training and racing. Unlike the many instant and self-anointed experts who have descended upon the endurance scene in recent years, Sisson and his co-author/business partner Brad Kearns boast a rich history in endurance sports. Sisson has a 2:18 marathon and 4th place Hawaii Ironman finish to his credit, has spearheaded triathlon’s global anti-doping program for the International Triathlon Union, and has coached/advised leading professional athletes, including Olympic triathlon gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield and Tour de France cyclist Dave Zabriskie. Under Sisson’s guidance, Kearns won multiple national championships in duathlon and triathlon, and rose to a #3 world triathlon ranking in 1991.
Primal Endurance applies an all-encompassing approach to endurance training that includes primal-aligned eating to escape carbohydrate dependency and enhance fat metabolism, building an aerobic base with comfortably paced workouts, strategically introducing high intensity strength and sprint workouts, emphasizing rest, recovery, and an annual periodization, and finally cultivating an intuitive approach to training instead of the usual robotic approach of fixed weekly workout schedules. When you “go Primal” as an endurance athlete, you can expect to enjoy these and other benefits in short order:
- Easily reduce excess body fat and keep it off permanently, even during periods of reduced training
- Perform better by reprogramming your genes to burn fat and spare glycogen during sustained endurance efforts
- Avoid overtraining, burnout, illness, and injury by improving your balance of stress and rest, both in training and everyday life
- Spend fewer total hours training and get more return on investment with periodized and purposeful workout patterns
- Have more fun, be more spontaneous, and break free from the pull of the obsessive/compulsive mindset that is common among highly motivated, goal-oriented endurance athletes
- Have more energy and better focus during daily life instead of suffering from the “active couch potato syndrome,” with cumulative fatigue from incessant heavy training makes you lazy and sluggish
Primal Endurance is about slowing down, balancing out, chilling out, and having more fun with your endurance pursuits. It’s about building your health through sensible training patterns, instead of destroying your health through chronic training patterns. While it might be hard to believe at first glance, you can actually get faster by backing off from the overly aggressive and overly regimented “Type-A” training approach that prevails in today’s endurance community. Primal Endurance will show you how, every step of the way.
Gordon J (verified owner) –
This book has something for every endurance athlete. If you are training for your first 5k or you have an Ironman under your belt, you can learn something from the vast experience and research of authors Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns, both world class endurance athletes in their day.
This book will offer you an alternative to the grueling day in and day out grind of the typical endurance training schedule and show you how all of that work is actually destroying your health instead of making you fitter.
The authors will show you that by slowing down your training and eating a primal/paleo diet you will easily get to your ideal body composition and get even faster. Building your aerobic base, by training at or below your maximum aerobic heart rate, and eating a high fat diet allow you to burn fat as your primary fuel source and use that fuel more efficiently.
The book also explains why short, high-intensity workouts, like sprints and heavy weight lifting, are not to be scoffed at by endurance athletes and gives a good breakdown of the ketogenic diet.
In short, if you want to improve your performance as an endurance athlete, you should pick up a copy of this book. It will open your eyes to a whole different way of training.
Slow down, have more fun, listen to you body, and take charge of your training.
Kinnon (verified owner) –
Primal Endurance is another great addition to the wealthy knowledge base being built around the ancestral health movement. I have always enjoyed long bouts of running and biking so after discovering the primal movement I struggled with the arguments against cronic cardio. I just liked to run, a lot and ended up really enjoying training for and doing tough mudders. When I would be bored I would get up and run for an hour or two. But had to stop a few years ago due to injuries as I would always regret the decisions to participate during training and for weeks afterwards. Primal Endurance provides you with in depth knowledge and research base for those like myself who have always enjoyed endurance exercise but suffered from all the aliments that come with it. Taking the knowledge learned you can reduce those aliments so we can get back to the tremendous enjoyment some of us get from pursuing these activities. After gathering all this knowledge and feeling the great effects due to these changes it is time to sign up for more fun runs/tough mudders/hikes/adventure races.
Brad Kearns gives a new perspective on the endurance lifestyle and the primal movement by showing it is possible to align proper health with these pursuits. I enjoy how the book is read. You can go through the whole thing front to back or pick out a topic/sub-topic and just read a few chapters for more information and research. The science explanations are great if you are into needing to know all the why’s and back up’s for the research provided but if you are just interested in the content and message everything is still presented in an easy to understand format. If you have read any other paleo/primal literature or research there is a bit of repetitive nature to the book. But having it available at your finger tips is a valuable resource. That could be good (as a reminder or for someone who has not read anything about it yet) or bad (if you are looking for a book full of brand new content). If you are looking to stay primal and compete or just an average endurance athlete (the book is good for even non-average and soon to be athletes). I highly suggest doing your own research and looking into this book. The knowledge is a great addition for anyone looking for a life/exercise change.
GPITT (verified owner) –
This book does a great job of explaining the potential long-term consequences of prolonged endurance training. There are many folks out there that pursue long distance running / sports as way to get in shape and be healthy, not knowing the full impact. Explaining the “Why’s” of the need for strength training and a balanced approach to fitness is key. The only thing I would have liked to see more of are examples of training plans that incorporate strength sessions vs. just the modified cardio sessions.
NJDad (verified owner) –
Really fantastic overview of how to be a fat-adapted distance runner. I’ve been following Mark’s dietary advice for years now, but always felt guilty about sneaking out for weekend runs and entering the occasional 10K or Half Marathon. Glad that now I have a great plan to follow that will ensure I continue running well for many years to come! I have dog-earned and underlined about half of the pages in the book and will be coming back to it regularly.
Anthony Munkholm (verified owner) –
Mark Sisson has wrote another excellent book.
I work as a fitness director and have been working with novice exercises all the way to college athletes for over 10 years. This book is another excellent addition to my tool book.
Rather then dive into a ton of the deeper science I thought I would keep this review simple:
1. You can perform at higher levels with less pain and suffering by applying the principles in this book.
2. You can get greater benefit by performing more easy to moderate workouts then trying to go all out all the time.
3. Your body will reward you greatly with better performances by increasing your strength in the gym.
4. Your body will recover faster by including more Primal foods in your diet.
5. If you give this a chance you will not only learn but experience how much greater your energy is when you train your body to prefer fat over carbs for fuel.
This was an excellent book. Mark really puts out great stuff and this will not disappoint.
The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 I am not sure how this book will break into the mainstream. I feel any athlete would benefit from this book but the content is so specific that it may be hard to get it into the mainstream. Then again I think Mark is starting a grassroots movement and in a few years everyone will wish they could say they read this book when it first came out.
Jim (verified owner) –
I really liked the way this book pulled a lot of threads together for the endurance athlete, particularly nutrition, strength training, and sprinting. There was just the right amount of science backing up the authors’ recommendations.
Kaydski (verified owner) –
The book “Primal Endurance” provides a powerful and necessary message that you do not need to subject yourself to excessive exercise or carbohydrate heavy diets to become your best possible self – whether you are a professional athlete or an individual simply wanting to be healthy. The discussions about diet and exercise are animated by the comparison of an athlete building either a “Tesla engine” or a “SmartCar/DumbCar engine” to take into training, competition and every day life. The tone of the book is upbeat, funny and scientific, while being down-to-earth. I found myself realizing that each bit of information could be applied to both professional athletes and older men and women who just like to take a neighborhood stroll after dinner. Few, if any, books on fitness can reach such a wide audience at the same time. Congratulations to the authors for their contribution and for filling a niche in the industry that no one even knew existed until now! I will keep referring back to this book as I coach athletes and also as I personally move forward – reaching to become my best possible self!
Leah Wingfield (verified owner) –
Only read this book if you are interested in training, competing and living without injury, stress and illness. Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns do a fantastic job of compiling their experience and the knowledge of others in the field to give an inspiring prescription for lifelong athletic energy. While you are healing from your latest injury, open your mind and read this book.
Kismet Martagne (verified owner) –
Disclosure: I received this book free to review. That said, while I love getting free things, I am also highly critical. I am working on my PhD in Public Health with an emphasis in international nutrition, so I don’t tend to swallow any sort of claims lightly.
I will focus on the first two chapters of the book only: “Slow Down” and “Balance Out, Chill Out.” The gist of the first section is what it sounds like: Mark and Brad advocate for conducting endurance training, at least for an 8 week period, exclusively in an aerobic zone, in order to build an aerobic base. For most, this will entail moving much closer than your typical endurance pace. The section is peppered with anecdotes of endurance athletes who have used this to their advantage. At the beginning of the book, Mark mentions that there won’t be too many articles cited, in the interest of making it an easier popular read. I think this is actually, for this audience, a good move, though I’d love to see more of the data. That said, the plural of anecdote isn’t data. However, I do love that what Mark is talking about really helped my thinking in a number of areas on endurance training. I love running, and for a long time was torn between my love of a nice one hour jog and Mark’s admonition against ‘Chronic Cardio.’ Books like ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Why We Run’ have made the case for long distance running as being a key aspect of human evolution – how does that fit in with a primal evolutionary approach? If that’s bothered you, this chapter really melds that – that endurance running can fit in in the context in which it was probably conducted by our ancestors – slowly, and without the huge stresses current runners place on themselves.
That segues well into the next chapter which advocates for a training approach that requires listening to your body and taking it easier than the typical athletes today who override whatever their body says in the interest of keeping up with everyone else. Everything above applies, and I’ll just add in the personal plug that no matter how many times you hear it, and know it, it’s still wonderful to in effect be told that you’re allowed that rest day.
I think that the Paleo/Primal movement while in general backed up by solid science still tends to cherry-pick their data. But I also think that most heavyweights in this area are also very much in support of the ‘Try it. If it works, keep it. If it doesn’t, toss it out’ mantra. So while I want more studies to back up what Mark and Brad are saying, I’m also 100% willing to dive in and try this myself.
Overall review: Well-written. Engaging. Good tone. Interesting ideas. Give it a try.
Bret (verified owner) –
While most amateur and many professional runners aim to build a faster pace and longer endurance by “training hard,” Mark Sisson & Brad Kearns turn that approach on its head in this book. They make a VERY convincing and intriguing case for slowing down and monitoring one’s heart rate during the majority of training to avoid exceeding the aerobic exercise threshold and butting into the higher-pulse anaerobic zone. The reason is that chronic anaerobic training is likely to result in overtraining stress, injury, and ultimately burnout, while aerobic training, on the other hand, is much more benign on the heart, lungs, nervous system, and metabolism.
There are lots of easy to understand explanations, analogies, and real-life examples of their approach (including the authors themselves). They also emphasize the importance of a proper diet and plenty of rest, including abbreviating or skipping a planned training session if the runner is not feeling rested, energized, and motivated. The idea is to allow your body to heal, rather than beating it into submission. The latter may work for a while, but almost always results in a hard burnout and/or severe injury.
Two criticisms:
1. Existing readers of Mark Sisson (like me) will find the chapters on diet, ketogenesis, primal lifestyle, and sleep to be redundant and superfluous. Newbies, on the other hand, may find themselves feeling overwhelmed by just how many changes they are being told to make in their lives in order to be healthy and get better running results (avoid junk food, stop looking at screens within a couple hours of bedtime, take cold water plunges, go barefoot, etc). The Primal Blueprint (previous book) covered these topics ad nauseum. Here they would have been more effective and relevant as brief paragraphs, not huge sections of chapters or chapters themselves. Which brings me to:
2. The book is way too long overall. Many of its pages consist of redundant, belabored information that sufficiently could have been mentioned once. Most of the chapters become tedious and tiresome around the halfway point. The authors could stand to remember that just because they CAN write a 380-page book, doesn’t necessarily mean they SHOULD. This book has about 150 pages of real, hard, useful substance. I don’t mean to whine, but I am noticing this issue in a lot of books. I don’t have an unlimited supply of time, so I want the books I read to give me solid, reasonably succinct info (whether there are 100 pages or 600), not constant rehashes of previously covered material.
That said, this book, and in particular the chapters about running, are definitely worth the read. They bring a much welcome breath of fresh air into endurance training, and I am extremely excited to incorporate them into my own training routine. Just don’t be afraid to start skimming if you feel you’ve already grasped the concept…you’ll likely only be missing repeated or longwinded explanations.
MJenkins (verified owner) –
Love the book. It was easy to read and follow and very motivating. I grew up as a “runner athlete” and was trained to just run. I wish I had this book when I was younger because I never knew about the significance of legitimate heart rate monitoring and efficiency training at this level – going slow, really really slow, to build a base. Much slower than what we ever thought for our off training days. No book is perfect so I can’t give a 5 star rating. But it has motivated me to pick up my favorite sport again while improving my health even further. It’s not just about improving times, but improving cardiovascular health and lessening the oxidative stresses of endurance sports. I can’t wait to see the results
PROS
* Very well organized- Every Chapter has an intro as to what will be discussed as well as a summary, nice for people who like to skim. Also a “115 Things You Need to Know” at the beginning of the book that covers the basics of material to be covered.
* Ideals can be applied to all endurance sports. Although most real life examples in the book are for distance runner/Ironman athletes. I guess this could be considered a con for distance swimmers or snow shoers looking for a book about them specifically. But really, it’s all about slowing down to build up a strong base and eating primally.
* Recent Success stories from people who utilize the Primal Endurance training regimen. Also many examples of pro athletes who made the switch
* Brief training program in the Appendix for anyone training for Ironman or a distance runner competitor. Primal Endurance doesn’t “endorse” strict training schedule, but everyone knows it’s nice to have somewhat of a guide.
* Nice pictures. Nothing breaks up a non fiction, endurance training book better than some glossy color pictures.
CONS
* As someone who grew up as a competitive running (track/cross country from middle school to college) I can see why anyone on a team would have difficult training using Primal Endurance ideals, especially at the college level. Most of the time it’s all about what the coach wants. Anyone with a track scholarship that butts heads with a coach would question utilizing MAF training methods midseason. I guess it would work during an offseason for someone who doesn’t multi-sport.
* Improved my health significantly by eating primally, but as a woman, I came to find out that I need more carbs than 100g/day. And no, it did not cause insidious weight gain. There is a snippet in the book about female nutrition, but it mainly pertained to anorexia and not falling into the body image trap. Authors do honor the “everyone is different” motto, so I can accept that they condone wiggle room, not taken to the extreme of donuts and lucky charms 3x daily. I just wish there was more out there for female nutrition via primal/paleo and long term effects, especially in combination with endurance sports. Maybe a future PB book??
Aariel’s (verified owner) –
Primal Endurance is a fascinating, well-written, well-researched and fun to read book about attaining ultimate health and fitness. While it turns everything most athletes have believed for years on its head, there seems to be a great deal of science and anecdotal success stories to back it up.
Both my husband and I have been reading the book and learning a lot from it. I’m pretty much a fitness beginner, just started to run for the first time in my life this summer – so I think the book will make sure I build a solid and maintainable level of fitness. My husband has been running regularly for years and occasionally competing with good results – but this summer he got injured and burned out from what was probably overtraining. So Primal Endurance is a really eye-opening read for him and involves a complete shift in the way he’s used to training – but he’s giving it a real try to see how it works.
The book is very thorough and definitely exceeded my expectations on the amount of information it would contain. It includes sections on not just training, but the importance of rest, diet, stress, sleep, etc – it’s a real prescription for how to live a healthy lifestyle, and I think it can be just as useful for people who are only trying to be fit and strong and who aren’t runners.
I love the success stories scattered throughout the book – through the personal anecdotes you can see clearly how this training program has worked for many people, including many very serious and very successful athletes, bringing them to a higher level of fitness and overall health with much less injury than they had faced before. The stories are extremely motivational as well as being fun.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to achieve and maintain high levels of fitness while not compromising their health in the way that many athletes do.
K. Adams (verified owner) –
What a great book – even for the new or casual athlete. It dispels the myth that the only way you can get into shape is by pounding out hours of heavy exercise each and every day. By looking at your body more holistically through how you feed it and how you approach exercise, you can definitely become the athlete you always wanted to be. I am living proof of that – having switched to a Primal style diet and integrating regular moderate exercise back into my life, I weigh less that I have since college and have turned my ‘I hate running’ attitude into ‘can’t wait for my 6 mile run this weekend’. Your body is a system – paying attention to it by eating well, sleeping well, exercising right and reducing stress you can make great strides in your health and well being.
Kathleen Seagle (verified owner) –
The Primal Blueprint changed my life. I already see the same benefits taught in Primal Endurance being applied to my life. Running is fun again. I’m not exhausted and in pain all the time. I’m not running to the fridge and pantry right after runs any longer. So excited for this book and lifestyle in general.
Matt (verified owner) –
This book has two potential audiences: athletes interested in going paleo/primal or people who’ve already adopted a paleo/primal lifestyle and are interested in becoming athletes. I’m in the latter category. Three years ago I was on my way to an early death eating a shocking amount of sugar, grains and processed crap. I radically changed my diet and lifestyle bringing it largely inline with what Sisson laid out in The Primal Blueprint. I lost over 100 lbs and feel better than I have since I was a kid.
While I attribute most of my weight loss to diet I also consciously adopted the non-dietary primal principles like “lift heavy things”, sprints and incorporating play back into my life. I’ve been obese since prior to puberty and to say that “athlete” is not one of the words I would use to describe myself is an understatement. But I find that with this way of life I want to exercise, not as an obligation, but from an over-abundance of energy. So when I heard there was a new book coming out that didn’t treat low carb eating as anathema to performance I was interested.
There is a phenomena among endurance athletes known as ‘bonking’. We’ve all seen footage of marathoners who cannot even stand and frankly look close to death at the end of hours of exertion. There are two primary fuel systems your body can tap into; a sugar tank and a fat tank. Bonking occurs when an athlete reaches the end of the sugar tank. But someone who eats a low carb, high fat diet can access the fat tank as well giving them a more reliable source of bonk-free energy. The catch is that during the transition between these two modes the average person is likely to experience lethargy and reduced athletic performance. Most athletes, let alone scientific studies on performance (with the notable exception of those by Drs. Volek and Phinney), don’t stick with it long enough to see the benefits as this transition can take weeks to occur.
Sisson and Kearns start by detailing their mispent youths as chronic cardio addicts and then explore the science of fat adaption. Like in The Primal Blueprint first a set of general principles are established, then each is further fleshed out and finally we are introduced to case studies. The principles are:
* adequate sleep
* balance between stress and rest
* personalized training
* emphasis on establishing an aerobic base
* structured high intensity workouts
* increased general daily movement (beware the part time athlete / part time couch potato phenomena)
* periodization (think training seasons)
If you are a regular reader of Sisson’s blog there isn’t a lot new here but it is presented in a more systematic fashion than elsewhere. Some parts seemed repetitious which was probably meant for emphasis but came off a little disorganized. I’m not familiar with Brad Kearns but I am quite familiar with Sisson’s writing and this is his editorial voice. The most helpful takeaway for me was the concept of the “black hole”; that zone of effort that is above the aerobic maximum but below the anerobic threshold and suddenly makes all of his appeals for us to either slow down or start sprinting make sense intuitively. For me this concept became the touchstone for understanding his entire approach. Primal Endurance is definitely worth your time, I would give it 4 1/2 stars if it were possible. I still wouldn’t call myself an athlete but exercise has become a joy for me.
Full disclosure: I was given a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Amy Caprile (verified owner) –
This book is a wealth of information. Its a great read whether you are already primal/paleo or not, and whether you are already an endurance athelete or not. I came to this book from the primal side of things, and have never really considered myself an athlete. I wanted to increase my endurance for both martial arts and everyday life. The book is simple enough for casual “atheletes” such as myself, but includes more serious and technical issues such as periodization, and HRV for monitoring recovery.
Primal Endurance brings many of the primal principles of everyday life to bear on training and athletics: play, sprinting, lifting heavy things, and the primal diet. Key to the program is learning how to verify you are training truly aerobically and not in “the Black Hole”, and then learning how to increase your true aerobic endurance to perform better with less overall stress on your body.
I am unfamiliar with Brad Kearns, but welcomed settling into the familiar style of Marks writing: chatty, but backed up with facts and references to enable you to make up your own mind based on evidence. While it was comforting to have my intuitive workout style validated, the book provided a lot more than this.
Some highlights for me:
>Learning about how overtraining and typical “chronic cardio” patterns lead to chronic inflammation, hormonal issues, and early aging
> the Black Hole, and how to avoid it for better training/performance
>How low carb diets can work for atheletes
>exploring two approaches to weight training to support endurance
>sprinting and how to approach it
>how to ensure adequate recovery through primal principles
Some things that were less useful to me:
>primal diet basics. I cam to this from primal diet, so there was little new info
> success stories: seemed too many, and got repetitive. Potentially inspirational for some
>balancing being highly competitive with longevity. Very valuable for serious competitive atheletes, but that is not my goal.
Andrew Coley (verified owner) –
Spot on, fantastic book. The only thing I would have wished for was a bit more structure and information with regards to the amount of running or biking per week that is roughly ideal for the aerobic training periods.
J D BRASESCO (verified owner) –
Primal Endurance is the follow-on book to Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. Mark has ten “laws” for living your best primal self, involving what you eat, what to avoid, various forms of movement, sleep, play, getting adequate sunlight and challenging your brain. Primal Endurance focuses primarily on movement and expands on the information provided in the Blueprint. Mark dispels many decades old beliefs about training and fitness and provides the reader with solutions to achieve peak performance while working out less and having more fun. In fact, I appreciate that Mark always weaves the notion of having fun into his books.
While parts of the book seem tailored to the serious professional endurance athlete, the overall message and concepts apply to anyone. There is a recap of Mark’s view on diet and nutrition. Here the focus is on eating real food and avoiding processed foods and carbohydrates. The book expands the diet conversation with the latest information on the Ketogenic approach which espouses a high fat, moderate protein, and low carbohydrate approach. Mark details how this diet can help with weight loss, health, and total endurance. Throughout the book, he provides a stories and testimonials from endurance athletes and other who have had great success with this approach.
I would recommend this book to fans of Mark Sisson, athletes who are no longer having success with their outdated fitness regimens, or anyone looking to improve their overall health and endurance.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a complimentary advanced copy of Primal Endurance from Primal Blueprint Publishing. My opinions are my own.
C. A. Williamson (verified owner) –
I love this book. The information that Mark and Brad have put together is the same as what I have found that works for endurance performance. Many years ago I followed the conventional wisdom that eating low fat, high carb was the way to go. It was very odd because following this diet, I had a spare tire around my waist. WTF!! What was even odder was that I was exercising a lot. People said that was what you need to do to lose weight…burn body fat. It was not working. Again, WTF!! One year I trained and ran 2 marathons (one in June, and the other in October). I didn’t lose any weight that year even though I was exercising almost every day; lifting weights, biking, and doing very long runs. A couple years ago I changed my diet to low carb, high fat, a paleo/primal diet. In 3 months, I lost 50 pounds and I was just sitting on the couch watching TV. Go figure.
Today, I still have a little spare tire, but I am following Mark and Brad’s advice in Primal Endurance and my stomach is getting flat. What amazes me is how easy it is. I eat the right foods. I lift weights, but the workout doesn’t take hardly any time…just 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes. I do a 5 by 5 workout and can do 5-7 exercises in that time. I do squats, Romanian deadlifts, straight leg deadlifts, and more. I love it. I also run long runs a couple times during the week for 1-2 hours each. I do sprints once a week too. The time I am exercising is shorter than what I was doing in the past, but the quality is very good. It really works. I am getting lean and my performance is outstanding. I am getting stronger in the lifts, and my running is very easy. It is awesome! Right now, I am losing 2-3 pounds of body fat a week, and I am looking awesome too. Thanks!!! This book rocks!
J. Garcia (verified owner) –
Another great book by The Primal Blueprint author. Grok on!
Ben Walker (verified owner) –
Excellent and comprehensive book. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Good for athletes and anyone interested in fitness plus fat based diets. Biased toward LCHF or primal but expected and really what I wanted.
Michael McMaster (verified owner) –
Makes his points interesting, even fun, and useful. My son, who is a fitness nut and loved earlier Sisson “Primal” books, took this before I was finished so he could read it and put it into practice. He is a top waterspouts athlete.
Paul M Hauge (verified owner) –
Great book, good info and very happy with the results from following the advice for training.
Adam K. (verified owner) –
This was a good read. Helped connect a few dots about a primal lifestyle and endurance, highlighting some new things, and reiterating some old things. I have to admit, I haven’t fact checked everything so I can’t speak to the completeness of some of the statements made but in general, it was helpful for me in my endurance pursuits and how to train and eat better. I’ve noticed a difference by following some of the guidance offered.
L.M. (verified owner) –
Easy read, it gave me a new way to look at running and how to fuel and strengthen my body for stronger finishes on my runs. It’s not for everyone though I have found that after the first month I feel stronger and faster and I get more out of my long run days.
Phil (verified owner) –
Book is a very interesting read but nowhere is there mention that this really targets high performance athletes
I was looking to get a leg up on increasing my physical ability not becoming a world class triathlete
As a regular person trying to get more fit I might be able to apply 10% of what I read
Way too technical and advanced
BhaktiBellaLuce (verified owner) –
Mark Sisson does not dissapoint ! Got this for my son, and I read it too. Something for everyone, just adapt the advice to your personal abilities.
Product review (verified owner) –
Very good book you just have to apply the information.
J. C. Patterson (verified owner) –
I enjoyed reading much of this book. I am not an endurance athlete, but I am a casual athlete and I heard Mark (the author) give an interview on my favorite podcast, and he intrigued me. So I bought the book. I am learning some things, especially around heart rate and the “black hole” that I will incorporate into my exercise routine. My only quibble, which seems petty, is that the size of the book makes it difficult to read. It is a wide paperback, making it very floppy, so I had to use 2 hands at all times. Not my favorite reading position.
Christopher Kelly (verified owner) –
I’m a pro mountain biker and I think I’ve learned the lessons told in this book the hard way. Twice. Slow down, go easy on easy days, when the time comes to go hard, have the energy and enthusiasm to go hard. Appreciate the role of diet. Eat fat. Value sleep. Manage stress. Add variety to your movement. Read this book once a year.
Jen.A. (verified owner) –
Primal Endurance: Escape chronic cardio and carbohydrate dependency and become a fat burning beast!
Very educational.
dneil (verified owner) –
My wife seems to like it.
C. choiniere (verified owner) –
Lot’s of info here.
Mike (verified owner) –
Good book it did help me get some weight off…
Irene Denver (verified owner) –
Excellent knowledge on optimising max aerobic training to become an efficient endurance athlete with excellent training programs to follow including recovery methods.
KVRicks (verified owner) –
Great read! Very easy read! Eye opening research and great advice for how to train better. As a person just starting to run there is a lot of info but geared to more seasoned runners. Wish there was a beginners plan included. Would recommend this to anyone who likes to run!
Rich Edwards (verified owner) –
As a lifelong, high intensity athlete, this book truly opened my eyes to what I believed to be “going easy,” but now I’ve come to realize that Mark’s philosophy holds true.
For the past twelve weeks, I cut back on the extremely high heart rate, in lieu of a more moderate approach. It has paid off ten fold.
Tracy S (verified owner) –
So far the information in this book is very intriguing. I am only in chapter 2 however, so I will do an update review when I am through.
nicholas eger (verified owner) –
Great book. Makes you look at your health and fitness in a new way. Even if you don’t agree it will make you think about how you’re living and maybe change some hard to break fitness habits.
ParlsH (verified owner) –
Great book, highly informative & entertaining. I used the principles (along with substantiating research) to drop 40lbs in just over 8 weeks. My cholesterol dropped from “medication needed” to within 2% of normal.Get it, read it, love it, & eat some meat.
Erin Conlee (verified owner) –
This book combines elements from the Paleo Lifestyle, and teaches you to utilize fat for energy, and perform at a higher level. I’m very happy to have discovered Mark Sisson’s work, and have read all his other books as well!
Donald Seto (verified owner) –
This book literally reshaped my life. Simple concepts and adjustments that led to worlds of difference in terms of energy and endurance. I overhauled all my eating habits and I’ve never felt better.
Acroav8r (verified owner) –
Follows up the Primal Blueprint series. Easy to read, easy to follow. Smart and backed up with research.
Rod (verified owner) –
This is a great book with very valuable and interesting information however much longer than needed. It seems each point is repeated over and over unnecessarily. The book could have easily been 100 pages or more shorter and still got the same message across. Well worth the read though.
bill of austin (verified owner) –
My second mark sisson book. This one is my favorite.
Jeff (verified owner) –
Good set of basic informatin, and advanced tips about leading an exercise life that makes sense. I am an endurance cyclist and changed my training after reading this book. Already “paleo” and I was re-inspired.
Risto (verified owner) –
This is very good advice to any endurance athlete, as well as balancing life. Very down to earth approach to all training.
E F. Varisco (verified owner) –
Nothing new here. This is a great book for summarizing ideas that already have been on there for a long time, Phil Maffetone, Tim Noakes, and Matt Fitzgerald have been pushing these concepts of HR training and slow running for years.
Sisson does a good job of summarizing them. And I can attest that these ideas, when applied correctly, do work.
John Doe (verified owner) –
Viele die Sport während einer streng kohlenhydratreduzierten Diät betreiben wissen, wie schnell diese in einem Burn-Out enden kann. Mark Sisson bringt endlich alle unterschiedlichen Konzepte wie ketogene Ernährung, Kurzzeitfasten, Regeneration sowie optimales Kraft- und Ausdauertraining zusammen. Auch der Teil über die Methodik von Phil Maffetone (MAF-TEST) ist sehr interessant und in Europa bislang unbekannt. In meinen Augen ein neues Standardwerk und löst “The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance” ab.
Im Buch sind auch Beispiel-Trainingspläne enthalten, diese sind jedoch nur sehr rudimentär und sagen auch nicht, für welches Ziel sich diese eignen. Hier wären ein paar mehr Beispielpläne sinnvoll gewesen.
S. Adams (verified owner) –
A very good book.
Sideofpotatos (verified owner) –
This is just what I needed to hear how to unlock my physical potential!
susan bolger (verified owner) –
Read this book. Challenge your thinking.
Eoin O Beara (verified owner) –
Great reference book. I was eating LCHF for 3 plys years before I bought this and a lot of the training I was already doing.
roger simerman (verified owner) –
was on time with no damage
Firefighting Rambo (verified owner) –
Great theory’s very interesting read
Marissa (verified owner) –
I enjoyed this book and wasn’t bored. It’s definitely geared toward endurance athletes, just as the title and descriptions suggest, but that’s what I expected and wanted. I hike and backpack and while that isn’t nearly as stressful as running marathons, it does require some training and both strength and aerobic fitness. I was concerned about my recent move to a LCHF/ketogenic way of eating affecting my ability to do what I love in the summers. This book helped me understand what I need to do in order to get myself properly prepared and also affirms the science and benefits of being keto-adapted.
My only criticism is that it, like most primal and paleo books, presupposes evolution as fact and likens us to cave people. I’m a Creationist. I believe we were purposefully and wonderfully made by a God who loves us and wants a relationship with us. Evolution is a theory and Atheism is another belief system. No one living today was an eye witness to any of it. It’s not a fact and it shouldn’t be presented as such.
Rachel F.<span class="a-icon a-profile-verified-badge"><span class="a-profile-verified-text"></span></span> (verified owner) –
Hubby loves this book and the changes is body is going thru with the lifestyle changes he is making. He was already a marathon runner but this author really helps with training the body differently thru exercise and eating. Hubby was having a hard time figuring out why he would either gain weight or stay consistent with weight while training for marathons. Now he is a fat burner and loving it! He also has 21 day transformation by the same author.
Kevin Larson (verified owner) –
Loved the insight from this book. I took several nutrition classes in college, and was never able to get the results I wanted. 2 months of following the guidelines of this book have left me looking better than at my “prime” as a collegiate athlete, as well as on the way to that level of fitness nearly 10 years later.
I purchased this book for several friends and family members and lead 2x as many to buy it. Absolutely life changing if you haven’t read anything about Primal Lifestyle.
Frank (verified owner) –
Good Stuff – Thanks.
Francisco (verified owner) –
I will do a one line comment! If you want to improve your physical performance buy it. Comprehensive and it’s working for me.
Simon Drake (verified owner) –
You should buy it.
CeeCee (verified owner) –
A good start on how to go primal. Listen to the podcasts for further information and an in depth explanation.
Terry (verified owner) –
I have been working out and running for over forty years. I wish I had this information when I started, the injuries would have been minimal and gains significant. I’ve already seen a difference since implementing the tools I’ve learned. Thank you Mark!!!
Angela Lugo (verified owner) –
Everything Mark Sisson writes is an easy read with many sources and great explanations! Anybody looking for lasting health while continuing endurance training needs to check out this book. Most endurance training is very short sighted and based on old and incongruent science. This is book explains very well why endurance training needs a major overhaul!
Christopher Lewis (verified owner) –
Mark Sisson’s book is a real eye opener. The primal blueprint is the way to go.
Chris Dawson (verified owner) –
I’ve read several books on low carb high fat lifestyle and listen to numerous podcasts but this book is the best, most complete guide putting it all together. Highly recommend.
Garrett (verified owner) –
Great read. Challenges a lot of old ideas about traditional training but actually backs it up with studies
astradaz (verified owner) –
Great Book. Easy to read but also very practical.
No. Cal. (verified owner) –
This book is over the top, way to detailed for my needs, nonetheless, I continue to read it since it has so much info.
For serious minded athletes as well the the lazy ones like me.
C&A’s Dad (verified owner) –
Relevant to anyone trying to lose weight, and develop fitness even if you are not an endurance athlete.
Jerry Perez (verified owner) –
Well layed out information. Great explanations and combined with their podcast, I put together a training program I am comfortable with and I’m sticking too. Thanks Brad!
Daniel Quirk (verified owner) –
As always, The primal book collection provides practical, evidence based guidelines for healthy living, written in an easy to read manner.
N. b. (verified owner) –
Very informative—recommend!
runnergirl (verified owner) –
I love running! It is a passion for me and I was good at it for a time and then my health started to change. I was diagnosed with MS but that didn’t stop me. Then bradycardia and a pacemaker. But that didn’t stop me from running hard because i thought that is what you are supposed to do. Then low blood pressure and now trigeminal neuralgia. I kept running hard but getting sicker and it took my physical therapists to slow me down and read this book I started running aerobically after reading why I needed to do this and how it worked. I can’t believe how it has changed me. I am stronger and have more endurance and know I am healthier. I love the humor in the book written by athlete’s who understand the “brain” of an athlete and how crazy we can be.The book is also backed up by plenty of literature and facts that support running aerobically. I wish more cardiologists understood this and talked to their patients about this type of running while incorporating strength training and the keto food plan.
J.B. (verified owner) –
This book is loaded with great information and is a must read for anyone pursuing excellence in their health and athletic pursuits whether you’re a novice or one who competes heavily in triathlons or marathons or anything physically demanding. I have used the tools in this book to give up being a sugar burner to a fat burner and I’ve never felt or performed better in my life. Give this a look.
G Bakewell (verified owner) –
Awesome book. Got me started on my keto journey.
Robert Panico (verified owner) –
I am a doctor and cyclist for over 30 years and have read extensively on exercise topics. This book provides a concise but comprehensive, palatable but formal guide for the committed fitness enthusiast. Really the Tony Robbins of the masters athlete.
Andy H (verified owner) –
I’ve already been following the Primal Blueprint, so this is even more specific to my goals. Its written to endurance athletes, so I’m also trying to fit this into other pursuits. For instance, if your sport is Olympic weightlifting or CrossFit, you have to learn how specificity fits into these ideals. But there is always a way.
Monica S. (verified owner) –
I keep this handy. It’s a great resource tool