Underwhelmed...
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Let's be straight about something -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a remarkable man and is a national treasure. If any of us could accomplish 1/10th of what he has, then we could consider our lives well lived indeed.
It is a shame, then, that I found this particular title so underwhelming. I purchased it on the back of the plethora of five star reviews on Amazon, but must confess to feeling slightly misled.
A lot of reviewers trumpet the motivational aspects of this book. Perhaps I'm becoming less perceptive over the years, but I saw no motivation of value. If anything, Fiennes comes across as a scaremonger and somewhat elitist; as another review pointed out, there is enough finger-pointing towards our imminent ills, ailments, diseases, inferior genetics and death that I almost wanted to give up the reading halfway through.
Then there is the practical stuff. I found his "Food Control" method disorganised, unclear and a touch dodgy (skipping breakfast anyone?). There are no set meal plans, but rather a long list of foods with a potted biography of each one. You will know what to stock your kitchen with, but do not expect to learn how to put together a dietary plan. I also did a bit of digging online, and found a review where Fiennes confessed that he didn't actually follow the nutritional guidelines he laid out in the book; to say I found it a touch hypocritical is an understatement. I mean, the guy has accomplished some remarkable physical feats, so why not be upfront about what he *really* does.
The exercise section is fairly bloated and uneven. Most of Fiennes' emphasis is on aerobic training, particularly walking and running. The strength training chapters seem to be spread thin, with set exercises, set repetitions, set weights, and no real program of how to progress. It is also worth noting that you won't get tailored plans for fat loss, a muscular body or anything like that. I have seen *much* better manuals around (and have had great results from them).
Meh. There is more that I could write, but I think it is unnecessary. The general gist is already within the review. Fiennes is an outstanding individual, but this is a second-rate book in the tough fitness genre. To be fair, the fitness genre is a hard art to master; it is so packed with niches and nuances that it is impossible to do an effective all-in-one fitness manual.
Fit For Life could have done with a sterner editing job and a more streamlined vision of goals, and a bit more candour and a bit less preaching from Fiennes.
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Great advice and a some nonsense
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A truly inspirational man, mr. Ranulph Fiennes. He does all that I would love to do. How does he do it? A life replete with physical hardship, exercise and of course the mental strength to endure it all. Very important in all this is the diet that one adheres to. Except that the diet described in the book is one plainly discouraged by professional dieticians for its lack of scientific basis and its extremely low chance of success.
As far as I have been able to establsh, the rest of the advice in the book is sound, so we'll have to pardon mr. Fiennes his petty fad diet. It works for him, that's for sure.
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Excellent for those who want some useful advice
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I bought this book a number of years ago. I had been advised to give up playing squash by a cardiologist (he said as I was past 30 that 'squash is a dead mans game' ) I wanted to develop my fitness levels and having been a social squash player I was starting from quite low base. The book takes you through a wide range of issues on fitness including diet and other factors. It helps you identify what you want to do; be it the gym, swimming, cycling, walking etc and provides clear and understandable guidance on how to set and realise achievable goals and then take them beyond if you wish to do so. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reviewing a fitness routine, or their attitude to health in general.
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Pithy and informative
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Sir Ranulph's volume will appeal to all people who fall outside the Donny Osmondesque gym instructor books and the legion of Rosemary Conley type videos . If like me, anybody has interests in militaria, orienteering or outdoor pursuits then prancing round the lounge in a pink leotard in front of the DVD is all very embarrassing. The book is very informative and I really liked the 'to the point' style with info boxes listing foods to buy and which to ban. Fiennes stands like a rather menacing SAS doorman on the entrance to your pantry door-prohibiting substances which, he goes on to relate, can lead to all kinds of medical problems. This is not exactly a catalogue of exercise routines-though you will find photographic plates which cover the basics -it is a signpost to a more regimented and controlled phase of living which many thirty & forthy-somethings coming off the decadent 1990s will appreciate. It is in short a first class guide to organising food consumption and establishing fit living.
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More Nagging Than Motivating
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I don't collect fitness books, but I have read a few and have some interest and education in exercise physiology. I bought this book largely because it was described as motivational and I need all the motivation I can get my hands on right now.
I fear I was disapointed. I found the tone hectoring rather than motivational, as though I was being nagged by a rather hearty games teacher during a wet Wenesday afternoon on the rugby field. The book gives many statistics about illnesses associated with unfitness and obesity and I was left with a feeling that I should become motivated through fear.
One cannot help but admire and respect the author for his achievements in exploration and endurance. Maybe that's part of the problem: one is always aware of the fact that this is a guy so very much fitter than oneself [well, I was] that it is rather hard to suspend disbelief and start thinking that he has anything to say about the average couch-potato.
There are questions of detail too. Some of the dietary advice [sorry, "food control" advice] is quirky and runs directly contrary to advice you will find elsewhere. In essence, much of it is about food-combining and the timing of meals, and there is at least some controversy about the value of this approach to nutrition.
I think the book tries too hard to be too many things: a source of motivation, a fitness planner and guide and a nutritional manual.
The book is well-written, pleasingly laid out and nicely illustrated. It is, though, in a fairly large format and a particularly floppy binding, which makes it a little hard to handle. I found that I got most from it by reading with a highlighter pen in my hand, to pluck the relevant and interesting from the anecdotal or [to me] irrelevant.
By all means, give it a try, but have a think about what does really motivate you before pinning too many hopes on this book.
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