Blueprint: 365-Day Extreme Training to (Re)Build a Bulletproof Body by Ross Edgley

Blueprint: 365-Day Extreme Training to (Re)Build a Bulletproof Body Reviews

• 
  Antonomasia

  A book for those who know what they're doing; inspiring now that I understand my own capabilities and limitations.
  
  I particularly welcomed the initial focus on injury recovery, which is what made me keep going, unlike with most other fitness books I flick through in shops. Not much fitness material - especially the sort with the can-do, adventurous tone I like, and which is, rightly or wrongly, often by and for men - gives decent space to injury compared with the space it gives to training. Many sportspeople and frequent exercisers spend considerable amounts of time injured, but if you want to know how people live with it day to day, what they do and don't do, there's so little available, compared with info on training plans, and it can make one feel cut off and disorientated. (There still isn't quite enough of that here, e.g. "for x number of weeks I could only do these things"; "by this point I could also do those"; "my partner helped with y and z", but it's more than I've read anywhere else so far.)
  
  At time of reading and listening to Blueprint (I switched between text and audio depending what I was doing) I was recovering from three different sports injuries, plus working on a long-term muscle imbalance on another joint. Two or three of these four problems were connected to hypermobility syndrome, which I didn't used to understand that I had as a systemic issue, nor did I used to understand - and perhaps wasn't prepared to take on board - its implications for fitness training. It's one of these conditions that is now emerging as common and previously underdiagnosed, and not everyone with it is or has been double-jointed; I never was.
  
  I'm saying you need self-knowledge to use this book (perhaps unless you are particularly tough and injury resistant yourself) as there are few caveats or suggestions for adaptations even implied, never mind provided, until more than halfway through - when adaptation to the individual is discussed in a detailed and inspiring way whilst Edgely trains a team including disabled comedian Alex Brooker for a Channel swim in the TV series Sink or Swim (which I hadn't previously heard of, as I watched basically no TV at that time) .
  
  On the one hand, it seems to be in the spirit of resilience and research that Edgeley implicitly espouses to expect the reader to think for themselves and do the work *they* need to. But some people who are not as experienced and aware as they think they are, or just young and gung-ho, are inevitably going to be drawn to a book like this.
  
  If I'd got hold of it in my mid twenties, when my strength was at its peak so far and I was benching more than my own bodyweight (as a woman) - and I felt I had few reasons to be cautious with this type of stuff because I was so strong - I probably would have made my bad shoulder even worse than it was already. Edgely recommends the brachiated hang (hanging free by your arms from a bar like a kid on a climbing frame or a monkey) and quotes a specialist who apparently recommends it as a panacea for shoulder problems. Now, the best part of twenty years later, I know enough to think "that sounds like it would be bad for hypermobility and unstable shoulders" and do my own research - and find my instinct was correct.
  
  Likewise I can see how the recovery and build mesocycles (training periodisations) may need to be longer for someone with injury issues or with a low level of fitness, and that there is no need for everyone to stick rigidly to the timescales the author uses himself, as a top endurance athlete.
  
  But there is other stuff here which is incredibly useful for me, perhaps especially the serape effect and the idea of an individual swimming style to take account of old injuries. Having read the pages where he was training Brooker, it seems obvious that Edgely would be tacitly supportive of anyone taking a selective approach to his recommendations for injury or medical reasons as I am. And I find the author likeable to read: he is a fellow research geek who spends hours looking up journal papers online; and in recent years I have also become very interested in Classical culture and stoicism. He uses this with more lightness and humour than the average online young male stoic (the latter tending to give way too much attention to culture wars; Edgely is just interested in doing stuff and helping people train, and in projects that open up sports to social groups with low participation rates).
  
  The other really important thing this book has done for me, along with Intelligent Fitness by Simon Waterson (who trains actors for major action movies), is make me feel like resistance bands are cool and used by interesting, fit people. Both authors consider them key pieces of kit that are integral to a really good fitness programme. Since I was 19, physios have been giving me shoulder exercises with resistance bands and I'd felt they were boring, embarrassing, imprecise and not proper exercise (unlike weights). Obviously, this contributed to my not sticking to the exercises.
  
  Blueprint is one of those books which has paragraphs I'd give two stars and other sections I'd give 5 stars. And which - as other reviews haven't addressed injury issues yet, and I think readers need to be made aware of those - pushed me into posting a review when I don't often have time to do that these days.
• 
  Marius Greblikas

  Šis bičiukas tikrai žino kas yra “extreme adventure” ir kaip joms pasiruošti. Nuostabi knyga, kur tu buvai, kai mano galvoje viena po kitos rasdavosi mintys apie nuotykius, ekstremalius bėgimus ir t.t. O kaip pasiruošti, neturėjau jokio supratimo. Taip nuotykiai virsdavo išlikimu, o paskui ilgu atsigavimo laiko tarpu.
  
  Aišku daugelį dalykų randi savo klaidų pagalba, o kai kuriu net nepastebi, nors jie sudaro labai didelę dalį judesio į priekį, kai jau būna labai sunku ir kūnas nebelaiko.
  
  Jei nors kiek domiesi ištvermės sportu, nori sužinoti apie ciklus pasiriošimo etapuose ir kaip nesulaužyti savo kūno, o jį paruošti beveik bet kam su kuo susidursi paprastam arba nuotykių gyvenime:)
• 
  Graham Blair

  Backed with lots of scientific research and facts which you can research yourself using the references and footnotes this book teaches you how to build your own workouts ready for your own personal adventure.
  
  I've read Ross's other books and have enjoyed them all. As the others there's a lot in them and it's interesting seeing all the information and picking out bits that you can adapt and adopt to become a better athlete.
  
  I love the storytelling side of the fitness as it gives it a real world view rather than just workout after workout. You can see how he creates workouts that are needed to overcome the next challenge.
  
  The main event in this book when Ross coached for Sink or swim for Stand Up To Cancer documentary, where several celebrities created a relay team to swim the channel. Which is a fantastic documentary and well worth a watch.
• 
  Agata

  Loved it!
• 
  Kilian Murphy

  Really 3.5 stars but didn’t have the option! Enjoyable story telling approach to sports science and exercise physiology. Lots of interesting philosophy (especially the Greek philosophies applied to training and fitness), really interesting exercise science and fun stories. A major problem is the way these are weaved together. Too often the real applied aspect of this book is embedded in very specific stories about swimming. It would have been better logically presented separately. Never the less it was a fresh approach and while it didn’t always work it was always interesting and kept the book moving.
• 
  Manuel Fuentes

  Ross never fails to inspire with his crazy adventures, living proof that the human body is capable of more things that we can even imagine as long as you follow the proper training. A combination of sports science and philosophical wisdom that you can apply wether you are preparing to swim across the english channel or looking to improve your every day workouts.
• 
  Chris Nash

  I really enjoyed this read, Ross is a great adventurer and both his stories and knowledge make this a fascinating read. As a sport and fitness student much of his sports science theorising is really well presented but there were points where, even for me, I found myself lost in jargon. That said, highly worth a read, especially if planning your own ‘adventure’!
• 
  Andy Parkes

  What I really enjoy about Ross Edgley books is how he wraps up complicated sports science topics around an interesting story. This one does it again. An actual blueprint you can follow to get you into shape to tackle any adventure.
• 
  Harvey Bradley

  First half very good, good training guide on how to structure a programme. However dwelled on swimming anecdotes that seemed to take up a large chunk of the book, also heavily filled with swimming drills which again made me lose interest.
• 
  Preston

  Good Book, Probably Better to read than the audio book
• 
  Desiree

  Great book! Read it once and I am now using it to help me train for a Marathon!👍
• 
  Nathan Borg

  Great overview of what Ross went through to recover from the great brittish swim.
• 
  Szabolcs Lehota

  Good book. Very informative and detailed, that's why it can be boring sometimes.
• 
  Liam Sebanz

  The achievement of eudaimonia through ascesis.💪🏼