Hey John, I’ve just been reading a lot of material on the Paleo diet, and I believe I’ve gotten a lot of the science down pat and analyzed. But now, I’m wondering more about programming and the type of reading I should be doing. I’ve taken the CFFB Level 1 Cert, and I’m wondering if there’s any specific books your would recommend? Per chance some Mark Rippetoe?
Anthony
Yes! I have been waiting for a question that relates to books, training, research and what information I would recommend. I will give two parts to this question…one being books or information I feel you should read while trying to increase your knowledge on nutrition and training. The second will contain books I believe you should read and read often. Oh yes, I am one of those people. I re-read book constantly, if I find a good one I will go back to it. I do it with movies and books. We will save movies for another day.
Last year after the Paleo Brands lecture with Dr. Cordain, I emailed him for a syllabus to continue my education on Paleolithic nutrition. He forwarded me this reading list:
From Lucy to Language by Johanson D, Edgar B.
Extinct Humans by Tattersall I, Schwartz J.
The Last Neanderthal by Tattersall I.
The Last Human by G. J. Sawyer, et al
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins by Carl Zimmer
In addition to this reading, I have been fortunate enough to be included on a lengthy email chain containing papers and research on biology and the effects of what we eat on our bodies from Mat Lalonde. Mat is a researcher with a PhD. in organic chemistry. Between Robb and Mat’s information dump and the time we have spent together, I have a massed a good base of understanding on how to make nutrition a useful tool for performance.
In terms of training, here are a few books I believe are very useful for developing strength and speed.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe – Rip gives a systematic approach to training beginners. Simple, just keep adding weight the bar until you fail. Squat, DL, Press, Bench and Power Cleans mixed with pull/chin ups. This program works very well, a must read.
Practical Programming by Mark Rippetoe – Now that you have the basics, add Practical Programming into the mix.
Only the Strong Shall Survive by Bill Starr –Starr’s book is the first football training manual and a training bible for hundred of thousands of football players for the last 30 years.
Westside Barbell Book of Methods by Louie Simmons – Gives great explanations of the WSB methods of max effort/dynamic effort/repetition method. Full of great information and a must read.
Fundamentals of Special Strength-Training in Sport by Y.V. Verkhoshansky – I count Yuri Verkhoshansky as the father of modern sport training, the scientist behind the Russian’s research on athletes and inventor of shock training (plyometrics). He just passed away last month and has a many books on the topic of training, GPP, SPP and power/strength training. He worked with all Russian Olympic teams from the 50’s to the 90’s included hockey, sprinting, Olympic weightlifting, boxing and many others. When I started lifting we did the “Russian Squat Program”, but we did it for all lifts. I started with 6’s, instead of the Bill Starr 5’s. Yuri Verkhoshansky has a website full of information and his life’s work.
5-3-1 by Jim Wendler – Jim has a 2000+ lb total and totaled Elite status in his first PL meet. He trained at WSB and now works at EliteFTS with Dave Tate. His book is a great read, as Jim is funny and personable. His training is simple and is built on banging heavy weights, assistance work and hill sprints. Got to like a program that mixes heavy barbell lifts, auxiliary movements and sprints.
Now for some recommended reading I have found invaluable thus far. As Bundy’s brother, Mongo, would say, “The adventure is on the road, not at the destination”.
De Oratore – Marcus Tullius Cicero
A History of Knowledge – Charles Van Doren
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Divine Comedies: Volume I & III by Dante
American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary – Ambrose Bierce
Thick Face, Black Heart – Chin-Ning Chu
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene
The Arts of Seduction – Robert Greene
Vicious Vocabulary – Phil Eisenhower
Any book you can find by Chuck Palahniuk, especially Fight Club
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
Beowulf
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Way of the Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman
I have just scratched the surface of what I consider vital. I look at Talk To Me Johnnie as the course adjunct to CrossFit Football and the books I have recommended are just a few of the books I would consider required reading.
John, that’s an awesome reading list. Is Sun-Tzu too much of a cliche? 😉
Hoping you’ll do a similar list for movies as well…?
Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance is by far one of the best books I’ve had the pleasure to read. Very well done.
Good stuff…about to dig into the supercompensation article. Thanks for the recommendations.
-Deputy Dawg
Interesting that Jared Diamond made the list. I read Guns Germs and Steel, as well as Collapse last year in Afghanistan. Certainly a different way of looking at how the world got to be dominated by the cultures that it did
No doubt, Chuck P is the man. My favorite living author. His website is pretty awesome as well: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/
Great post, need to grab some more books.
Of all the ink I have “Thick Face, Black Heart” gets the most disturbed looks from people, after they ask what the characters mean…
Great list of books. A couple to add to the recommended reading list:
Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
John- who do you look to as the best speed and agility coach out there, and what books do you recommend?
The Iliad, Homer
Gates of Fire, Pressfield
The Sutra of Hui Neng
Is there anyway I could get in on Mat’s email chain? I’m a nursing school student and huge Robb Wolf follower and I’m infinitely fascinated with metabolic derangements and how people cause themselves to become diseased by eating shitty ass food.
Great list!
If i may add:
Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
I have to say the last 2 on the list are personal favorites of mine. I would add: Art of War, Lila by Robert Pirsig, and The Journey of Socrates by Dan Millman.
Love the Site.
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I’ve read that book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior! I highly recommend it, I’ve read it three times so far, and each time, I get something new out of it.
[…] Speed Reading list from Mr. Welbourn […]
Hi – interesting article. We are huge fans of Rand and Atlas Shrugged here too – so much that we made the green-blue bracelet that Hank Rearden gave to his wife. It’s called the Liberty Bracelet – see it at http://www.libertybracelet.com. Proceeds are going to the Campaign For Liberty so we thought you might like it.
If you’re interested in blogging about the Bracelet or let us post an entry for you, we’re happy to send you the “Friends and Family” discount for them! Please write us an e-mail if you’re interested, we’d really appreciate it.
Anyhow, cool blog – we’re subscribed to your RSS feed now so thanks again!