Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31828 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-12
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 351 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A Triple Iron Man record-breaker and the son of a neuroscience researcher, Bergland argues that exercise is as much about the mind as it is about the body, making athletes not just healthier, but happier, smarter and more well-adjusted. An overview of Bergland's own story, "The Brain Science of Sport" and positive psychology provide a detailed but easy-to-follow foundation for his 8-week exercise program and the concepts that shape it, such as "flow" (that "in the zone" state) and "cross talk" (the dialogue between the cerebrum and the cerebellum). Bergland shares his workout secrets, illustrates simple exercises and stretches targeting the major muscle groups, but emphasizes that the most significant challenge is in committing to the full 56-day regimen; consistency will cause the brain to become "restructured," literally, giving readers not just a life-long appetite for exercise but a "happier, more agile, sharper, and less stressed out" mind. Bergland's sincerity, enthusiasm and experience are beyond question, though readers might at times question his sanity (as when chronicling his record-breaking, near-fatal 24 hour treadmill run). Fortunately, Bergland has more realistic expectations for the reader, and provides common sense tips on everything from eating to sleeping to gearing up to developing a positive mindset. Friendly, heartfelt writing, uncompromising attention to detail and flagless enthusiasm make this book both a comprehensive plan and an encouraging partner for long-term, life-changing fitness goals.
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Review
"The Athlete's Way is amazingly informative and complete with a program to get and keep you off the couch. Bravo, for another exercising zealot who has written a book that should be read on your elliptical or stationary bike. He pushed me to go farther on a sleepy Sunday."- John J. Ratey, M.D., author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science in Exercise and the Brain, and co-author of Driven to Distraction

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One My Story I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew so well. Henry David Thoreau I have spent the past two decades exploring my own motivation and what motivates other people, and I am excited to share everything I have learned here. This book offers hundreds of reasons that will inspire you to exercise. Sport turned my life around and continues to inform my life—I know the power exercise has to improve daily life and to change your life. That is why I am a zealot about this program. By pushing against my limits every day for more than twenty years, I have been able to isolate the components that go into maximizing the potential of brain, mind, body, and spirit. I have probably logged more miles on a treadmill than just about any other person on the planet. I run about thirty to fifty miles a week, indoors and outside, and have done so for more than two decades. I also bike, swim, lift weights, and stretch religiously. I know the inside of the athletic process very well. Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! Lewis Carroll There is one important caveat. When it comes to exercise, more is not necessarily better. I do adventure and ultra-racing because I love it, not because it’s good for me. I know I’m a freak. I would never encourage anyone to become an ultra-athlete unless it was his life’s passion. There are tonic levels of fitness that can fit into your schedule easily and give all the benefits of exercise. The Athlete’S Way Prescriptive for a tonic level of fitness • Twenty to forty-five minutes of cardio most days • Full-body strength training two to three times a week (twenty to forty minutes) • Stretch-balance three to five times a week (ten to fifteen minutes) • Sleep for seven to eight hours a night This adds up to a minimum weekly time commitment of three hours of exercise. There are 168 hours in a week. Just three hours of exercise per week will radically change the other 165 hours of your life. Think about it. That’s about 2 percent of your week to feel better the other 98 percent of the time. It’s an unbeatable ratio. With just three cumulative hours of exercise a week you feel better, look better, and sleep better. The return on investment is astronomical. Our biological design was generous; relatively little exercise reaps an exponentially huge payback. Sweat and the Biology of Bliss Like a Sunny Day in June No one has ever drowned in sweat. Lou Holtz I came up with the title The Athlete’s Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss on a summer afternoon as I was biking in Central Park. If you spend a lot of time in Central Park, you get to recognize the regulars. You see the same faces every day. This June day felt like the first day of summer—everyone was exuding so much energy and a love of life . . . walking, biking, running, in-line skating, skateboarding, horseback riding. I felt that I was with old friends, even though we were technically strangers. The enthusiasm was contagious, and we were all feeding off one another’s happiness. In looking for the X-factor that connected us, I realized that how fast or slow people were going, or if they were particularly svelte or graceful, didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were all in the park for the same reason . . . it made us feel good. We were all there because we loved to move, and sport was a chance to feel the excitement of forward movement. None of us were standing still in life. I decided that X-factor was summed up in the words The Athlete’s Way—we were all doing it our own way, but collectively it could be called the athlete’s way. The key to being an athlete was that athletes seek exercise. I was a link in this chain. I felt connected because I was sweating, too. I know it sounds simple, but it was an epiphany for me at the time. I still look for the athlete’s way in people I observe every day on stationary equipment or whizzing by outside. Often, it is the ethereal bursting out of human spirit in a movement that captures the athlete’s way. The move of a wrist or hip, the angle of the eyes, the rhythm and grace. I suggest you look for this effervescent X-factor of the athlete’s way in people you see exercising, or doing anything well. Tag it, and extract the traits that go into the fluidity of their performance so you can imitate it. Feed off others and embrace the solidarity you feel in doing so. Know that others will borrow the same from you when you are exuding this fluidity, too. You become a link in this chain. The light was perfect that day in Central Park. I looked around and all that caught my eye was this very specific quality of Manhattan summer light reflecting off different shades of skin. To be with these fellow New Yorkers, pushing against our own limits, together against the deep green trees, clear blue skies, and huge skyscrapers to the south was Utopia. The Manhattan skyline and the energy of human possibility collided, as they often do on the roadways and bridle paths of the park. I came up with the subtitle after doing a few more laps in the park. I was coming down the West Side from the reservoir toward Tavern on the Green, which is mostly downhill, and I was flying. I looked down and saw the sun beaming back at me from the beads of sweat on my own shoulder. I lifted my wrist to my nose and smelled the Coppertone mixed with the chlorine of my swim earlier that day, the delicious smell harbored in my watch wristband of the musk of a year’s worth of sweaty workouts, and thought, that is the essence of sport to me. Sweat is the common denominator in every workout and every athlete. It is egalitarian. Sweat creates an unspoken bond among all athletes. We get on to the same wavelength. I always felt free when I ran. I suppose that’s what was good about it. Betty Cuthbert (Olympic gold medalist) In soaking in the rapture of sport, I am always reminded of Joseph Campbell, who said, “Follow your bliss,” and who often refers to the Sanskrit word ananda, which means bliss or rapture. Ananda is the root used to name anandamide, the endocannabinoid released during exercise, linked now to runner’s high more than endorphin. Anandamide is called “The Bliss Molecule” by neuroscientists and is the key to feeling good when we sweat. I was biking along, and suddenly the idea of sweat and anandamide came together into the words sweat and the biology of bliss. It is very basic, but summed up the impetus for my motivation to get a glow on every day and has been a mantra for me ever since. These words reflect my message, too. Sweat on the outside represented anandamide and other brain chemicals pumping on the inside. It was a eureka moment. Sweat=Bliss. The universality of that equation became the foundation of this program. I have never looked at a sweaty person the same way after that day. All I picture now when I see people sweat is the joie de vivre radiating from them in the form of neurochemicals pumping inside their brains symbolized by sweat streaming from their skin. Sweat and the biology of bliss are human experiences accessible to everyone. The same anandamide, serotonin, and dopamine that flow through you flow through me, too. Anybody can experience this bliss through sweat. My advice is to chase your bliss by breaking a sweat every day. Don’t just follow your bliss; reach out and grab it. Chase it down. It’s at your fingertips . . . just a few heartbeats, deep breaths, and paces away. Anytime you want bliss, you can come and get it by breaking a sweat. One Athlete’s Way My Life Taking Shape Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, “I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.” It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative. Steve Prefontaine (American long-distance running legend) I started running when I was seventeen and never stopped. It was the summer of 1983. At first I was running away from many things—dysphoria, substance abuse, my parents’ divorce, and typical teenage angst. If I was running toward anything, it was the hope of changing my looks. I was initially driven by a teenage mix of despair and vanity, but running became my sanctuary and my salvation. I would go to another place when I ran—as if a trap door unlocked and opened to a magical wonderland in my brain. As I got more and more into running, I would lace up my sneakers every day and run toward this magical place. It became a destination. Over the years running became less about escape and more about adventure and exploring my human potential and bonding with other people. It was, and still is, my daily refuge. Boarding School Daze This Is Not Camelot In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summ...

Customer Reviews

Sweat = Happiness
"The Athlete's Way" is a great motivational tool that has helped me improve my running and has encouraged me to keep exercising.

My favorite parts of the book:

* Reshaping your brain so exercise isn't a chore, but a daily reward/ incentive on its own. Once you experience this bliss, you want to keep flooding your brain with its "happiness" chemicals.

* Tonic level of fitness = perfect balance. Christopher explains that there's no need to be a professional athlete to achieve the optimum level of fitness. Regular people can attain this ideal level and find balance and see great changes.

* Quotes are sprinkled throughout the book to provide motivation, and they are fun to read. I recently read another running/exercise book that was so dull, I could barely finish it. The quotes, anecdotes and descriptions of Christopher's athletic highs (and lows) give "The Athlete's Way" a personality.

* A recommendation found in the book which I have implemented is the running log. The first month I found it indispensable as it helped me see patterns that I had never noticed before. I would usually just head outside and run aimlessly. Now I am better able to gauge what helps me exercise longer (good music, not running on a totally empty stomach [yay toast!], avoiding runs in the hot Texas sun !)

* I also like that the book isn't preachy at all. Wanna keep a log? Go for it! If you can't be bothered, that's ok too. There's really no wrong way to embrace the ideas in this book.

A Great Read to Keep you Exercsing
I picked up Christopher Berglund's book and i have not set it down. It is amazingly informative and complete with a program to get and keep you off the couch. I was captivated and envious of all his accomplishments and his world travel in competing in all of his events. His personal story of recovery is compelling and can be a model for our lost sedentary society of today. His attempt to parse what is bliss was easy to follow and he offers most of us the fact that not only do we make heroin like substances (endorphins) but marijuana neurotransmitters that contribute to making us feel good after exercise. Bravo, for another exercising zealot who has written a book that should be read on your elliptical or stationary bike as he suggests, he pushed me to go farther on a sleepy Sunday. Everyone who wants to see the possibility of a devotion to the physicallife can see a model to develop the persistence and pleasure that his Athlete's Way career has brought.

Great piece of work!!!!
I really believe this book is very inspiring and has made me a better athelete!! Just by reading about the author (My Story) was amazing and the most inspiring for myself!! Thanks Chris, for a great book!!

Ricky