Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Deep Fitness
by Philip Shepherd and Andrei Yakovenko
The Mindful, Science-Based Strength-Training Method to Transform Your Well-Being in Just 30 Minutes a Week
"This might be the most important book you read. Ever.” — Dr. James Fisher, Solent University, Southampton, UK
"Deep Fitness provides the most comprehensive and compelling chapter on resistance training benefits that I have ever read. The chapter on exercise selection is exceptionally excellent, with important, practical, and detailed information on the proper performance of machine, body-weight, and resistance band exercises. People who put these strength training guidelines for safe, effective, and time-efficient resistance exercise into practice should definitely experience productive musculoskeletal responses.”
—Dr. Wayne L. Westcott, professor and chair of Exercise Science, Quincy College
Deep Fitness - the book
The popular understanding of exercise and its benefits lags about fifty years behind contemporary research. Deep Fitness brings you up to date on that research, introducing you to a recent revolution in our understanding of human health – one that can help you boost your strength and vitality, reduce your risk of chronic disease, and turn back the clock on aging.
Researchers have discovered that muscle does far more than move our limbs. It is the source of over 600 messenger molecules that promote well-being in every tissue throughout the body. The health of your muscles, it turns out, provides the bedrock on which your metabolic health rests. On the one hand, this news is alarming, because our bodies tend to lose significant muscle mass after the age of thirty. On the other, it is empowering, because it points to the simplest way of improving your overall health: give your muscles the opportunity to grow stronger—something anyone can do.
That doesn’t mean you need to devote hours every week to exercise. Deep Fitness introduces Mindful Strength Training to Failure (MSTF), a workout that is so simple and efficient, you can steadily increase your strength with just one or two half-hour sessions a week. By doing so, you’ll be achieving a state of ‘deep fitness’. The term refers to a state of overall well-being that will mitigate the risk of chronic diseases, promote vitality, help to avoid falls, pre-habilitate joints, bones and tendons to resist injury, support cognitive functioning and psychological health, diminish the risk of all-cause mortality, and increase your quality of life.
Deep Fitness includes over 30 illustrated, step-by-step exercises suited for all ages—some that can be done at home using your body weight or a resistance band, others that can be done in your local gym. With MSTF, each exercise is done slowly and mindfully, so that every session offers a mental reset that helps you become more present in both the workout and your life. This is a new approach to fitness and well-being, communicating in layman’s terms the most up-to-date, science-based, time-efficient method you can use to start optimizing your health today.
Published by North Atlantic Books, 2021. Also available as an audio book through Audible, iTunes and other audio booksellers.
While this book is available for sale on Amazon, we highly encourage you to request it through your local, independent bookstore.
““Most of our cognitive abilities peak in early adulthood. Many of us think of aging beyond that point as a terminal disease, rather than a natural journey through life, fearing but accepting an inevitable accelerating decline of our cognitive and physical health as we age. The tools of modern neuroscience allow us to observe and manipulate the inner workings of the living human brain—yet the fundamental factors that lead to lifelong cognitive health remain elusive, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface in understanding the mind and body as an integrated, indivisible whole. Through Mindful Strength Training to Failure, Andrei Yakovenko and Philip Shepherd have merged the latest evidence-based advances in exercise science with ancient wisdom and understanding of harmonious mind/body unity that may otherwise have been forgotten through the ages. Their radical approach stands as a model to new frontiers in aging neuroscience research, and sets anyone who will listen on a path to living not just a longer, but a healthier and happier life.”
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““One of the reasons why diseases of Western society are so difficult to treat is because as a culture we are focused on the wrong tissue. Our problem is not with adipose tissue, it’s with skeletal muscle mass. In order to correct the issues of aging (which arguably begin in midlife) we need to optimize for muscle mass. Deep Fitness does a fantastic job at not only highlighting the importance of training but also translating the science behind the training. This book is a valuable weapon in fighting the trajectory of aging. I highly recommend it!”
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Deep Fitness Explained
Join Philip Shepherd and Andrei Yakovenko as they speak about the principles in their book "Deep Fitness"
Strength training for all
Let us be your guide
Deep Fitness also contains a chapter offering detailed support for you to do your own Mindful Strength Training workout either with just your body weight and resistance bands, or weight machines. Complete with color photos demonstrating proper technique, this book speaks to anyone looking to stay or get strong.