Total Body Transformation: A 3-Month Personal Fitness Prescription For a Strong, Lean Body and a Calmer Mind

By Steve Ilg

Book Overview

Now in paperback, the groundbreaking system that combines yoga and the gym, from one of the country's most highly sought after professional trainers. Looking for a personal fitness prescription for a strong, lean body and a calmer, focused mind Whereas other training methods tend to focus on either bodybuilding or yoga, the revolutionary approach developed by Steve Ilg emphasizes interconnectedness and brings results that simply can't be achieved any other way. Total Body Transformation gives readers--hardcore athletes and novices alike--the secret to having it all: strength from lifting weights; flexibility from yoga; a lean body from the right nutrition and cardio; and all the benefits that come from mindfulness, meditation, and true physical and emotional well-being.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078688732X
• ISBN13: 9780786887323
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Hyperion
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Steve Ilg Rocks!

This book is phenomenal. I really love Steve's focus on functional strength, as opposed to strength for strengths sake. Ilg combines Yoga, Strength, Cardio, Meditation and Nutrition. The workouts are challenging and extremely effective, they will transform your body (and mind) if you follow through. Steve's encouragements all throughout the book are very helpful/motivating.

Good book, so-so program

This book presents the author's fitness philosophy and presents a training plan for transforming one's mind, body and spirit by addressing 5 fitness disciplines (nutrition, yoga, strength training and meditation). For me, the introductions to yoga and mediation were very interesting. There is also much wisdom here regarding nutrition (e.g. slowing down the pace of meals to better detect when you have reached satiety). However, many other smart people have by now thoroughly explored the concept of crosstraining and arguably do it better--check out www.crossfit.com to see how the CrossFit community has embraced old-school strength and cardiovascular training. Also, for a newcomer to strength training (and even for those with a lot of lifting experience), it would be difficult to find a better introduction that the book Starting Strength. I have made much greater progress in terms of strength and cardiovascular fitness using Starting Strength and CrossFit than with the programs in this book.

A comprehensive summation

Ilg's newest book is the fullest expression in print of his Wholistic Fitness teachings. Those familiar with his work may find this book a bit redundant but it's still worth the $$. His editors have done a great job in tightening up his prose without losing his flavor. While it would be easy for a cynic to dismiss his philosophy as a watery distillation of various wisdom traditions combined with Western physical cultivation, a la muscle beach, this would be unfair to the genuine enthusiasm he brings to his work. Steve Ilg is the living embodiment of William Blakes aphorism, "Exhuberance is Beauty". If you have struggled with making fitness an integral part of your life or would like to use fitness as a transformative tool then this is your book. The step by step yoga instruction, unique strength training routines and periodization of the programs will deliver any fitness aspirant to a place they never imagined... solidly on "the Path", walking "the Way".