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Ben Greenfield

Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life

Summary

Greenfield lays out a detailed training regiment section, recovery section, nutrition section, lifestyle section, brain section, and conclusion which ties it all together

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Key Takeaways
  1. Provides extremely detailed diets, supplement recommendations, workout regiments, etc for vegans, plant based, old, young, female, male. (I cannot include all the detail in these regiments so if these highlights pique your interest, I recommend reading the book)
  2. Extreme long distance endurance sports can lead to heart issues
  3. Beyondtrainingbook.com for extra resources
  4. Doesn't really believe in the different training zones and that they each burn a unique fuel source
  5. Discusses how to test yourself to figure out your personal zones
  6. Much more beneficial to spend most training time below threshold and a small portion much above - HIIT or polarized training
  7. Over speed / under speed, EMS, restricted / hypoxia, cold thermogenesis, passive / active heat training, isometric (super slow) training, compression gear, upbeat music (180 bpm music), binaural beats (Thomson CDs), mind alive light therapy, grease the wheel (specific and Frequent exercise, Tsatsouline) good training regiments
  8. Recommends 0.3-0.7 gram protein per pound
  9. Recommended supplements - creative, carnitine, citraline, beta alinine, amino acids (master amino pattern), concentrated greens (super greens as a meal replacement)
  10. Power = fast strength. Works nervous system more than muscles, fine tunes strength
  11. Explosive plyometric movements such as death jumps or single leg hops very effective for power (minimum ground contact time)
  12. Best supplements for nervous system production include omega 3 fatty acids, amino acids, choline, green tea extract and complex b vitamins
  13. Mobility so important and Active Release Therapy, dynamic stretching and traction are great way to improve mobility
  14. Bone broth, ginger, fish, glucosamine sulfate and antioxidants help mobility from a nutrition standpoint
  15. Balance very important for efficiency and avoiding injury. Avoid EMF, minimalist footwear, balance on one leg
  16. Very easy to overtrain if doing intense exercises. Allow 36 hours to truly recover and avoid plateaus
  17. Rest wise a great tool to track which phase of exhaustion and recovery you are in
  18. Diminishing returns and often damage done after 90 minutes of exercise
  19. Top stress management techniques - deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, Yoga, tai chi, coherence, hobby outside of exercise and normal routine, and sleep
  20. Ideally get 7.5-9 hours of sleep plus a 20-60 minute nap per day
  21. Sleep supplements - potassium citrate, MCT oil, somnydra, apple cider vinegar with honey and water, REM caps by Hammer, inner peace caps, tyrosine + 5HTP
  22. Jet lag hacks - grounding, exercise, melatonin, no caffeine
  23. Doesn't recommend fretting about calories once you have an idea of how much you eat. For the average athlete he recommends a diet of 20% carbs, 65% fats and 15% protein
  24. A big proponent of the ketogenic diet (body burns fat instead of carbs). This takes some time for the body to get used to but leads to great health, energy, focus. If want to try the ketogenic diet, aim for a diet of 80-90% fat calories, 10-15% protein and 5-10% carbs (eaten at night)
  25. Gut discomfort has some main contributors - gluten, fodmap (foods which leave a lot of residue in the gut such as garlic, onion, fruit with high fructose, beans, wheat, dairy), low enzyme activity, insufficient gut bacteria, too much gut bacteria, yeast/fungus/parasites
  26. Should detox once per year at least - eat clean, avoid stress, sauna, sublingual glutathione spray, greens supplement (chlorella and spirulina), activated charcoal, avoid alcohol, 3 day fasts
  27. Reduce hangover - electrolytes (unsweetened coconut water), cystine, curcumin, bone broth
  28. Avoid before a race - fodmap foods (wheat, dairy, high fermenting foods like apples and pears), excessive caffeine (more than ~ 150mg), artificial sweeteners, high amounts of fiber, heavy foods like sweet potatoes
  29. Eat before a workout or race - blended and juiced foods, moderate caffeine (.5mg per lb or about 1 small cup of coffee), some carbs (like 100g or 2 cups of white rice with some sea salt and MCT), fats (like MCT, coconut oil/butter), hydrolyzed whey protein or bone broth (something easier to absorb that steak/eggs)
  30. Eat during a race - moderate amounts of slow release carbs with easy to digest fats (super starch and MCT/coconut oil), easy to digest protein (hydrolyzed when protein or collagen) and avoid refined sugars, fodmaps,
  31. Good resources - mountain rose herbs, magnetic clay, upgraded self, nutiva coconut products, Amazon prime for bulk food items (sardines, coconut oil, nori wraps)
  32. Lifestyle hacks
    1. Detox home of mold, fungus, EMF (mop surfaces, vacuum with hepa filter, dehumidifier, oscillating fan, toxins in carpeting, ceramic tiles ideal, EHAP mold tests, coca pulse test to see which foods are hurting you, "how to bio hack a home" by Greenfield, Zapped booked, airplane mode on phones, biomat sleep pad, hara pad, lessemf.com, excessive fluoride in water can be removed with reverse osmosis filters, structured water filter, shower head filter (KDF)
    2. Vtamin c / d / e  and antioxidants help with excessive chlorine, choose natural house cleaners and detergents (lemon, baking soda and white vinegar - mountain rose herbs and earth easy great resources), limit use of plastic bottles, metal exposure (dentists biggest exposure and can remove with binding through iodine, magnesium, chlorella, metal free spray), radiation (recover quicker with magnesium, omega 3, iodine), cosmetics (dirty dozen of cosmetics, toothpaste, soap)
  33. Most time saving workouts - quick workouts, workout indoors, minimize offseason training, have a simple home gym, workout alone, super slow weight training, bike to work, include the family in workouts, cross train with friends and family, "greasing the groove" (do something often but never too intense, i.e., 5 pullups every time you walk by the pull up bar)
  34. Productivity tips - use "bucket" days instead of to-do lists (only do a certain activity on a given day), eliminate tv, no newspaper or news, eat simply, outsource (craigslist, fancy hands, elance, 99 designs, task rabbit, hoot suite), chunk emails and don't give away address too often, "push" only email on phone, remove distractions, learn how to say no, avoid snacking, aggregate content, doing the toughest thing first, clear mind by outsourcing your brain (Evernote, buckets, etc.)
  35. Brain tips - avoid sensory overload, fix your gut, eat more high quality fats (MCT, omega 3, coconut oil, avocado, olive oil), restore neurotransmitter imbalances, fix HPA issues (hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands) by destressing, avoiding excessive exercise, decrease inflammation (curcumin a potent anti inflammatory), increase sleep length and quality
  36. Brain hacks - nootropics (vitamin D but daily sunlight can't be beaten, vitamin K2, fatty acids, MCT oils, caffeine (100 mg or about 1 cup coffee), l-phenyl alinine, creatine, carnitine, Alpha lipoid acid, huperzine), light therapy (limit blue light in the evening, morning sun exposure, binaurals, transcranial direct current stimulation, pulse electromagnetic frequency (PEMF - earth pulse for example), neurofeedback (upgraded self brain trainer, journey to the wild divine game, em wave 2), brain aerobics (sudoku, crossword, must have novelty and variety), chewing gum (peppermint), aerobic exercise, music (listening and learning),
  37. 10 rules for becoming an ancestral athlete - change your lens (health vs. performance of any new exercise, supplement, diet, etc.), be uncomfortable (many things in life benefit from volatility and pain), be comfortable (make sure to rest and recover), work (constant movement is essential - long walks, pull up bars in office, etc.), optimize fertility, eat natural foods, detox a couple times per year, use new tech and science to your benefit, keep a clear head (doing one thing at a time and do a great job, the first time), worry less
What I got out of it
  1. Extremely detailed read on how to train, eat, rest, recover and reach your potential. There was way too much to cover in this book and if you're interested in serious training, recovery, nutrition, etc. this book is definitely worth reading in its entirety

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