Open: An Autobiography
Andre Agassi, Erik Davies, et al.
4.7 on Amazon
6 HN comments
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight, Norbert Leo Butz, et al.
4.8 on Amazon
4 HN comments
The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie
4.4 on Amazon
4 HN comments
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
James Nestor
4.7 on Amazon
3 HN comments
Moby Dick: or, the White Whale
Herman Melville
4.3 on Amazon
3 HN comments
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
Tyler Kepner
4.6 on Amazon
3 HN comments
The Anarchist Cookbook
William Powell
4.3 on Amazon
2 HN comments
The Botany of Desire
Michael Pollan, Scott Brick, et al.
4.6 on Amazon
2 HN comments
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
W. Timothy Gallwey , Zach Kleiman, et al.
4.7 on Amazon
2 HN comments
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson, Linda Lear, et al.
4.6 on Amazon
2 HN comments
Desert Solitaire
Edward Abbey
4.6 on Amazon
2 HN comments
Born to Run
Christopher McDougall
4.7 on Amazon
2 HN comments
Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition
Mark Rippetoe and Jason Kelly
4.8 on Amazon
2 HN comments
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway, Donald Sutherland, et al.
4.6 on Amazon
2 HN comments
Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
4.5 on Amazon
1 HN comments
krrrhonJune 14, 2021
In terms of barbell-oriented strength programs, 5/3/1 is a good program to do after you've mastered the basics and started to plateau with something like Starting Strength [0] or Stronglifts 5x5 [1]. Those two programs take advantage of the linear gains that are possible for people in their first year of training, and 5/3/1 is a methodical approach to continuing to improve strength when simply adding 5lbs to the bar every workout stops working.
Starting Strength is a great book for understanding the principles and benefits of barbell lifting (and the videos from the old DVD are very good). The introductory essay is considered to be one of the best summations of strength training and its benefits. A lot of people believe that they aren't interested in strength training because they don't feel attracted to the extreme manifestations of the sport, but then discover that it delivers mental health and brain sharpening benefits in ways that they didn't expect.
All of the programs I mentioned are built around the core barbell lifts, which are squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press, cleans, and rows.
[0] https://startingstrength.com/about
[1] https://stronglifts.com/5x5/
AftononJune 14, 2021
Since those specific goals are so common, they fade into the background. But if your goals are more or less one or more of those goals, then yes, do the same set of exercises 50-100 times (progressing weights/intensity/etc). That will stimulate improvements. Doing a bunch of different things every time is 100% better than sitting on the couch, but won't allow you to progress very much. You'll essentially only be progressing e.g. strength when you happen to overlap some motion with the right amount of increase to cause improvement.
But something that you'll do is better than a perfect thing that you'll get bored of and stop doing. Existence is the primary predicate and all that.
Incidentally, Starting Strength (the book) talks about this somewhat. He distinguishes between 'training' and 'exercising'. Training is about progressive overload. Exercise is about moving your body. If you want to change your body, you'll want to train.