The 10-Week Intelligent Fitness Challenge (with a Foreword by Tom Hiddleston)

Intelligent Fitness is a fantastic book that has completely changed my approach to working out and overall health. This book is not just about lifting weights or following a workout routine; it’s about understanding the science behind fitness and how to train smarter, not harder. The author does an amazing job of blending practical advice with well-researched insights on the body, nutrition, and mental health. What I appreciate most is how the book focuses on a holistic approach to fitness. It encourages you to listen to your body, make adjustments as needed, and be mindful of how you train. The exercises and routines provided are well-structured, easy to follow, and can be tailored to different fitness levels. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced athlete, you’ll find valuable advice to enhance your routine. The chapter on recovery and injury prevention alone is worth the price of the book. It’s clear that the author understands the importance of long-term health, and I’ve already started incorporating the strategies into my daily routine. Overall, Intelligent Fitness is an outstanding resource that provides a fresh, intelligent perspective on fitness. If you're serious about achieving long-term results and improving your overall well-being, this book is a must-read! Highly recommend!

THE GOOD: This is a very good fitness book, filled with sensible advice and well thought out work outs that escalate gradually over the ten week span to get you into a much improved fitness level. All the exercises can be done at home, or anywhere really. But the work outs do in many cases require a few pieces of equipment, that you will have to buy if you don't already have them: a low to medium high step bench, light dumbbells, stretch resistance bands, a barbell bar and some light to medium weight discs, a floor roller, a BOSU style balance trainer, a Swiss ball, etc. If you're using a gym that has all that stuff then you're set, but home work outs may require a few purchases. THE THING TO KEEP IN MIND: You can't start from total couch potato and do this. You have to be what might be called "fit adjacent" and hoping to improve and upgrade yourself to "fitter" and eventually awesome. It helps to be under forty also. Although a casual glance at the exercises in the book may cause some people to think "That looks easy, that's not very hard at all, what's the big deal about that?", it's important to understand that the 10-Week Intelligent Fitness program is sort of the inverse, the opposite of HITT programs where you quickly do high intensity max effort exercises for a brief period. The 10-Week Intelligent Fitness workouts do not utilize heavy weights or back breaking lifts or gut ripping contortions or a race to beat the clock. The 10-Week Intelligent Fitness workouts are done in a pattern, repetitively, interspersed with cardio. The training effect is meant to be cumulative. The program uses what Waterson calls his "5-2" method. Each workout consists of five exercises, done on a schedule, with two minutes of cardio (on a treadmill or bike or other) in between. The pattern repeats for all the workouts throughout the ten week program. So, for example, the workout process for a single session is: Exercise 1 Cardio Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Cardio Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Cardio Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Cardio Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Cardio Even if you think the weights involved are light, or that the movements are easy, by the time you finish one of the workouts you will know you have been put through the paces, and you may even be wrung out. Although the program is styled as a "ten week program", based on the work that Waterson does getting movie actors into shape with only a limited amount of lead time, right before a film production begins, so that the actors can play action heroes or villains, your own timeline may stretch longer to finish the entire program before you can confidently and consistently do everything a week demands in the sequence required to declare victory and go on to the next week's set of workouts. BOTTOM LINE: Good advice and a solid program, but aspirational. It's for increasing fitness, not starting from zero. It can be done, will power will get you there. It's filled with good advice and routines. But this is not an easy walk in the park.

The 10 week program is one of the most comprehensive programs I’ve ever tried. Specifically, the excercise focus on every part of the body in a way that yields results that go beyond aesthetic. You feel stronger, more agile, and flexible. It also incorporates exercises that made me feel more confident. There were plenty of things I wouldn’t have tried alone without the program. If I were critical of one aspect it was that, I think some of the instruction was very basic, if not lacking. You’ll need to google some moves if you’re a total novice. But even so, the workouts were so rewarding, I’d recommend this book to anyone looking to get faster, stronger, and fitter.

If I were skimming through this book in a bookstore, I might pass it off as being a bit easy looking, and I would be very wrong. Every day provides a phalanx of straightforward exercises combined with the 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4, cardio blend that really helps to transform your body and fitness level. If I had to give two pieces of advice to anyone following this book they would be. First: Do not quit! Stay on it and you will be pleased. Second: DON’T HOLD BACK ON FOOD! You need to eat plenty of protein, and I mean much more than you may have ever eaten before. Also, eat a bowl of oatmeal before each workout to keep yourself fueled, or you will be miserable. Find a workable ratio of quality protein and vegetables with a moderate amount of quality carbs. I also have two whey protein shakes with 5G Creatine between meals to help recover. The book could be a little more detailed in some areas, but if you do your best to follow the exercises and try to mix up the cardio, you will be very happy. Just commit to it and don’t stop!

This a a poorly laid out regimen that is not easy or clear to follow. It requires you to purchase a lot of equipment to perform with the BOSU being at minimum $140 up to $200 and that’s just one piece of equipment. The exercises are basic and can be found on the internet for free.