10 Books in 10 Days- Strong is the New Beautiful

Can I just be real for a minute?

I picked this book because it was short. Okay? I wasn’t REALLY interested in what a skier had to say about fitness. I mean, sure, Lindsay Vonn is a great athlete, but a skier fitness book? Really? It was the title that sold me. Strong is the New Beautiful? That’s an amazing title.

I’m over here racking my brain for a terrific title for my fitness book, and this woman, this skier came up with the perfect title.

So, I decided to listen to the book today.

My life was changed.

Yeah, I tend to be a little over-dramatic sometimes. But this book was amaze-balls.

It’s not often I read a book and I feel I’ve mind-melded with the author. It happened when I read Level Up Your Life, but not since. It happened today.

I started listening to the book right after my swim at Goss Lake. It was a short swim, because I had a dentist appointment. I wanted to listen to the book while having my teeth cleaned, and possibly finish it while at work.

I was instantly hooked with the book in the first five minutes. Lindsay believes there is more than one way to exercise and diet. She hates the word diet as much as I do. She understands that your fitness program must empower you, not restrict your life and make things difficult. Her philosophy in life is it’s more effective to work hard to get stronger, not lose weight. It’s a sustainable lifestyle, not a quick fix.

And wow. That was it. I was her puppet.

Lindsay goes on to talk a little about her life and her career. She got into the professional skiing circuit fairly early. She trained hard and worked hard, with lots of success. She’s had huge setbacks, too. Not just in her career as a skier with serious injuries, but in her personal life.

I liked that Lindsay shared some of her personal story. My only complaint there was she did end up repeating herself later on in the book on a few occasions because she was reiterating a point about diet, getting your mind right, exercise, and treating yourself. It’s something I’ve noticed a lot about the books I’ve listened to this past week. A lot of them repeat things, and sometimes, it’s so soon after I just heard it, I think the app is malfunctioning and skipping. But no, it’s just the author reiterating a point they feel is important. I’m trying to figure out if I should be doing that with my book. I hate repeating myself. Why on earth would I want to do that with my writing?

Lindsay spoke to me at a very personal level on more than one occasion. The first, when talking about how she moved from a heavy carb diet to Paleo and then realized she just needed to eat healthy, whole, unprocessed foods, I remembered an exactly similar incident with myself. When Lindsay was in Europe and practicing Paleo, she had insanely intense cravings for carbs. One morning she caved and had a bowl of Museli. In that instant, her body responded in a very positive manner, and she recognized that Paleo is good practice to get you started on a whole, unprocessed food lifestyle, but it wasn’t the best for her.

I had a similar realization while trying to figure out the best breakfast to fuel my swim. I was trying Paleo/Whole30/Keto kinds of foods, but my body just doesn’t respond as well. I tried oatmeal with a splash of maple syrup and two pieces of bacon cut up, and it’s energizing. Same thing when I have plain yogurt with about a quarter cup of whole grain organic granola (locally made, of course). I realized at that moment my diet is going to be different from everyone else’s. We are all different. There is no “perfect” diet for any one person. Just eat good, whole, unprocessed foods.

The second big moment was when Lindsay spoke about warm-ups. I don’t know why, but it was a little of an “ah-ha” moment for me. I write about warming up in my book as well, but since I relate it to animal training principles, I had issues fitting it together. Now I know how to work it in, teach an important lesson about how animal trainers work with their animals, and demonstrate how warm-ups can help you achieve your fitness goals and improve your workout in general.

My favorite moments from the book were when Lindsay wrote from her rescue dog’s point of view. Her rescue dog’s name is Bear, and on a few occasions, there are “Bear’s Tips” sections. She recommends teaming up with your adopted pet to create a healthy workout team. But she also uses life examples to demonstrate how we should not be afraid of new things, keep trying, and even how to help ourselves when we get hurt during a workout. It was super sweet, and the idea  actually made me feel a little gooshy. 

I haven’t read a book like this in a long time. It was quite a surprise for me.

On one hand, it made me more excited to start on my fitness book again (if only I could nail down a fabulous title like Strong is the New Beautiful). On the other hand, it did show me concretely why I am having such a problem finding an agent or editor for the book. I am a nobody in the business. No one knows who I am, or what ZooFit is. Lindsay has a great book, and she has a great message, but she’s a famous athlete. Jillian Michaels is a famous fitness trainer. Even though I have an important message which will help millions of people, I have VERY stiff competition out there, and without getting known, it’s going to be hard to convince people to pick MY book over someone with more “street cred”.

I do think I’d like to purchase a real copy of this book. And it’s likely I will definitely reference it in the future, recommend it to friends, and hold onto it for a long, long time.

I like surprises like Strong is the New Beautiful. It definitely makes my day go by faster and gives me motivation and inspiration for what I can become.