Ready, Set, Go! by Phil Campbell

I enjoyed “Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness for Time Crunched Adults” by Phil Campbell. It was easy to read, motivating, and contained some great information on how to synergize your metabolism, cut body fat, and tone and build muscle. Campbell, 50 years old when he wrote the book, aims the text at the aging population. Being 45 now, I wanted to see what he was writing about, and I’m very glad I did. While I include a lot of what Campbell teaches in my own workouts, I’m modifying what I do a little to try his “Strategic Fitness Plans.”

I think the information and workouts in this book compliment martial art workouts very well, and in fact Campbell has a martial art background. I would encourage any athlete, recreational, competitive, martial art or otherwise to think about incorporating the ideas and training methodologies and routines that Campbell writes about into their own fitness program.

The book is divided into three main parts: 1. Ready. 2. Set. 3. Go. The first part, Ready, contains chapters that focus on your fitness hormone (Human Growth Hormone or HGH), maximizing fitness hormone release, redefining age, and target zone training. This part explains the “Why” behind the workouts Campbell teaches. The goal being to design workouts and a fitness plan that maximizes natural HGH production in your body to help cut fat, build muscle and increase performance.

Part 2, Set, includes chapters on building your fitness strategy, flexibility fundamentals, energizing endurance. Accelerating HGH release with anaerobics, plyo-power, and tactical weight training. These chapters explain the different kinds of exercises Campbell suggests you implement into you overall fitness strategy. They explain the five elements that you need to incorporate: Flexibility training, Endurance training, Anaerobic training, Power training, and Strength training. Sample exercises are illustrated and explained for each category. I will note here that one of the keys to HGH release is the Anaerobic training, or “Sprint” training. I do like that Campbell has you start slowly and build up with this kind of training if you are new to it. The “sprints” a couple time s a week are key to HGH release, but all five elements are important to your overall fitness strategy.

The final part, Go, contains sample strategic fitness plans depending on your level of fitness. There are five phases, and once you determine where to start, you can build up through the more advanced plans. I also really like how he includes the small section on commitment near the end, and encourages you to sign an 8 week commitment to get started. It really is your commitment to fitness and your consistency of working out that will make a difference in your fitness and health.

Overall, I feel this is a good fitness book for those in their 40s, 50s, or older. Incorporating the fitness plans outlined here will undoubtedly help a person lose fat, gain muscle, and perform better. All you need to do is get Ready, Set, Go!