I recently received a review copy of Perfect Body Plan, a new e-book that promises to give you that perfect body you’ve always dreamed of. It’s not specifically for cyclists, but it deals with health and fitness, so I figured it was worth a look.

(If you’re not “up with the times” so to speak, an e-book is an electronic book. Once you buy it, you can download it immediately and read it on your computer. Or, you can still print it out and read it while relaxing in your favorite recliner.)

The first thing I noticed is that their site asks:

When was the last time you looked in a full-length mirror or stripped off your clothes in front of a sexual partner in broad daylight and felt completely secure, happy and PROUD of your body?

If you can quickly and easily answer that question by either saying “all the time!” or “just the other day!” I’d like you to leave this site right now…

So I left

But I did look at the book of course, and my review is below.

The Book

First of all, the book is 97 pages. That’s pretty thorough, because e-books are usually focused on a specific topic and don’t contain a lot of “fluff.”

Overall the book is well-written with proper grammar, and I only saw a few typos. It’s an enjoyable read and the “how-to” sections are understandable. (A lot of the cheaper e-books are written by people who don’t speak English fluently, so it’s nice to see that this one was written nicely.)

I should point out again that this book is targeted to the general population, not cyclists, so there’s very little mention of cycling other than the fact that it’s a good cardio exercise. However, cyclists need to be healthy and in shape, so the book still applies.

Interestingly this book is not about achieving “the” perfect body, rather “your” perfect body. That’s because it’s about getting the results you want.

The book is divided into three parts, so we might as well look at it piece-by-piece:

Part I: Knowledge Building

This is the “theory” part where you learn about why typical diets never seem to work, the muscle groups of the body, pros and cons of going to the gym, importance of warming up and cooling down, etc.

All of that actually takes 61 pages, so it’s a big part of the book! Fortunately it is all sound advice and even includes real life examples. (For example, “tried and true” diet and exercise works better than fad diets.)

Even better, the books covers the importance of motivation and delves into visualization. The mental aspect of getting fit is very important and I personally thought this was the best part of the book.

There were plenty of other self-improvement principles, too, even some stuff that gave me ideas to improve my training. Some I’ve done before and they’ve been a great help.

Then there are plenty of charts and diagrams to explain things, and I must say, the muscle diagrams are top notch! (Way better than high school science textbooks.)

This section goes further and gets into specific exercises along with cardio workout ideas. Some stuff, like the “220 minus your age” to get your maximum heart rate, is a bit too general to apply to us fit cyclists, but it will get beginners on track.

Then it’s page after page of how-to instructions for each exercise. Typical exercises like push-ups and the bench press are covered, but there are some lesser known exercises in there for good measure. Exercises are grouped by what muscles they work, and the instructions are pretty clear, but there are no pictures.

In situations such as this, you really want pictures, if not video! And if you’re a beginner, there’s no substitute for personal attention from a trained professional to make sure your posture is correct.

Remember how I said the book was understandable? It is, but sometimes it’s just too hard to capture dynamic motions in the written word! (It’s not the book’s fault; I’m just saying that’s where the DVD workout programs really shine!)

And I have to admit, reading instructions does get old, real fast.

After all the instructions, you get another chart, and it tells you where you should “feel the burn” for each exercise. Pretty nifty! In my experience, the best way to tell if you’re doing it right is by where you feel the burn (well, aside from having a personal trainer inches away keeping tabs on your every movement.)

After the exercises comes a section on stretching, warming up, and cooling down. Personally I would have preferred to read this before the exercise instructions section, but that’s just my opinion.

Then we get further into heart rate guidelines, which are good enough to keep the general population in check, and a “Perceived Exertion” scale, which I personally love and prefer over heart rate (although PE is more useful after you’ve been training for years and can better gauge your body.) Caloric needs and expenditures, along with metabolism, are covered here too.

Then the diet and nutrition section covers the basics of diet and nutrition. It’s basic, but I really enjoyed the nice list of what vitamins are good for what purpose (healthy skin, bones, etc.)

Perhaps they saved the best for last, because the Goal Setting section is great. The topic is so important you could read multiple books just about this topic and still have more to learn. The reading would be worthwhile, too, because goals are that powerful.

Part II: The Perfect Body Plans

Now that you have the knowledge, you can get into the training plans and be one step closer to your own “perfect body.”

There are eight plans total, featuring:

• Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Plans for general fitness
• Fat-loss workout plans
• Targeted plans for specific body parts

The “Ultimate Fat-Loss” and the “Big and Ripped” workout plans look pretty cool, and the titles should be self-explanatory

And of course the plan targeted for your abs is sure to be a winner, because who doesn’t want a six pack?

For each you get a short, printer-friendly workout chart, followed by some more explanation for each exercise. Most fitness workouts were 30-45 minutes long and consisted mainly of cardio and bodyweight workouts. I could probably do the advanced plan without much trouble though. I’m sure it’s advanced for most people, but we’re cyclists, not “most people.”

Part III: Putting It All Together

The last section covers how to construct your own plan. It’s fairly simple and is about adapting your training to meet your goals.

But then at the very end there is a magic trick that might just work to really improve your training! (I don’t want to reveal it, but it’s a powerful idea.)

 

My final verdict is…

If you’ve been into fitness for a while, you probably know most of this stuff. But if you are new to health and fitness, the book is actually a really good overview of what you need to know.

While the overall quality is nice, I’m not sure if I’d shell out $50 for it. I mean, they do mention lots of good exercises, but written descriptions only do so much. There aren’t even any explanatory photos, let alone video. You can read it and comprehend it, but it’s nice to actually see it happen.

I’m actually past even the Advanced fitness plan, and I already use programs such as Cyclo-Core, so this book is not quite right for me. The only thing that would justify the purchase, if you’re an advanced athlete, is the psychological stuff like motivation, visualization, and goal setting.

Even then, $50 is a bit steep.

So in the end, it’s a good book for beginners who really want to get fit and healthy. If you fall in that category, this book has just about everything you need to know, all in one place. It’s just lacking in photos and video.

You can buy it at: www.PerfectBodyPlan.com

P.S. There is an 8-week, 100% money back guarantee. So if you buy the book and realize it’s not for you, you can get a full refund. (The nice thing with e-books is that the refund process is real simple since there are no shipping and handling charges or hassles.)

If you’ve been watching closely, you may have noticed that I got Skinnyr. Nope, not skinnier, Skinnyr!

If you have seen my Myspace page lately, it’s now displaying my graph from Skinnyr.com.

Skinnyr is a new web application that allows you to keep track of your weight, and they graph it for you. You can see the graph in your account, or you can go public and display the graph on your website or blog. You can see mine right here:

That’s it. It looks pretty cool, but that’s the only graph you see. You log-in every day and input your weight, and that’s all you get. One plain old graph.

The pros:

It’s a fairly simple way to track your weight on a graph, plus it lets you display the graph publicly (if you want to show off your weight loss.)

There is a blur feature on the graph you can choose, where it displays your weight fluctuations without giving away your actual weight. That way your weight isn’t given away, which could be a very good thing!

Skinnyr is also integrated with Facebook, so you can access your account from your Facebook profile. Great for us kids! Even if you’re not on Facebook, you can access Skinnyr right from the desktop widget if you choose to download that (since it would save you from surfing to skinnyr.com.)

This would be pretty cool if it was used by professional athletes and personal trainers. I’d like to watch some people to see who gets fat in the winter!

The cons:

Skinnyr is very thin in the features department. It’s just a graph!

I’d like to be able to pick dates and see the graph for just those dates, whether it’s for one week or one year. Right now I don’t see how to do that.

Plus, entering my weight each day is a pain, even if I can do it through Facebook. It would be cool if my scale was wifi-enabled and connected to skinnyr.com automatically to keep track of things, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon…

My final verdict is…

I’m not sure why I should waste my time with this, as it doesn’t do much at all. (At first I thought it would be neat, but the novelty wore off real fast.)

I could do much cooler stuff with an Excel spreadsheet or Access database, so until Skinnyr fills up with more features, I think I’ll track my weight on my own.

(And if they do fill up on features, maybe they’ll have an option for uploading existing data via an Excel spreadsheet, so I won’t be left out!)

[Click here if you would like to get your product reviewed on CoachLevi.com.]

There is no denying that LARABAR is one of the best tasting energy bars available. Ever since I ate my first one and subsequently wrote a review of them, I’ve been chowing down on them whenever I get a chance.

Which is why I’m stoked to be the “LARABAR Fan of the Day.”

You can see me on their blog and read all about it here. Check it out!

Deer season is fast approaching, and you know what that means - time to break out the fluorescent orange spandex! (If you are a mountain biker, that is.)

As if riding in the woods was not dangerous enough to begin with, now we have to do it while hunters are out there ready to shoot any big and brown fast-moving animals. If you want to stay as safe as possible, here are some tips:

1. Wear a fluorescent orange vest, gloves, or whatever else you can find. (Do not dress in all brown or black, or use a white seat!)
2. Do not ride in the woods around dawn or dusk, as those are peak hunting times. (Not to mention, it would be harder to see you anyway.)
3. Ride in areas that are zoned to not allow hunting. (Although if you encounter hunters in these areas, watch out, because you just caught them breaking the law and they might not be happy!)
4. Ride on Sundays or holidays when hunting is prohibited. (Varies by location; check local laws.)
5. Use a bike bell. (Deer get spooked easily, so make noise to keep them away from you. Also, hunters might think you’re a dairy cow and avoid shooting you.)
6. Carry your cell phone. (Just in case.)
7. If you see a herd of deer, hit the dirt! (You never know when someone will start shooting.)

Here’s to a safe hunting season!

Ready to transition to the off season? Then you might like (or fall in love with) this special report I prepared that will show you how to get the most benefit from your off-season training.

This report covers indoor riding options, including the pros and cons of trainers and rollers, other sports and how they can help your cycling, weight lifting tips, and body weight exercise ideas, complete with pictures.

In other words, you will discover the off-season training secrets that will have you riding with ease in the Spring!

And remember, it’s free, so why not read it?

Just fill out the form below and we’ll send you download instructions:

Name:
Email: