An Original Strength Review - Crushing Weakness

Categories: Uncategorized Jun 23, 2013

“So I’ve read more than a few strength/health books in my day, and more often than not the way they deliver information can be divided into a few different categories.

1) Those that lay out the information and faithfully deliver a crescendo of dynamite information, specifically built up to by the just-the-facts info masterfully threaded through chapter. By the end of the book you have a pretty good, specific plan to dominate.

2) Those that drop some pretty awesome knowledge bombs at almost every turn – some of them real forehead-slappers. It can be a little like drinking from a fire hose. Great to know what you now know, but sometimes not easy to apply. Great books nonetheless.

3) Bland, boring, hackneyed, and the few interesting and helpful tidbits you manage to scavenge from the dry, drab clutches of the text are the only things that prevent you from going Fahrenheit 451 on it with so little remorse that it would make Captain Beatty from the aforementioned novel swell with pride.

But Original Strength – well, Original Strength doesn’t really fit neatly into any category (and definitely not into the last one).

It’s more like a slow and steady build up – no real ups and downs, just ups. Like music faithfully swelling with each passing minute. As you’re standing by the amplifiers waiting to get to what will be the best part of the music, someone unexpectedly grabs you by the shoulder, spins you around, and sucker punches you so hard you see stars. But not just any stars – stars that are so beautiful, so crystal-clear, and so vibrant in their shimmering that they illuminate your unconsciousness. You secretly wish someone had punched you like this years ago.

That, my friends, is Original Strength. It defies categories and then defines one: the one that teaches you what you wish you had known all along. Not only does it hit you like a one-two punch while simultaneously leaving your preconceived notions of physical development – both past and present – but it does so in masterful fashion. Word economy to the max (at a lean 106 pages), simplicity in explanation, and assertiveness in its call to action, you may be tempted to shrug it off as a novel idea with no place in your training. Don’t.

When you were born, you were pure. You had the cleanest slate possible to develop into what you were meant to be – a strong, resilient, unstoppable powerhouse of crush-all-that-stands-in-my-way. Such characteristics have always been enshrined and admired as necessary for the progress of mankind, but only recently have we begun to move away from their natural development as a part of our growth.

But no more. Our lack of movement and basic body knowledge has taken its toll. In addition, you will have to pay another toll to get it back – the purchase of this book and the regular practice of its principles. A toll, yes, but one that leads to a road with progressively fewer bumps and potholes that will take you directly through a scenic route of riches worth more than their weight in gold – health, vitality, and joyful movement.

You will learn about the basics of proper breathing, head movement (and why it matters), how to be “born again” by re-discovering rolling, rocking, and crawling – the movements that made you, YOU as a baby. The movements that laid down the foundation. The movements that will fill in the cracks in your foundation and lay down new and powerful patterns for you to live life through – because after all, we’re meant to live life on our feet, not on our butts. We might as well learn to move well while we move through life.

Better yet, the book even contains information and sample programs on how to integrate the drills and exercises in the book into your current program. Not only will they not overload you, they will likely DEload you as you learn to literally re-set your body day in and day out, building up your resilience and ability to recover from your strength and sport training and the daily diet of stressful activities that we are all heir to.

The philosophy, the principles, the practices, and the call to action in this book must not be ignored if we are to secure a future of strength and resilience worthy of reflecting against that of our ancient “primitive” ancestors. As co-author Tim Anderson is wont to say “we are not meant to be broken.” Nor are we meant to slink away from the challenges, the troubles, and the hard-earned triumphs that made our progenitors into unforgettable household names. Strength and resilience are an incredible set of pillars to have to hold you up in times of challenge and hardship.

“Why not me?” powerlifting legend Donnie Thompson once asked himself on the question of becoming a champion. Indeed, why not all of us? We had it as kids, and we have it at our fingertips once again – the knowledge and the method no longer simply to be, but to become. The choice is yours, and the transformation is waiting for you to kick-start it. Now only one question remains…

Why not you?



Aleks Salkin, SFG, SFB
https://www.AleksSalkin.com – Crush weakness!

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