The Body Fat Breakthrough: Tap the Muscle-Building Power of Negative Training and Lose Up to 30 Pounds in 30 days! Hardcover – April 1, 2014

So--I'd lost 20lbs on my own in the past year, from diet and exercise, and after a few months of working pretty darn hard to push through the the next-to-last weight loss plateau and not seeing any results, I finally conceded to seeing what this book was about, as Women's Health kept spamming me about it. Instead of automatically deleting the e-mail, in a moment of desperation, I decided to see what it was all about. I bought the Kindle version of the book and started the program.Now... the principles are sound--spurring your metabolism in various ways and restricting calories in a balanced way (though I do feel that I ate more on this program than I usually would). You're not hungry, and you're not really on a 'diet.' I didn't follow the diet to the letter, as I rarely eat meat and prepared foods and the diet is heavy on both, but I adhered to the principles and the overall calorie counts and timing.I did the exercises religiously--I started with 10 exercises each time--being relatively fit already and a rock climber, I was able to do some of the later exercises sooner.I did ONLY these exercises for the first two weeks... and I lost 5 lbs--I could see the layer of fat over my muscles disappearing..which is all that I wanted--to lose the last bits of fat.It's great that I was able to do the program and see the results, but the problem that I have is that the program is not sustainable for me: I'm an equestrian, and an equine masseuse, and I climb socially and regularly with friends. So--exercise is a huge part of my life and livelihood--I can't just cut out all riding, massage, and climbing for six weeks... so unfortunately, I won't really be able to see how well the program could REALLY work for me, because it's simply not practical for me to do no other exercise for six weeks. That's my only major problem with this program.That being said, the metabolism-boosting principles are logical, and I am still adhering to them, and as I am in the last three weeks of the program now, I will still do the exercises once a week and see how well they work in conjunction with my other normal activities. I do feel that they were effective for muscle building and fat reduction, and that's all I really wanted. I will try to update at the end of the six weeks.

This is a review of the Kindle Edition. The Body Fat Breakthrough is clearly written and well-organized. The editors have given the book a popular-level feel; one doesn't feel they're reading an overly dense and dry scientific journal. But make no mistake, this book is packed with information. If you read and digest this book, you'll be able to talk intelligently with most anyone on the subject of diet and exercise. You'll also laugh the next time you see the exercise methods used on shows like "The Biggest Loser". There's plenty of science through the middle chapters. If one prefers to take the express route, one can read the introductory and final chapters first and get straight to the business of diet and exercise.The Kindle edition is easy to use. Throughout the edition there are helpful links that allow the reader to jump forward and back between related matter (photos, graphs, etc) located in other parts of the book.If you've NEVER read Dr Darden before, a number of the concepts will seem radical - non-low-carb diet for losing weight, strength training as infrequently as once or twice per week, and no aerobic exercise to name a few. If you HAVE read Dr. Darden before, none of the content will seem all that radical, but rather a refinement and further development of what he has written in the past, based on what he's learned over the last few years. Even if you're in the latter camp, you'll learn some things.The results of Dr. Darden's trainees are truly exceptional. His study, involving scores of subjects, was conducted "in front of God and everybody" at a large fitness facility in Gainesville, FL. These are not the unverifiable results of a handful of subjects trained privately in an isolated facility somewhere. That, along with Dr. Darden's longstanding reputation for integrity, lead me to conclude that the results, though extraordinary, are true.The before-and-after photos and personal profiles are a great feature of the book. It really is fun to see how the people changed.A final thought - Do mainstream exercise methods have you working out every day, for hours every week? Do you find this is actually reducing your quality of life, taking time away from constructive pursuits such as improving you mind and restoring your spirit, or serving others? If so, the exercise paradigm presented in The Body Fat Breakthrough could REALLY impact your life, for the better.Get the book!

I was really really skeptical when I first read this book and decided to give it a try. I'm an endurance athlete (a triathlete) who often works out 2x per day and I have recently put on some weight due to stress, medical issues (injury) and old age : ) I knew that I had a huge bout of travel and a crazy holiday schedule, so I figured why not give it a try and shake things up. I usually work out 2 times a day (spin and/or bootcamp most recently) so I was a bit reluctant to give up my regular workouts. My plan is to do this program through the end of the year and into January (until this craziness ends) and then go back to my regular season training.I'm a week and a half in, and I can already see a visible difference!!! Some of the suggestions seem strange, but if the science holds (seems like it does), it makes sense. I'm not going to lie - the cold showers aren't fun (I probably don't stay in as long as I should but I do stay in for 1-2 minutes at least!), and I just got my ice pack - not too bad - I just put it on in the evenings. My only concerns are that I'm not doing the weights *quite* as well as I would with supervision like in the studies, and it's REALLY hard for me to only eat 1400 calories per day. I'm doing the best I can and am definitely watching my portions. Sleeping more is (oddly) tough too - I have been sleeping for only 5-6 hours a night since I was a kid. I'm now trying to get 7 or 8 a night.The reason for 4 stars is that the book is incredibly dense in places and I had to read it twice to figure out that yes, you only do one rep of each and to figure out how to fit everything in on a daily basis (ongoing). I am seriously the most surprised person on the planet that this is working. The other thing is that visible results have come so quickly that I am totally motivated to continue. I will try to update as I go along . . .

Dr Ellington Darden , is one of the most knowledgeable,excercise scientists alive . His books are beautifully logical ,but backed up with legitimate testimony ,photos and measurements that his contemporaries lack .this is money well spent .

Dr Darden as always gives a great insight to rationale, high intensity training. As ever he reviews his methods and comes up with new information, which he backs up with the evidence of results.Good for long term and brand new trainees.

Always good to get more information and have a better understanding of the old enemy BODY FAT .

Thought inducing book. All claims backed up by extensive studies and scientific facts. Makes you review your thinking and your exercise habits.

Very well explained and simple to put in to practice although like the author says it isn't easy. The upside is that it does work.