Pace: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution

This is a new way to get conditioning. I have been using the HIIT method for some time and was looking for something different as I was getting tired of the same workout. This book is easy to understand, provides good information with the resource and goes beyond just a workout. It gets into nutrition along with the workout possibilities.

The idea of intense exercise with heart rate monitoring and followup recovery monitoring is very well done. Actually for us old timers this is a safe way of exercising to improve endurance. For anyone over 40 years of age or older this is a great way to exercise. I happen to be a physician and have spent most of my life doing regular aerobic activities and core exercises. This form of exercise is a variation of interval training with the monitoring to keep it safe. I think the exercise part of the book is very well done. The only problem I see is that there are few controlled studies showing the success of this method- especially the 12 minutes program. Intuitively it makes sense. Hopefully Dr. Sears will do the study and prove its effectiveness. It does take quite a bite of self motivation to continue with this. Rotating exercises such as Bike, Jump Rope, pushups etc may make it less boring. The book links to Youtube videos on exercises that are very well done. The diet advice seems unbalanced. The evidence that meat products are linked with heart disease and cancer is very good- I can't endorse his advice to eat lots of animal based proteins or the use of vitamin supplements.

As someone who has been into physical fitness and the martial arts all my life I am always seeking new and effective programs to stay in good physical shape. Lately I have read numerous volumes on fitness all claiming to be the answer to anyone who desires to be healthy and fit. I purchased this 298 page hardcover book for a bargain price on Amazon P.A.C.E. The 12-minute revolution by Al Sears, M.D. I have just finished reading this book and loved it. I am in my senior years and still work out seven days a week for about one hour each day, but I was not making the progress I was seeking and decided to try another approach.I have only been on this particular program (P.A.C.E.) few weeks and I can feel the difference. This is a complete program and the difference between this workout routine and so many others has to do with solid research on exercise physiology. I now realize it is the intensity of the workout rather than the length which makes all the difference in the world. I now have cut down my workout times and increased the intensity following the P.A.C.E. (Progressively accelerating cardiopulmonary exertion) philosophy. Just for the record, there are similar intense workout programs but this one is one of the very best ones I have followed lately.The twelve chapters cover the entire P.A.C.E. approach to total fitness including aerobic exercises, strength building exercises and nutritional advice. The science behind it is based upon what our early ancestors and other animals had to do to survive every day. Short intense bursts of exercise combined with resting periods and eating more protein and fewer carbohydrates was the diet of our early ancestors. This combination kept the people strong and fit.Personally I have grown to love this program because of its variety of exercises and the length of each workout every day. If you are seeking a fantastic and effective physical fitness program you can follow all your life, this is the one for you. You can pick up this book for a bargain price on Amazon.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective combative systems).

The information in this book is game changing. He references exercise physiology studies done at universities across the world and the things he has to say are just wild. Who knew long duration cardio actually weakens heart muscle? This book is full of good info and it's very easy to read

There are three aspects to this book. The first is PACE. PACE is a system of conditioning the heart by stressing it and then letting it recover. This is done four to six times. I think that this is an excellent way to exercise. When he says it takes 12 minutes that is just the stress part of the training. The recovery between stress periods takes much longer so the entire workout takes much longer.I found his constant harping on the fact that this is what our ancestors did and this is completely natural quite annoying. Evolution is the big vogue now so that is what people do but even if he is correct it is a poor argument and he presented scant evidence for something he stressed so highly. I can easily see a cave man 30,000 years ago putting on his heart rate monitor, getting on his elliptical exerciser at the local health club, setting his stop watch for 2 minutes and then working to push his heart rate to a particular range. After that he rests until his heart rate drops back to within 10 beats of his resting rate and does it again. After the workout he he takes his l-arginine, creatine and other supplements.The second part of the book deals with calisthenics. He recommends doing 100 each of three exercises. There are several choices but examples are Jump Squats, Jump Pull-Ups and Push-Ups. I am sure that this is an excellent program. I am not an exercise expert but I have had success with the notion of exercising so that antagonistic muscles are kept balanced. I cannot see that his program does that. Also by the time this is added to your workout it is much more than 12 minutes and quite a chore. It seems to me that isometrics are much more compatible with PACE. PACE seems to me like isometrics for the heart. Isometrics take less energy, can be done more quickly, and allow maintaining muscle balance. It would be hard to convince me that cave men did either of these routines. Cave wall pictures might convince me.The third part of the book is diet. He is big into eating lots of meat and protein. This may not be bad but he implies that anyone eating carbohydrates will weigh at least 300 lbs. He says that one can not eat too much protein. If he experiments I think that he will find that when people eat protein beyond a certain point it makes their bodies and feces smell bad. At that point I think they are eating too much protein and it can lead to inflammation and other problems. That does not mean that I think he is basically wrong.Peter Ragnar is a raw food vegan who does not reveal his age but he looks ageless. I think that in his late 70's or early 80's he broke several world strength records. He can take a piece of rebar and roll it into a little ball with his hands. He does wear gloves. If he ate a lot of meat he probably wouldn't need the gloves. Peter is the most amazing man I have ever met. Peter can pinch lift with his fingers two 45 lb. plates and hold them for a minute. I think Peter is naturally healthy but he has built and maintained his health and his body on raw vegetables. When Dr. Sears is 80 it will be interesting to see if he can roll a piece of rebar into a little ball using only his hands. I am sure he will not need the gloves.This is a good book with good information. I recommend it for the PACE.

This is one phenomenal book written by one phenomenal doctor.Dr. Al Sears is at the cutting edge of medical practice, particularly when it comes to anti-aging. I respected his opinion in other areas so I thought I would find out what he had to say about exercise. Was I glad I did.I had no idea this book would be so awesome. It begins with heavy duty endorsements, because he's smart enough to know some people will have trouble accepting such a profound new message, and then goes into skillfully laying the groundwork for his conclusions with many supporting studies. Masterful. And, an absolute delight to read.Writing style was extraordinarily pleasant and easy to read, and the logic flowed from one topic to another seamlessly. I was originally afraid to take on an "exercise book" thinking I didn't want to over think my exercise routine, but was pleasantly surprised that the concept was actually quite simple to grasp and implement. After just one workout I could tell I was onto something, as I felt really improved from the first one on. This book makes such strong profound points you will find yourself like me, telling others about it to their utter amazement at what you now know. I have bought several copies for others now. If for no other reason, than to stop them from doing what are actually harmful exercises, like treadmill and long distance running/biking etc..After thoroughly presenting the PACE program you also get other topics covered brilliantly as a bonus! Like exercises to do, and critical information on food and diet, which you again will be telling others about.So, if you want a health book that will take you and your loved ones forward in great leaps, this is the one. Very appealing even to those who are not into supplements, and don't normally like to read about health topics.I made this purchase not ever thinking it would be as important as it is, and I think you too will have the same experience.This is a great book!

Weniger ist mehr - dieser Gedanke für's Fitnesstraining wird gut begründet vorgetragen. Das Programm ist wirklich gut(Für Näheres vergleiche die Rezension von Denkerfürst). Wer innerlich bereit ist, dies anzunehmen und auszuprobieren,dem werden bestimmtel Längen bzw. Wiederholungen im Text unangenehm sein - deswegen einen Stern weniger

If low-fat diets and cardio workouts worked, we'd all be at our ideal weight; if crunches worked, we'd all have flat abs. So where did it all go wrong?Firstly, human beings were never designed to run long distances; we were meant to run short distances, flat out, to catch dinner or to avoid being caught. Secondly, our ancestors caught it, killed it and ate it, so food in times of good hunting contained plenty of fat and protein. In times of scarcity, protein was in short supply, and this signaled body cells to retain fat and use muscle as fuel. So the less you eat, especially protein, the more your body hangs on to fat, and muscle is lost. Thirdly, use it or lose it. Continuous workouts lasting longer than 20 minutes burn fat (blood sugar and glycogen sources are exhausted). The body adapts to longer workouts in two ways: the body replaces depleted fat stores and often increases them; heart and lungs downsize to become more efficient. Smaller lungs mean a shorter life. My husband has run 5 marathons in the last 11 years; during two of them a runner died of heart failure.By the way, whatever happened to Oxycise?(a programme for increasing lung capacity). I bet it was suppressed by the low-fat lobby.Apart from eating plenty of good quality protein, Dr Sears recommends selecting carbohydrates according to their glycaemic load.The form of exercise used for PACE is a matter of personal choice. Dr Sears' star pupil Terri started with walking as fast as she could for 45 seconds, stopping to catch her breath and then starting again, to a maximum of 12 minutes at a time. She lost 45 pounds of fat using this protocol. My favourite PACE exercise is skipping; it was never this hard when I was 8! Whichever exercise you choose, the principle is the same - the body adapts to not using fat for exercise by not storing it.

Although I agree with others in regards to this book requiring a serious overhaul and that he repeats himself many times over with self promotion, I must also state that this book does have some logical content. The basic fundamentals of this book are sound and are based upon the design of the human body and its components, I would suggest that you read the entire book, skipping sections where required, and use a highlighter pen to mark up the actual important aspects and of course the training program. Although the regime is similar to interval training I believe it is disparate enough to warrant standing on its own right.

Met all my expectations, totally changed my exercise routine and would definitely recommend for anyone that wants to live a healthy life