The book

The introduction

What the human body is built for, how modern life stopped asking it to move, and how training puts that movement back.

1. 1You were built to keep going.3 min

Part I

Where we come from

Humans in the natural world: the slow animal that walked across every continent, and the people who still live that way.

1. 2How a slow animal crossed the whole world3 min
2. 3Fit at every age, with no gym and no shoes4 min

Part II

What modern life took away

How chairs, machines and desks made moving optional, and what you lose when you never have to move.

1. 4Why one hour of training is not enough5 min
2. 5Your chair is shortening your hips4 min
3. 6Strength makes endurance cheaper6 min
4. 7The fitness daily life used to give you for free5 min

Part III

What a robust body gives you

Why it is worth getting back: a better mood, the world outside, somewhere to go, and an easier ordinary day.

1. 8Train the body, and the mood follows4 min
2. 9The best reason to train is outside7 min
3. 10Why a goal keeps you training when willpower stops3 min
4. 11Spare capacity makes the ordinary day easier4 min

Part IV

How the body is built

Mobility carries strength, and strength carries endurance. Then how the body moves as one piece, and its parts one at a time: the feet, the core, the head and the hands.

1. 12Why fit people still get hurt4 min
2. 13Why stretching your hamstrings will not loosen them5 min
3. 14Your shoes are doing your feet's work4 min
4. 15Your core is a barrel, not a six-pack4 min
5. 16Where you carry your head changes everything below it5 min
6. 17Relax your hands and your whole body follows4 min

Part V

Four qualities to train

The four kinds of session, Power, Structure, Balance and Range, and what makes a session one of them.

1. 18Fitness is four things, not one5 min
2. 19Why you lose your spring before your strength4 min
3. 20Why you fold on the last hill4 min
4. 21Why some runners fly down rocky trails4 min
5. 22Stiff people work harder for every stroke5 min

Part VI

Inside the engine

The four efforts of endurance training, and what each one builds inside you: the vessels, the lactate, the heart and the nerves.

1. 23Why training at one effort doesn't cut it5 min
2. 24Slow training builds what fast training cannot5 min
3. 25Lactate is fuel, not waste6 min
4. 26How hard intervals grow your heart5 min
5. 27Speed is trained in the nerves, not the lungs5 min

Part VII

Feel the effort

How to tell which effort you are in, and set it, from your breath, how long you could hold it, how hard it feels and your heart rate.

1. 28How to use your breath to control your effort5 min
2. 29How long could you hold this?5 min
3. 30How hard does it feel, out of ten?6 min
4. 31Does your heart rate agree with you?6 min

Part VIII

The body at work

What running, swimming and riding each need from your body: a smooth stride, a long stroke and easy hours on the bike.

1. 32What does a smooth running stride need from your body?Soon
2. 33What does a long swim stroke need from your body?Soon
3. 34What do long hours on the bike need from your body?Soon

Part IX

Make it a practice

How to pick the right session for the day, how to add more once you have earned it, and how to come back after a break.

1. 35The right work for the momentSoon
2. 36More is something you earnSoon
3. 37Keep your movement when you get tiredSoon
4. 38Give the work what it needsSoon
5. 39Begin again from where you areSoon

Part X

Nutrition for endurance athletes

Cook for yourself, from real ingredients, every day: what an endurance athlete should eat for the training they do, and how to make it delicious.

1. 40Eat food, not nutrients6 min
2. 41Starch fuels the long daysSoon
3. 42Protein that rebuilds, cooked so you want itSoon
4. 43Salt what you sweatSoon
5. 44Flavour keeps you eatingSoon
6. 45Twenty minutes from the door to the plateSoon
7. 46Let the pot cook while you trainSoon
8. 47A kitchen that keeps up with trainingSoon
9. 48Long days need food on the moveSoon
10. 49Make your own sports drink2 min

Part XI

Choose a challenge

The endurance challenges and Body Challenges you can train for, and what happens after you finish one.

1. 50A challenge gives the days direction
2. 51Your current rung countsSoon
3. 52The conditions are part of the challengeSoon
4. 53Running challengesSoon
5. 54Swimming challengesSoon
6. 55Cycling challengesSoon
7. 56Swimrun challengesSoon
8. 57Aquabike challengesSoon
9. 58Brick challengesSoon
10. 59Triathlon challengesSoon
11. 60Let the terrain choose the movementSoon
12. 61Keep your reach — the overhead squatSoon
13. 62Be strong off the straight line — the CossackSoon
14. 63Control the body over one foot — the pistol squatSoon
15. 64Hang, fold and control — toes-to-barSoon
16. 65Keep extension under load with the long-stance split squatSoon
17. 66Get down and up again under control — the continuous get-upSoon
18. 67Carry the weight with you — the sustained holdSoon
19. 68There is life after the finishSoon