Review: “Never Gymless” and “Infinite Intensity,” by Ross Enamait
Well it’s time for another book review. This time my focus is on two training manuals I recently purchased from Ross Enamait - “Infinite Intensity“ (mostly with dumbbells for maximum speed, endurance and strength), and “Never Gymless” (bodyweight training and minimal equipment for total fitness). The man stands apart from the current politics and fitness factions regarding methods of training. He tries everything himself, and passes the best on to us. And judging by his physique, his methods work.
These books are jammed full of information well beyond any other fitness “gurus”. Ross Enamait works out like an animal and his techniques lead to tremendous benefits in strength, power, speed, and endurance. He does not promise to reveal ’secret’ training methods or get into historical romanticism, use pseudo scientific jargon or promise ’silver bullet’ exercises.
What I like is that he uses different modalities as a means to an end - the development of the complete athlete. His view, that several roads can lead towards better overall development, is refreshing in light of so much overblown marketing hype on the internet.
With a regular dose of hard work and a properly designed program, Ross shows you can use almost any modality towards elite fitness attainment. This type of training conditions for multifaceted development, with individual attributes developed separately. For example, there may be several weeks of maximal strength training, then a shift towards explosive strength and after several more weeks, he heads towards strength endurance.
This is not fluff people, but good stand alone information which will lead you to lose body fat and slap some serious muscle onto your body. Enamait is the real deal, and in my view, both these books are among the finest of their class because he constantly experiments with new things in a never-ending quest to improve his abilities.
Of course there will be those who scoff at perceived limitations to their sport with his approach, or perhaps that his training could be dangerous. This is rebuffed in classic style by Enamait who says: “Ignorance is more dangerous than any exercise.”
Filed under: Book Reviews, Exercise - Training Methods, Personal Trainers
Great review! Are you familiar with the books of Pavel (Naked Warrior) and Kubick (Dinosaur Training)? How do Enamait’s books compare? Theses other two writers seem to use a lot of hyped-up, sensational, bravado. “Secret exercises”, etc. Which ONE Enamait book would you most recommend? Thanks.
I am indeed. One of the reasons I wrote the review is because of Enamait’s style - which is no nonsense. In his introduction he says the systems give undeniable results (hard work in other words), without cheap talk. He does not lie.
Both the books are excellent, depending on your goals. INFINITE INTENSITY is about busting your butt to achieve your goal, without giving in to limitations or critics. The training ptrogram is designed to push the envelope, both physically and mentally. It is not about bodybuilding, but rather all around strength training, using simple equipment and weights. It emphasises concern for speed, agility and endurance.
NEVER GYMLESS is more about having a one stop respource for training methods requiring little or no equipment. It’s not just another book about bodyweight training, neither does he say bodyweight exercises are best, nor that the program itself guarantees results. Rather, he stresses the method and principles used. So if you have no equipment, don’t worry, this does not spell fitness death. He outlines exercises which can be as useful as any other training style. Enamait has simply rewritten the book on the subject, giving more effective information for the dollar spend.
So in that sense, it is hard to recommend one book above the other, because I myself use both systems, within a phylosophy of many others. No style is perfect, and many complement each other. If you are fortunate to be able to combine different systems towards the goal of elite fitness, then use both. If challenged by space, equipment of other constraints, use a particular system within your means.
The price for each is cheap compared to what most authors charge. I’m quite simply satisfied and sufficiently impressed to take the time to give praise where due.
All the best in your training.
I got the Never Gymless book and was very impressed. I was surprised in a good way about how well he covers body weight training, including the importance of a good healthy diet and fresh organic food. He covers lots of exercises and variations, also ways to build up to certain exercises. He has some examples of a training program, but stresses the importance of developing your own (which I have done). Well worth the ~$50AUD. Highly recommend this book.