I am more a fan of ebooks, because it is difficult to either store or travel with a large amount of books!
On my Kindle paperwhite, I have access to all my books, all the time, all over the world.
You can also use cellphone apps or read them on any browser with access to the internet.
Have you ever been sitting in a waiting room at a doctor or somewhere and were bored? Well just open your Kindle app and read!
Starting Strength 3rd edition
The book is about how to execute the big and most important lifts in Powerlifting and Bodybuilding – The Squat, Deadlift, Benchpress, Overhead Press, Barbell Row and Power Clean!
Most detailed description of those lifts in book form.
Definately a must read for someone who wants to master those lifts or reduce the injury risk of those lifts to a bare minimum!
Beyond Brawn
3rd Edition by Stuart McRobert
One of my favourite books on training mentality.
Not everybody can gain the same amount of muscle.
There are true hardgainers and only a small percentage can train like people on steroids recommend you to do and have success.
True hardgainers have to put weight on the bar to gain muscle.
McRobert breaks it down to utmost importance of training: Progression, not getting injured, regenaration and enjoying your training!
The book explains in detail, how to train, how you should progress, how important is regenaration.
It inspired Martin Berkhan on his Reverse pyramid training program, which is pretty popular right now!
5/3/1 by Jim Wendler
The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Raw Strength
It goes into detail how this training program works. You can get most information online for free, but if you really enjoy doing 5/3/1 it is a small investment to get a more knowledge about the program.
It is a great programming method and can be customized depending on your goals.
The basics are: 4 Main Lifts done on 4 different training days: Squats, Benchpress, Deadlift, Military Press
Different training weeks with different percentages depending on your 1RM (the maximum you can lift for 1 rep).
Week 1 @ 5 reps, week 2 @ 3 reps, week 3 @ 1 rep and week 4 is a deload week.
Carbbackloading 1.0
John Kiefer goes into great detail on how and why Carbbackloading works.
You should wait a bit since he is going to release Carbbackloading 2.0 in 2016.
The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth
The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why – by Jonny Bowden
The author goes into detail on the so called “superfoods”
Why is broccoli so good and how to prepare it properly.
The difference between farm raised and wild caught salmon, or grass fed and grain fed beef!
I recommend to pick some of those superfoods and make the ones you enjoy the most a part of your diet.
Mastery by Robert Greene
A monster of a book, but really great.
Robert Greene goes into detail on how and why the great people of our time became so successful and achieved mastery in their respective fields!
How Darwin came up with the evolution theory or analyzing the lives of masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein!
It is not all talent or genetics.
You need a fire burning inside you and you need to love what you do,
a fiery passion and a lot of practice to achieve mastery.
Find what you love and what you are good at and keep practicing it.
The 4-Hour Work Week
Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
I do not really like his book 4 hour body, but 4 hour work week on the other hand is awesome.
He goes into detail on how to have more time in your life. To be able to work from anywhere in the world.
Becoming free. If you have a feeling that you are only working more and more, but you want to have something else in life…
give this book a chance.
People trade their time for money, but why not trade your money for time, or even better make your time more valuable!
In the end it is a limited ressource! I would rather spend my time pursuing my dreams in my prime, than not being able to when I`m too old and retired!
Eat stop eat
by Brad Pilon
There are several diet books about intermittent fasting.
The Warrior diet by Ori Hofmekler is a really good one, but my favourite is Eat stop eat by Brad Pilon.
In this case it is about 20-24 hours of fasting.
You eat dinner at 8pm, then you do not eat anything until 8pm the next day.
This has many health benefits and without tracking calories it is a great way to lose some weight.
He explains how and why this works!
The Power of Now
A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment – by Eckhart Tolle
Get the audio book. One of the most life changing books I have ever read or listened too.
It is about our ego and that we always project our happiness into the future or search for it in our past.
This way we can never truly be present and enjoy the moment.
If you feel unsettled, always ask yourself the question: “Do I have a problem right now?”
The answer should be: No! Right?
Becoming transparent, because it is not worth your energy to stress yourself about a bad driver or whatever else puts you in a bad mood.
Listen to it while walking or meditating.
This book translates perfectly into the fitness world (credits to Gregory O’Gallagher), because people always project their happiness into the future, in this case the end of the diet or the goal physique!
If I achieve that physique, I am gonna get laid and I am gonna be happy… so everyday becomes a struggle, because they cannot truly enjoy the process!
They can only see the end of the road, but never really walk on the path!
Muscle and Strength Training Pyramids
by Eric Helms
The detailed version of the youtube series on the importance of each variable in your training and nutrition!
If you can not keep your calories in check during your diet, then it makes no sense to get your supplements dialed in!
If you can not adhere to your training program, then it makes no sense to obsess over rest periods or tempo!
Eric explains the hierarchy of training and nutrition in these 2 books!
The Way of the Superior Man
A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work, and Sexual Desire – by David Deida
An internal guide or pursuit to a middle ground of being neither a baby boy nor an ass
About giving to the world, not only taking.
About living consciously.
About being you and not what somebody else wants you to be.