Becoming a Supple Leopard, 2nd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance

This book has helped me tremendously. I’m getting older and muscles tighten up and get painful. Finding ways to improve mobility and reduce pain help keep me training

‘All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves.” It’s almost a call to arms, a revolution in who we are and how we treat our bodies. It shouldn’t be of course, but the idea that you can do work on your own body is one I have come to embrace. Not just lifting and building muscle but fixing your own injuries. Digging deeper into your own body, learning what is wrong with it and working through a path to fix it yourself. The idea behind this book is that everyone should be able to move well, like jungle cats. That the body was designed for optimum movement for a long time. If you can’t now that doesn’t mean you can’t in the future. Supple Leopard is the guide to better movement and performance. It can help you resolve any problem issues and how to do it yourself. Kelly Starrett is an athlete, a former high level kayaker, the owner of San Francisco Crossfit and a Doctor of Physical Therapy. The guy knows a bit about movement. He’s used his experience as an athlete and physio to turn his gym into a testing ground, a lab for physical movement and how to get better. Supple Leopard is a textbook, like a dictionary for your body. When I have a physical issue from jiu-jitsu training or lifting weights this is the first place I turn. It’s a thick, dense read that is best chipped away at or pulled out and used when needed. His message that you have control over your own health is empowering. You can sort out and resolve many of your physical problems. But it won’t be easy and it might not be quick. Kelly wants you to commit to ten minutes a day of basic maintenance. Find your weak points and work on them. Can’t squat? He’ll show you a progression how to get there and then you best be doing some squat practice everyday. Bad shoulders and can’t lift overhead? There’s plenty for that too. He talks about fundamental movement patterns and positions that we should all be able to get into. and how we should all be able to get into them. If we can’t something is wrong. So we then we should fix it. Much of what we do all day everyday goes against how our bodies evolved. Sitting down, reaching forward all day tapping at keys or swiping at phones. Wearing huge soles between us and the ground as we drink and eat poor quality food. And then we try and exercise. Is it any surprise when that doesn't go well? Starrett thinks the human body is an amazing machine that can take an obscene amount of abuse. When it breaks it can break hard but it doesn’t have to. Check out his website MobilityWOD for great free content including hundreds of videos. He’s gone on to write a book on how to run without pain, Ready to Run. And has just come out with Deskbound on how to stand up from the desk and change your life. He and wife Juliet run Stand Up Kids where they try and get standing desks in schools. To stop our kids from getting messed up like we did. They are super heroes. This is a big expensive book but if you are going to be harder to destroy it’s a must. It gives you the tools to make yourself better and more awesome. This one is a lock for the shelf.

I just bought this book. I haven't even read it yet but I had to write a review. At first glance this book is HUGE and beautiful. I did not expect it to be this thick. The illustrations are colorful and they make my brain eager and excited to read. It is chokefull of knowledge and literally looks like an encyclopedia or science book. I love it already and my nerdy self cannot wait to immerse myself in it, and then put the knowledge into practice. I found out about this book while reading 'Built from Broken' by Scott Hogan. Even he was raving about it and I found Scott's book extremely helpful, so I decided to make 'Supple Leopard' my next read. I will be back with more reviews after reading, but I am super excited about it. Update: This book is so big and chokeful of knowledge, that every time people see me reading it, they think I'm in college. One lady asked me if I was studying for finals. I should have said yes, since the book is preparing me for better form when I get old. But, I am a nerd, so, I love it. Definitely worth every penny spent on it.

Gifted to a friend. Zero complaints. They shared that the information, descriptions and even the photos are super helpful for comprehension and true understanding of pains and body mechanics.

This is a very in depth technique book on moving one's body in proper manners, in and out of the gym. I picked it up to work on mobility as I have spent years in the gym and as I approach 50 I realize Im way to stiff. It definitely is not a light read, if there was a trade school for body mechanics this would be required reading.

***I will update the review after I've completed the book and all stages of the 14-day mobility program. I'd like to determine if the recommendations of the book will provide lasting effects.*** Background, I'm a 29 year old male who spent 7 years in the Navy. 13 months of that in Afghanistan as an Expeditionary Combat Trainer/Mentor for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. I've got some lingering injuries that I'm getting tired of taking 800mg ibuprofen twice daily to manage. I purchased this book to potentially help isolate these issues and let me get back to powerlifting without fear of pain/injury. I powerlift. I put up great numbers and I do it within the confines of strict form and applied effort. No cheating. That said, I think Crossfit is a strange cult of strange behavior and dangerous movement. I put off buying this book because of all the purported crossfit demagoguery within. Good news is, this book is written in a clear and informative manner with the only crossfit nonsense being some of the rogue branded gear the author wears in the photographs. My biases lean toward EliteFTS, so take that as you will. As the headline says, prepare for rewarding pain. You're going to hurt yourself in ways a physical therapist or massage therapist cannot do to you. My joint pain/mobility problems are: left shoulder (Navy injury), right knee (Navy injury), right ankle (broken tibia/hairline fractured fibula, stage 3 sprained later), and occasional lower back tweaks/pain just above my pelvis attachment. Shoulder: My shoulder hurts very sharply when benching if I don't set my bench up PERFECTLY and even then, I can't do nearly as much weight as I should be able to because it always hurts and I'm afraid of reinjuring it. While doing some of the mobility exercises recommended in the book and burying a lacrosse ball in the posterior area of my shoulder, I a very painful and very hard lump. I assumed this was bone...until it crackled and moved loose. I proceeded to roll it out while whimpering and grunting. Once I stood up, I could rotate my shoulder around with a greater range of motion and with less pain. Not completely pain free yet, but its a marked improvement for 10 minutes of work on it. Great. Knee: Lacrosse ball to the hamstrings. Lots of sticky points, hotspots, and pain. Lots of pain. Also, lots of whimpering. The itchy/painful feeling and general crunchiness in my knee seems to have subsided, but I feel like it needs much more work from the glutes on down to alleviate what I'm feeling. Ankle: Working my bound up ankle was what I would assume to be my own personal hell on Earth. I've got lots of scar tissue buildup on the front of my ankle at the top of my foot. This acts (as the author says) as a doorstop preventing full flexion of my ankle and an inability to point my toes to my knee. It has also impeded full depth during squats. While doing the smash and floss method on the front of the ankle with the lacrosse ball, I assumed that ankles were supposed to have lots of little lumps and pain spots...you're smashing ligaments and tendons, right? Nope, turns out this was lots and lots of scar tissue. Sweet baby Jesus was this inconceivably painful. However, I've probably gain about 20% greater mobility in my ankle after just this one session. Ankle still hurts this next day, but some more ibuprofen is fixing that. At least it doesn't hurt as a result of binding up anymore. Lower Back: Haven't gotten to working it yet because after all the other work I felt like someone had beaten me with an aluminum bat and my back hurts the least of all my problems. Be prepared to spend some money on gear. Sure its cheaper than a chiropractor or therapist, but its still an outlay. I've got a bumpy roller, a smooth roller, a lacrosse ball. What I don't have that are recommended are: double lacrosse ball, little battlestar (can be subbed with a standard roller though), VooDoo bands, stretchy bands (no, rogue brand bands are not any better than others) and an assortment of other balls of varying density, pressure application ability, and size. So far, I'm pleased with the results I've had after a single session of rolling, smashing, and flossing my problem areas. After the 14-day mobility program in its various forms, I'm hoping for a greater improvement in my mobility and pain management.

C'est parfait. Parler des moments de torsion en expliquant le pourquoi et le comment, proposer des figures claires, décortiquer des tests à effectuer soi-même, donner des conseils affûtés : ce livre est un DÉLICE que l'on savoure petit à petit. On apprend comment se tenir, bouger, tout cela de façon physiologique en respectant ses muscles, articulations, tendons et ligaments. Un GRAND MERCI à Kelly Starrett qui m'a permis de comprendre beaucoup d'erreurs ! Je conseille absolument ce livre pour ceux qui ont mal au dos, ou aux genoux, ou aux chevilles, etc. Traiter ses douleurs, c'est comprendre pourquoi elles surgissent, et Kelly Starrett l'explique de façon parfaite. Il faut faire cet effort pour s'en débarrasser et reprendre son corps en main. Cette nouvelle édition ne ressemble pas à la première : tout à été reclassé, augmenté et précisé avec intelligence. Ah si j'étais à Los Angeles, j'aimerai assister à des stages de l'auteur. Mais son livre permet déjà d'aller très loin et de faire des progrès admirables. A acheter les yeux fermés, à lire en entier et surtout : à appliquer 24h sur 24 !

Durch das Buch habe ich so viel gelernt, was ich schon immer über Biomechanik wissen wollte. Ich habe es bestellt, um die Ursachen von Knieschmerzen besser verstehen zu können. Diese führten bei meiner Freundin durch vermehrtes Abstützen mit den Armen langsam auch noch zu Ellenbogenschmerzen. Durch das Buch weiß sie nun nicht nur, wie man richtig läuft, Treppen hochsteigt und weshalb man Mobilitätseinschränkungen im Training nicht umgehen sollte (was ihr mit den Knieschmerzen sehr viel weiterhilft), sondern auch noch, warum sie Ellenbogenschmerzen bekam und was das alles mit ihrer Haltung zu tun hat. Seitdem sind ihre Ellenbogenschmerzen auch verschwunden. Mir hilft es bei der Prävention von Verletzungen, da ich meine Beweglichkeit durch die zahlreichen Tests im Buch überprüfen und behandeln kann. Ein absolut grandioses Buch mit elementaren Grundlagen, Allgemeinwissen darstellen sollten.

Great book. Needed this specially for shoulders but now see that whole body needs mobilisation. This will be your Bible.

Incredible book that provides and illustrates so many exercises that you will never get bored if you do all of them.

What a great resource. This book will guide you through practical steps, with clear pictures and descriptions, to keep you moving freely and your body happ, in between your visits to the expensive massages! And all delivered with Kelly Starrett's usual energetic and positive vibe. Couldn't recommend it more to active people.