REVIEW: Fit Forever (Dolph Lundgren)

Length: 182 Pages
What To Expect: ‘Sly Moves’ style training guide, too short

I think that most of us would pick the brains of men like Dolph Lundgren and Sylvester Stallone on fitness and training if we had the chance to spend some time with them.  So it’s good that they release books like this.  Stallone’s ‘Sly Moves’ was probably the best, a mixture of training and nutrition tips mixed in with anecdotes and ceaseless self deprecating jokes.  Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book was another good one although it was basically a full blown autobiography (review here) that really is unbelievable to read, like the title says.  Now it’s Dolph Lundgren’s turn where he puts his knowledge from his life in martial arts and needing to stay fit for the screen to paper.

Lundgren lays the book out like a manuscript from an action sequence.  Mission (as in achieving optimal fitness).  Tools (nutrition for example).  Briefing (words of advise and insight from the man himself).  Lundgren’s book starts out as an autobiography, covering childhood years and coming of age, and how fitness figured into his becoming a man.  Then he lays out some workout routines with illustrations, beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Along the way are some basic self defense tips.

To be honest, this book feels unfinished.  It starts off with great anecdotes and continues that way right up until Lundgren enters training for Rocky IV.  Then it hits the brakes, jumps straight to a few words about the first Expendables movie.  In terms of Lundgren speaking about his movie career, that’s it.  There’s little else and over a 20 year blank is in there.  It’s also buttressed heavily with pictures of Lundgren, often spanning two pages, and nearly all of them taken recently.  Some good photos of Universal Soldier or something like that would’ve been welcome, but that movie doesn’t even get a mention.  It sometimes feels like Lundgren read Sly Moves and felt like doing his own version, with less commitment.

This book is recommended for people thinking on getting into weight training.  For anyone with even a little experience, nothing much is of value here, apart from some advanced techniques and some words (emphasis on ‘some’) on regimes used by special forces and the like.  Obviously, it’s also recommended for Lundgren fans.  At 180 pages and at its cheap price, it’s good for what it is.  A nice book to breeze though.  But I expected so much more.  It should’ve been twice as long.