Mark Lauren - You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises

You Are Your Own Gym proposes a program of exercise recommendations for the reader to follow. However, you should consult a qualified medical professional (and, if you are pregnant, your ob-gyn) before starting this or any other fitness program. As with any diet or exercise program, if at any time you experience any discomfort, stop immediately and consult your physician.

As of press time, the URLs displayed in this book link or refer to existing websites on the Internet. Random House, Inc., is not responsible for, and should not be deemed to endorse or recommend, any website other than its own or any content available on the Internet (including without limitation any website, blog page, or information page) that is not created by Random House. The author, similarly, cannot be responsible for third-party material.

I am grateful for Monica Emory, MS, RD, for helping to edit the nutrition chapter.

2011 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition

Copyright 2010 by Mark Lauren and Joshua Clark

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published by Light of New Orleans Publishing, LLC in 2010.

Back cover photograph by Zen Shui/Frederic Cirou, courtesy of Getty Images Outdoor photographs of Mark Lauren: Laura Wong Female exercise demonstration model: Shea Garrison Shea Garrisons athletic wear provided by Varsity Sportswww.varsityrunning.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lauren, Mark.
You are your own gym: the bible of bodyweight exercises / Mark Lauren and
Joshua Clark.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52859-9
1. Bodybuilding. 2. Weight Training. I. Clark, Joshua. II. Title.
GV546.6.W64L38 2010
613.713dc22

www.ballantinebooks.com

v3.1_r1

In Memory of

Major William Brian Downs
Captain Jeremy J. Fresques FS
Captain Derek M. Argel AL
and
Staff Sergeant Casey J. Crate CE

by John T. Carney Jr., Colonel USAF

Colonel Carney has received numerous medals and awards for being at the forefront of every mission involving our nations Special Operations Forces since the mid-1970s.

I CAN UNEQUIVOCALLY STATE You Are Your Own Gym is a must read for anyone truly interested in their well-being. These principles, exercises, and programs will guide you to your highest fitness potential.

The credibility of all fitness authors comes from the men and women they have trained, typically movie stars and other famous personas. But the fitness of these celebrities is often only achieved through countless hours spent one-on-one with a high-priced Hollywood trainer, while cooks are preparing their meals, housekeepers cleaning their homes, and assistants looking after their every need. Marks method, on the other hand, is for real men and women with real lives. You Are Your Own Gym separates itself from all other books by giving its readers the ability to train alone anywhere, any time, without the crutch of personal trainers and gyms.

The Special Operations community has developed the most effective and time efficient methods of training out of necessity. More than thirty years ago I was a fitness instructor at some of the same schools as Mark. I have seen the old and the new, and the methods of developing elite athletes have come a very long way, due in great part to Marks leadership. Through the continuous application of the most up-to-date principles in sports physiology, he minimized attrition and injuries while producing faster, stronger, and leaner soldiers.

In my book No Room for Error, I detail the involvement of U.S. Special Tactics Forces in operations ranging from the Iran hostage rescue to more recent ones in Afghanistan. The death-defying tasks that these troops accomplished and the hardships they endured were due to the incredible physical ability that matched their iron wills. Without it, their chances of success and survival would have been greatly compromised. It is only through the use of bodyweight exercises and sound training principles that these elite forces are able to maintain their astounding fitness at all times, regardless of time and equipment constraints.

This book comes to us in an age when, despite their best intentions, most people are too crunched for time and money to devote enough of either to attaining their fitness goals. In this age of information we are bombarded with incorrect advice, useless gadgets and pills, and pure hype. The methods outlined by Mark are proven and time tested. I know because Ive seen his results. Ive commanded the best of the best, and Marks training has helped make them that way. Now he has honed his program into one for every man and woman.

In the 1970s Arnold Schwarzenegger showed the world the gyms potential, and it is said that he launched a thousand of them. Now its time to harness the bodys potential. This is the new fitness revolution.

Lean, Strong, and Confident

I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND , unlike many other fitness authors, I do not train movie stars, television celebrities, models, or other personalities whose livelihoods hinge on being fit. I train those whose lives do. For a decade Ive used bodyweight exercises to create the leanest, strongest, most confident people of our civilization.

I honed the programs and myriad exercises in this book while preparing hundreds of trainees for the extreme demands of the most elite levels of the United States Special Operations community. I have spent years developing new training principles, and observing the results. A stellar record led the top command to buy into my system. The militarys most advanced forcesfrom Navy SEALs to Army Green Berets to Air Force Special Tactics Operatorsuse these exercises as the backbone to their strength training, and now I bring them to you. Now, for the first time, men and women outside SpecOps have the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of fitness, with an amazingly small sacrifice of your time. Clear, concise, and complete, I bring these exercises into your living room, bedroom, hotel room, garage, yard, office, wherever you like. They are for people of all athletic ability levels, tailored to suit the needs and lifestyles of todays busy women and men.

No book like this has existed before. Yet for thousands of yearsfrom Ancient Greeces Olympic athletes to tomorrows Special Operations forceshumanitys greatest physical specimens have not relied on fitness centers in their towns or dumbbells in their homes.

What if I told you that you already have the most advanced fitness machine ever created? Your own body. And whats so great about this fitness machine is that its alwaysthere. It is the one and only thing you are never without. And now youre holding in your hand all the additional exercise equipment youll ever need again. Its no longer necessary to spend hours and hours at a gym. In fact, you wont have to go to a gym at all. The time spent training, wherever you may be, will be minimal. Two hours per week. Thats it. With these workouts you will not waste a single moment of your valued time using ineffective training methods. And no longer will you be able to use the #1 excuse for not training: I dont have the time.