Discovering Extremely (Revised and Up to date Version): Rejecting Center Age, Turning into One of many World’s Fittest Males, and Discovering Myself

So many reasons to love this book
This is one of the most helpful books I’ve read in a long time for surprising reasons. It reminded me to put pride aside, try hard if it’s really important, set a goal and and don’t give up, remember to rest, and how important it is to use food for fuel. I’ve never run a race, but this book is applicable for whatever “race” you are running in your life. The chapter “There are no finish lines”, is, in essence the best, most succinct summary of every self help book I’ve ever read. The author is humble and open about his struggles and even his arrogance at times. This book has been an unlikely but indispensable resource for me as I struggle through my own “ultra marathon” of grief and depression. I think of this book when I don’t want to get up and run or go to the gym. Our health is everything, and my mental health depends on moving my body. Most of us don’t have the luxury and opportunities that the author had in this book, but the life lessons can be applied to anyone’s journey, no matter the situation. I am grateful to Rich Roll for this book. I dislike using the overused cliche, but it really has changed, maybe even saved my life.

Cool read, but some misgivings:
Finding Ultra certainly is an interesting book. Rich Roll is a phenomenol athlete, no question about it. Gifted and talented genetically, no question. However, his diet is very advanced. Many of the food items discussed are either not readily obtainable or not realistically affordable. To boot, it appears that Rich supplements like crazy. In fact he has a whole side business of supplements and recovery products that fit in with the extreme plant diet. If the diet works, why the need to supplement? Basically, the diet is scant on protein, but the question of the healthiness of the foods he eats and recommends is without doubt. The foods certainly are healthy. Everyone should at least try to incorporate as many of Rich’s food recommendations as often as possible.Some things I did not like about the story – we here have an obviously nice, talented, and charming person, movie star looks, all the right things. But then again, we don’t hear any real remorse where he nearly killed someone due to his callous and viciously intoxicated driving. There’s an actual tone of glee in the book’s voice as he describes a supposedly “lost” conviction for his first DUI, thus letting him avoid a mandatory jail sentence. There are ways to convey deep remose for the wrongs one has done. However, the book doesn’t really display this. Second, as other reviewers mention, we basically see an obsessive compulsive addictive personality, driven to abnormal extremes in just about every facet of life, whether it be diet, exercise, time spent “on the bike” and in pursuit of other activities. He certainly wasn’t a blessing, and was what I read as quite a pain in the butt to the closest people around him while he was drinking. He was extremely fortunate and very lucky to have family and friends that cared for him and supported him through a really intense, expensive, and lengthy rehabilitation process which no question saved his life. Unfortunately for most readers, the same luck, love and opportunity simply would not be available. So he’s a lucky guy.Now some good things about the story. For all of Rich’s faults, he is a fun, flawed, interesting, inspirational, talented, unique person with gifts certainly worth admiring, and lessons certainly worth considering. He makes exercise sound gruesomely fun, and the more of it, the better. He brings a whole new wicked focus into the plant based vegan diet. This enthusiasm is very cool.Just remember, this is a very hard act to follow. Rich’s compulsions are not average at all. His is an experiment of one among many plans which might work or might not for any number of people. I think that’s the bottom line on the book. As Rich says, “Nothing changes if nothing changes.”

Nice journey from addiction to running ultras, but i wish he spoke clear about the necessity of supplements. It should be a small mention of the book.

Buen libro