The Endurance Handbook
How to Achieve Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy, and Get the Most Out of Your Body
Phil Maffetone is a brilliant, iconoclastic philosopher-coach. He’s one of the best endurance coaches ever and has been advocating a fat-burning approach to ultra-endurance for decades. The sub-title to this book captures the essence of all his work perfectly: “How to Achieve Your Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy and Get the Most Out of Your Body.” This "Endurance Handbook" is basically an abridged version of "The Big Book of Endurance." As I was shining a flash light into all the nooks and crannies of Maffetone’s brain that I could find (hah), I kinda thought of these two books as a sort of parallel to Epictetus’s "Discourses" (the “Big Book”!) and "Enchiridion" (the “Handbook”!). Big Ideas we explore include Rule #1 (first, do no harm!), Rule #2 (build your aerobic base!), the importance of fat burning (and how to build it), the #1 pro tip (ELIMINATE SUGAR!!!), body economy 101 (uncapping your athletic potential), and winning the ultimate endurance race: life (see you at 100!).
Big Ideas
- Rule #1: Primum non nocerePrimum non nocere.
- Rule #2: Build your aerobic base —> Aerobic SpeedBuild your aerobic base.
- How to Optimize Fat BurningHow to Optimize it.
- The #1 Most helpful recommendationStop eating sugar.
- Body Economy 101Untapping our potential.
- The ultimate endurance race: See you at 100!The ultimate endurance race.
“For many years, athletes, health professionals, coaches and trainers, and others have talked, written, debated and discussed the Maffetone Method. As often happens, some of these discussions lose accuracy or become distorted, so I want to introduce myself again, so to speak.
Throughout my career I have received questions asking why, after closely reading one of my books or articles, there was no workout schedule to follow. Or, people ask, where is the structured diet plan, you know the kind with calorie charts that is a staple of most weight-loss books?
I can understand their frustration. We live in a quick-fix society. Everyone is looking for that single, magical diet or miracle workout plan that will change their lives overnight. But this is fiction, and one that all the health and fitness magazines love promising their readers.
But the only way to make long-lasting changes with one’s health and fitness is to think in terms of the individual. Meaning you.
After close to forty years of working with individuals of all ages, levels of athleticism, and persons with the widest possible spectrum of illnesses and personal goals, I’ve yet to find the best diet for all to follow, or the ideal training program. That’s because neither program exists, despite new books coming out each year that offer the long sought-after answer.
And that is why I created a unique approach, which became known as the Maffetone Method.”
~ Phil Maffetone from The Endurance Handbook
Welcome to the sixth Note on Phil Maffetone’s books. As we’ve discussed, he’s a brilliant, iconoclastic philosopher-coach. He’s one of the best endurance coaches ever and has been advocating a fat-burning approach to ultra-endurance for decades.
We started with The Maffetone Method. Then, as I stepped up my athletic goals, I decided to go on a Maffetone binge. I read five more books in a week. Enter: Notes on The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing, Fix Your Feet, The Overfat Pandemic and 1:59.
I see the whole collection as, ultimately, a series of books on how to reach your athletic potential. The sub-title to this book puts it perfectly actually: “How to Achieve Your Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy and Get the Most Out of Your Body.”
This Endurance Handbook is basically an abridged version of The Big Book of Endurance. As I was shining a flash light into all the nooks and crannies of Maffetone’s brain that I could find (hah), I kinda thought of these two books as a sort of parallel to Epictetus’s Discourses (the “Big Book”!) and Enchiridion (the “Handbook”!).
However you want to look at it, this book is awesome. It’s a great place to start if you want a thorough but more abridged introduction to his thinking. Get a copy of the book here.
btw: Before we jump/run in, I’d like to share a little Joseph Campbell wisdom that has guided my literary tastes over the years and served as an impetus to read so much of what Maffetone has written. In The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers interviews Joseph Campbell. I love this:
Moyers: “How do we know these things [how to experience bliss]?”
Campbell: “I’ll tell you a way, a very nice way. Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time. This realization of life can be a constant realization in your living. When you find an author who really grabs you, read everything he has done. Don’t say, ‘Oh, I want to know what So-and-so did’—and don’t bother at all with the best-seller list. Just read what this one author has to give you. And then you can go read what he had read. And the world opens up in a way that is consistent with a certain point of view. But when you go from one author to another, you may be able to tell us the date when each wrote such and such a poem—but he hasn’t said anything to you.”
<- Yep. Exactly my experience.
Now… With that, let’s have fun exploring another route through Maffetone’s brilliant mind!
Download MP3
Download PDFYes, everyone is an athlete. The more we progress, the longer we endure, and the further and faster we persist throughout the human race. Endurance, intuition and instincts are all entwined, and the sooner we allow them to flourish, the more athletic we become. It’s not too late to continue the process, starting right now.
My traditional training equation is one that athletes should post in a prominent place where it can be seen every day: Training = workout + recovery.
Get the BookRule #1: Primum non nocere
“This popular Latin phrase is translated as, First do no harm. Virtually all those in healthcare know the edict, first learning it as students. It is an imperative ethical principle taught worldwide that, unfortunately, may not always be followed in our modern day healthcare environment. It is one I have embraced throughout my career, and also an important component of my advice to athletes everywhere.
For athletes, this ideal can be summed up as follows: Whatever is done to promote fitness—training, competition, diet, equipment, etc.—must not impair one’s health. Unfortunately, studies continue to show fit but unhealthy athletes in all sport, and in men and women in every age group, including professionals. Children are not spared. The problem has become an epidemic.”
Primum non nocere. First do no harm.
That’s the first Idea discussed in the introduction to the book. It’s Rule #1 of Maffetone’s approach. He’s not impressed by the whole “no pain, no gain” approach where health is sacrificed for fitness. In fact, he’s *adamant* that we need to start with health and then build fitness—making the case that the healthy AND fit athlete will, over the long run, always outperform the merely fit athlete.
This was actually our first idea in our first Note on The Maffetone Method. In that one we defined heath and fitness. Check out that Note for more. For now, know this:
Health AND Fitness: “But your fitness does not necessarily reflect your health. And being healthy won’t necessarily make you a fit athlete. Health and fitness are two different things. What’s important is to balance the two, to become as healthy and as fit as possible considering your potential, schedule, and desires.”
In short: What’s the point of being super fit if you’re always feeling tired and prone to getting sick and injured?! The fun game is to see just how fit AND healthy we can get, eh?!
So… Back to primum non nocere. Let’s do a quick inventory. Are you doing anything that you *know* isn’t helping the healthy + fit cause? Remember: First, do no harm.
The foundation of optimal endurance sports development includes the necessity to be healthy, thus avoiding the common patterns of injury, fatigue, poor performance, and plateau resulting from brain and body imbalance.
Rule #2: Build your aerobic base —> Aerobic Speed
“As all aspects of the aerobic system develop, your endurance will improve. This means you will be able to move faster at the same sub-max heart rate—running, cycling, swimming, and performing any endurance activity faster and more efficiently at the same level of intensity. This amazing phenomenon will carry over to competition—you’ll be able to go faster during anaerobic efforts too. (Obtaining your sub-max training heart rate, which I refer to as the MAF heart rate, is discussed later in this section.) …
The most common reasons for lack of aerobic improvement include intake of refined carbohydrates, choosing an improper heart rate, excess physical, chemical, or mental stress, and combinations of these and other factors discussed here, and in my other books and articles. By removing these roadblocks, aerobic function will be unleashed as indicated by training faster at the same sub-max heart rate.”
If “First do no harm” is Rule #1, then “Build your aerobic base” is Rule #2.
As we’ve discussed in all these Notes, Maffetone’s whole approach is centered around building an extraordinary, fat-burning aerobic base such that we most efficiently generate energy that allows us to a) go faster b) forever. :)
He calls that “aerobic speed.” <- It’s the essence of endurance.
If you haven’t already checked out the 180 Formula and MAF Test on his site, get on that. As we’ve discussed, to create that sub-max heart rate aerobic speed, you first need to be humble enough to be willing to slow down. Most people aren’t willing to slow down enough to ever go fast at a sub-max heart rate (aka: A relatively easy, super-sustainable aerobic pace). They’re too impatient and too bought into the cultural myth of “no pain, no gain.”
But… This is THE way to simultaneously create optimal health AND great fitness.
Case study: Mark Allen was a promising young triathlete when he started working with Maffetone. He became the greatest ever. Get this: When Maff threw a heart-rate monitor on our young hero, he slowed him down and tested how fast he could go in his easy, sub-max aerobic zone. Mark’s first MAF Test at a 155? A slow 8:20 pace. <- Let’s be clear: Very few self-respecting world-class athletes would ever run that slow.
But Mark bought into Maff’s approach. (I have goosebumps as I type this.)
They worked for years on all the ideas we’re talking about in this series. And guess what? Mark Allen went from running an 8:20 pace at his max aerobic rate of 155 to running at a 5:19 (!!!) pace WHILE STILL IN HIS AEROBIC ZONE at the same rate of 155.
Think about that for a moment. He could run a 5:19 mile at an “easy” aerobic pace. <- That’s a) CRAZY and b) a case study on AEROBIC SPEED.
It’s also why Mark Allen DOMINATED his sport and became the greatest triathlete ever.
Know this: Building our aerobic system is the most efficient way to literally (!) create new mitochondria—our microscopic energy powerhouses that are the key to vitality and longevity. And, of course, to our peak athletic performance.
P.S. You might have noticed that the first thing that gets in the way of aerobic improvement is the “intake of refined carbohydrates.” That may seem a little weird. How can eating refined carbs affect our endurance? Well, let’s talk about that in our next Idea!
You want long-term energy to be free of fatigue, maximum support for your joints and bones, injury-free muscles, good circulation, and increased fat burning to slim down. You want both optimal health and great fitness.
As endurance athletes, we require continuous, untiring energy, even while sleeping. Increased fat burning makes us healthier, we think better, and are more fit. Otherwise, we are biologically impaired.
How to Optimize Fat Burning
“There are two common reasons for poor fat burning. The first is junk food. There are two basic cuisines on the planet today—healthy food and junk food. Healthy food is real, and includes such items as vegetables and fruits, raw nuts and seeds, real meat and cheese, and whole eggs. Junk food is processed, and its main ingredient is refined carbohydrate. This includes sugar in all its forms, and flour, even if it’s called whole grain, which quickly turns to sugar after we eat it. …
Refined carbohydrates are everywhere: in cereals, bagels, breads, muffins, energy bars, sports drinks, snacks, packaged foods, pasta, and many others. When going through this list with patients, they would usually stop me at some point and say, ‘That’s all I eat!’ I would say, ‘That is why you’re here.’”
So… Again, endurance is all about building a super-strong aerobic system. We build it by focusing on two main things: how we train and how we eat.
We want to train in our MAF-approved aerobic zone (enter: 180 Formula) AND we want to eliminate all refined carbs (aka junk food). Why should we care about the carb side of things?
Well, as we discussed in our Notes on The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing, one of the primary differences between our aerobic muscle fibers and our anaerobic muscle fibers is that aerobic muscles primarily burn FAT for fuel (in the presence of oxygen) while anaerobic muscles burn SUGAR for fuel (in the absence of oxygen).
(btw: Side note: Longer chat, but do you know what kind of cells also burn sugar for fuel in the absence of oxygen? Cancer cells. That’s one of their trademarks.)
As we slow down and train in our aerobic zones, disciplining ourselves NOT to go into our anaerobic zone (if you haven’t tested this yet, trust me—it takes discipline to stay slow… but it’s amazing how soon you’ll be able to go faster!), we get better and better at burning FAT for fuel.
BUT… If we then gorge on refined carbs, we mess up our nascent fat-burning engine.
Of course, what most of us do (unless we’re deliberately approaching it this way) is (over)train in our anaerobic zones. We’ve gotta know (!) that training too hard trains our body to burn SUGAR for fuel during our workouts and, even more importantly, it trains our body to burn sugar for fuel for the rest of the day—leading to cravings for even more refined carbs.
So…“The remedy: don’t eat any junk food starting right now!” <- Hah. That makes it simple, eh? Indeed it does! And… That actually leads us to Phil’s #1 tip…
There are two primary factors that influence our ability to increase fat burning: eating healthy, unrefined foods; and working out easier rather than harder.
The #1 Most helpful recommendation
“Of all the patients I’ve treated for serious illness, all the fitness problems encountered in a wide variety of athletes, couch potatoes and everyone in between, the single recommendation that helped more people the most—probably more than all other therapies combined—has been the elimination of sugar. In fact, this seemingly simple, single recommendation can dramatically improve your health, reduce body fat, and increase performance literally overnight. Eliminate sugar today and you can be significantly better tomorrow.”
I sit up a little straighter when I read a line like this: “the single recommendation that helped more people the most—probably more than all other therapies combined—has been…”
Now, in my little Maffetone binge, I read around 1,500 pages of his wisdom.
So, when I arrive at THE SINGLE RECOMMENDATION that helped more people the most—PROBABLY MORE THAN ALL OTHER THERAPIES COMBINED (!!!), I’m paying attention and I know I’m going to share whatever it is with you in this Note.
So… Please sit up nice and straight as we repeat this important line:
“The single recommendation that helped more people the most—probably more than all other therapies combined—has been the elimination of sugar.”
We’ll continue with the repetition because a) that’s how we learn and b) the next line is pretty money as well: “In fact, this seemingly simple, single recommendation can dramatically improve your health, reduce body fat, and increase performance literally overnight. Eliminate sugar today and you can be significantly better tomorrow.”
To recap: Want to be significantly better tomorrow? Eliminate sugar. TODAY.
Then, if you feel so inspired, make that commitment one of your ironclad, 100%, non-negotiable, my life is too precious and I want to see what the BEST version of me looks like commitments. But only if you’re serious about Optimizing and Chasing Excellence. Otherwise, carry on with your “Meh, good enough” standards. :)
If sugar, in any of its many forms, is a part of your diet—whether it is the majority or just smaller amounts—you will only be healthier and become more fit without it.
So what is this one rule that fits all? It’s simple: avoid junk food. No one should eat it. I’m referring to our daily eating habits of meals, snacks, and desserts. There are always healthy alternatives—once junk food is gone, your diet will fill up with real food.
Body Economy 101
“What distinguishes the best endurance athletes from all others is body economy. It is not a theory, nor psychology, but our natural birth physiology. It is not genetic, luck, or some special skill gifted at birth. All endurance athletes have the ability to run, bike, ski, row, or swim with higher levels of efficiency, giving us grace, and more speed.
Improving body economy is the single most important factor that can dramatically improve your sport. But economical improvement is not a single act, like wearing special shoes, or an emotional mantra that helps us focus in a race. Instead, it is a composite of all our physical, chemical, and mental factors that funnel through the brain and into the body, allowing effective and highly efficient movements, helping to unlock the natural power of the body’s abilities. …
The potential for great economy is what we all have in common with the greatest endurance athletes. While most may never get to that level of athleticism because too many roadblocks are in the way, each step we take toward it means more efficiency and a better race.
So the goal is to improve body economy by removing the roadblocks that prevent our brains from making the body do what it already knows how to do. First, we must recognize these barriers and then reduce their negative impact on the body, or eliminate them altogether.”
That’s from a chapter called “Economy 101.” Reminds me of two things.
First, the fact that we ALL have the *potential* for great economy makes me think of Anders Ericsson and how he tells us we ALL have “The Gift” of being able to deliberately train ourselves to reach our unique Peak.
Then, when I think about the fact that we simply need to remove the things that are IN THE WAY of expressing the best version of ourselves I think of the parable about The Golden Buddha Alan Cohen shares at the beginning of Finding Joe. Short story: YOU ALREADY ARE PERFECT. You just need to get rid of the stuff that’s getting in the way.
Which begs the question: What’s getting in YOUR way?
P.S. Maff also talks about improving your gait in this section. Two awesome tips:
“The fastest way to feel your ideal gait is to take off your shoes and run barefoot—at least for 50 to 100 meters. By eliminating interference between your feet and ground, you may quickly have the best form. Among other things, this will improve your foot strike—from heel to forefoot—produce better pelvic movement and arm swing, and allow your head to better control eye and body coordination (a very complex but important part of running efficiency). By doing this you should feel a different gait right away.”
“Think about being taller when you run, which technically you are. As the spine becomes straighter (now that you’re not slumping forward) you will also want to make sure your head will follow: look slightly below the horizon—not gazing straight ahead, not looking up, not with your head dropped down hoping to move your body with the weight of your head forward.”
The human body is made to be athletic, evolving for millions of years into a great movement machine. ... We all possess the ability to move well, with accuracy and without wasted energy. We just have to remove the roadblocks.
The ultimate endurance race: See you at 100!
“Virtually all mammals on earth have a lifespan six times their skeleton maturity. If we apply this animal model to humans, who reach skeletal maturity at about age twenty, one should expect to live, on average, to age 120. In fact, scientists have isolated the genetic blueprint that allows us to live into our hundreds. Following our understanding of gene expression, it may simply be that most individuals don’t allow that particular gene to keep them alive because diet, exercise, stress, and other factors impair the genetic process.
In our society, the average human animal barely reaches four times his or her skeletal maturity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only about twenty three out of each 100,000 people reach birthday number one hundred. But with modern technology, natural hygiene, and the awareness of chemicals that speed the aging process, there will soon be hundreds of thousands of people in the United States over the age of one hundred. The Bureau estimates that by 2050 there will be between 265,000 and possibly four million centenarians. Will you be one of them?”
That’s from the second-to-last chapter: “Age, Athletics and Growing Younger.”
One of the reasons I’m focusing so much energy on these types of books is because we are ALL part of the ultimate endurance race: Living a long time!! (And, I LOVE the idea of (literally!) growing physiologically YOUNGER as we get chronologically older.)
And… Fascinating stuff re: virtually all mammals having a lifespan six times their skeleton maturity, eh? For more on the longevity side of things, check out our Notes onHealthy at 100 by John Robbins and Dare to Be 100 by Walter Bortz.
Bortz, a Professor at Stanford’s medical school puts it this way: “There is now a sufficient fund of data and experience to allow baby boomers—and, of course, younger generations—to plan their 100th birthday party with calm assurance, prepare the guest list, and muster enough respiratory reserve to blow out all those candles.”
I’m planning my 100th birthday party: May 22, 2074. It’s going to be a blast. You’re invited! So… When’s YOURS? And… Can I come? Seriously. Please send me an invite!! Love and let’s do this!!
The ageless Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Satchel Paige said it best: ‘How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?’ Too many people would say they feel or look older than they are. If that is the case, you can change it.
About the author
