Never let go by Dan John is a great book about “lifting, living and learning”. So many principles can be taken from fitness and transferred to other parts of your life and that’s what Dan dives into in this book. In this article, I’ll be giving you my top 5 takeaways from Never let go.
1. ” For the bulk of the population this small movement – driving your knees out with your elbows – will clarify squatting forever”.
When a lot of people learn how to squat they struggle to get deep enough, and a lot of people (including myself) have noticed their knees cave in.
Doing this simple drill of:
1. Getting in a deep squat position.
2. Driving your knees out with your elbows.
3. Holding this position for 30 seconds or more on the days you don’t train legs.
Will help your knees stay in line with your toes. And will help you get more comfortable in the squat position. This will make barbell squatting feel much more natural. I know it did for me.
2. ” Make Yourself A Slave To Good Habits”
In a sense, our habits are what help us get from point A to point B. They’re our systems. They can work for us or against us.
For example, the guy who orders a takeaway every night and consumes way more food than he should has a habit that is making him feel overweight and unhealthy.
Michael Phelps kept up the habit of swimming in the pool 3-5 hours per day 7 days per week which led to countless Olympic medals.
We all have the freedom to choose our habits. Working out 3-5 times per week, eating healthily, tracking your calories and going to bed early are habits that have big returns.
If you develop these habits you’ll dramatically improve your health and body composition.
The key is to become a slave to the right habits that have a positive impact on your life.
3. ” Look at your goals. Look at your behavior. Does your behavior match your goals? “
No matter what we say we want, whether that’s to attain a Hollywood physique, to start our own business or any goal really.
Our actions will always give us a true representation of what we really want.
If we say we want to get in shape but don’t become the type of person who works out or pays attention to their nutrition. Then it’s just a wish and we didn’t really want it.
Nietzsche wrote:
“The value of a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays for it—what it costs us.”
No matter what goal you have I think a good question to ask ourselves is ” Are we willing to pay the price of our ambitions”.
4. “There’s a lot of good in simply striving to achieve the best you can be”
No matter what there will always be someone bigger, stronger or more successful than us. But so what. Does that mean that you shouldn’t even start? Of course not.
Everyone starts somewhere.
And you never know, if you start now on your goal you could make amazing progress 2 or 3 years from now.
Seeing yourself get stronger, and making progress in the gym (and outside of the gym) is satisfying by itself.
On top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is self-actualisation, which is defined as:
“The realization or fulfilment of one’s talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.”
Self-actualisation is where it’s at. And that starts with you becoming the best you can be.
5. “ You have got to move the big iron to get big muscles.”
The best way to gain muscle is by getting stronger.
Your muscles need to be put under some stress. This doesn’t mean you need to squat the world in your first workout.
Learn how to perform the exercises with good form and just try to get a little bit stronger than you were last time.
This could mean getting an extra rep with the same weight as the previous workout. Or lifting more weight for the same amount of ( or more ) reps.
The Bottom Line On Why You Should Read Never Let Go By Dan John
- Dan John has lots of wisdom on strength training and life in general. I highly recommend you read this book. You won’t regret it.
Thanks for reading.
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