Book Review: 5 Factor Fitness by Harley Pasternak
Let me start off this review by stating categorically what I do and don’t believe about physical fitness, in the content of sex and seduction:
I do believe:
- Physical fitness aids seduction and relationship building
- Physical fitness contributes to greater mental health, which is essential for successful and fulfilling seduction and longer-term relationships
- Physical fitness, along with diet, have a direct impact on overall health and longevity, which obviously would allow one to enjoy more fully the fruits of their labor
I don’t believe:
- Peak physical condition is necessary for successful seduction (at its most basic levels)
- Improving your physical condition is a “magic bullet” that will dramatically improve your results with women overnight
Disclaimer Before We Begin
There are all kinds of diet fads, health “systems” and workout routines floating around in conventional wisdom.
In that sense, the multi-billion dollar diet-and-health industry has a lot in common with the seduction “industry”; that is, there is a numbing proliferation of systems and methods, many of which seem to work at odds with one another, and yet millions of people are still fat and out of shape (or unable to get the women they want).
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have no financial ties to the following book, nor have I ever received training from the author of said book; if you do purchase the book, however, I ask that you do it through the links provided in this article, since they are part of my Amazon referral account and will kick back a small percentage of the purchase price, which I will in turn reinvest in improving this site.
With all that said, let’s proceed to the review.
5 Factor Fitness…The Claims
I originally picked up this book
“The Diet and Fitness Secrets of Hollywood’s A-List:
- 5 Weeks to a celebrity body by working out less and eating more
- 5 meals a day
- 5 minutes to prep and cook
- 5 five-minute phases in each workout
- 5 workouts a week”
Of course, having something of a background in physical health and science, I had to check it out.
A bit about my background: I am not what you’d call an unhealthy guy. I grew up with the poor eating habits of most middle-American males, and apart from a brief brush with track and cross country in high school, a misguided year of amateur boxing, and ongoing flirtations with Brazillian jiu-jitsu, am also your average sedentary American male.
I have, however, spent a serious amount of time doing nutritional research (I was seriously considering writing a book on leptin) that acquainted me with populations of bodybuilders, powerlifters, and other world-class athletes (and boy, do those folks know their nutritional science).
So although I am in many ways an average sedentary American (maybe a bit more active than most), I have had a greater-than-average exposure to nutritional science, and so am pretty critical of most cockamamie diet-and-exercise plans (yes, Atkins, I’m talking at you).
So can 5FF back up its claims? Let’s dive in and find out.
Fitness in Five Easy Steps…Really?
There is nothing crazy in 5 Factor Fitness
And that is probably why it’s so successful.
Kudos to Harley Pasternak (author) for actually putting together a number-based physical fitness-and-diet system that is not only
A) easy to remember and follow (rule of 5) ,
but
B) Also backed up by sound science.
This book, far from advocating going to extreme or pushing things to the max in order to realize huge gains, instead outlines a well-rounded diet and exercise plan that will give good results to the vast majority of people.
The 5 Factor Fitness book is split into three main parts: there is an exercise component for cardiovascular health, a weight-lifting component for building lean tissue (which actually has other health benefits, besides looking beefy for the ladies), and the diet recommendations for fat loss.
Eat More…Well, Not Quite
The core of the 5 factor method of eating comprises, of course, a factor of 5: eating 5 distinct meals a day, each of which is shouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes to prepare.
5 minutes…must be fast food or frozen pre-packaged stuff, right? Wrong. The book recommends eating fresh, alive foods whenever possible, and also has a pretty comprehensive section with suggestions and meal plans. It also addresses macronutrient composition (the proportion of fat/protein/carbohydrates) in each meal and suggests it be balanced appropriately for your goals (which I have been waiting years for a diet book to suggest…thanks Atkins’!)
The dust-jacket promise is you’ll be eating more. The reality is, you’ll be eating more often (smaller portions than you’re accustomed to) but feeling more full after each meal (because of food quality and macronutrient composition).
This book is really worth the price for the diet plan alone: it has the most accurate information on food quality and macro nutrient composition that I’ve come across in recent years, even though it was published in 2004.
It includes recipes and meal planning suggestions. It has a “cheat day” (which is essential for maintenance). It really has everything you need; you could do a lot worse than to simply follow the meal plan outlined.
In fact, for people starting out who are looking to just lose fat weight and don’t want to exercise yet, I would say just buy this book and just start 5-factor eating. You might be amazed how much better you can look and feel just by changing your eating habits.
Work Out Less…Yes, Definitely
The exercise portion of the 5 Factor plan is split up into cardio and weights, as most other exercise plans. The research on what helps keep people fit is not very controversial, so this information is pretty standard (at least, if you’re used to reading in this field), but very balanced, sound, and accessible.
The 5 Factor plan suggests 5 workouts a week, lasting 25 minutes each. This is a super-fast workout, for anyone who is convinced they have to spend 3 hours a day to get a “gym body”. When I started this plan it felt like I barely had entered the gym when I was leaving again (I used to be one of those guys). And that’s good, because with 5 workouts a week, it’s definitely important to be able to sustain it.
How you split up your “off” days is up to you. The book definitely has recommendations, but in my opinion, it is a good idea to vary it up a bit….some weeks work out solid M-F, others take T and TH off, others take two other days off. Not only will this keep your body guessing (and from adapting, which will taper off your results), it will help with the variety of the routine, keeping it fresh and sustainable.
What I like about the 5 Factor plan is that it sandwiches the strengthening portion of your workout with cardio to warm up and cool down (5-10 minutes each). This warm-up / cool-down period is something many professional athletes do anyway, since getting the blood flowing is actually just as effective (if not more) in terms of joint and muscle flexibility, and preventing injuries.
And, of course you can adjust for more or less cardio, or different types of cardio (some forms of cardio being better than others for fat-burning) as your individual fitness goals require.
Body Makeover the 5 Factor Way
This book really has everything you need to make your body look different (and by different, I mean better). At the risk of sounding like a testimonial, I will say that I personally have never seen my body shape change more quickly than when I adhered to the 5 factor recommendations consistently for a period of a few weeks (maybe 5?).
(And I say this as someone who once spent several hundred dollars on an “ultimate body shaping” courses).
The book jacket promises, “5 weeks to a celebrity body”, but I think anyone who picks this plan up for a month and then puts it down again is really selling themselves short. This is a very sustainable plan that should become a long-term habit.
For the aspiring seducer, or anyone at all who wants to look and feel better, the advice in this book is pretty much gold.
Now what would really kick their sales into gear is selling it for only $5…
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October 11th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Does this works for ectomorph?
All workouts shall be done in a gymnasium?
October 13th, 2007 at 2:01 am
#1) There is no such thing as an ectomorph
#2) all you need is a pair of dumb bells and a bench. It’s super easy and cheap. No gym membership required
October 14th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I agree with thirtyplus, gyms are not required. I personally hate gyms and the attitudes that often come with them. The majority of my workouts are done outside and involve stupid amounts of body weight exercise and cardio.
October 14th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
>#1) There is no such thing as an ectomorph
Who says this?. Are you serious?. This can only be a joke.
October 14th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Swing ,how do you replace the heavy weights you can use at the gym?. Thanks.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:08 am
That’s the thing, there really is no substitute for heavy weights if that is what you are interested in. I personally put a lot more of my fitness efforts into work capacity and intensity rather than raw lifting power.
But on days where I feel like actually lifting weight, I’ll use sandbags in various ways. I find that using a 75 or 100 pound sand bag in various ways is a better workout that lifting weights, since it’s an awkward item to handle and forces me to use all the little stabilizer muscles I don’t use otherwise.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
>I personally put a lot more of my fitness efforts into work capacity and intensity rather than raw lifting power.
I agree with you Swing, training at the gym is often boring and would be better to use the body to do some real work. The problem is that it is easier to have access to a gym than to e.g. a boat to row.
You must be a very motivated person. Those who are not tend to look for a gym where we think we will find some external motivation, often with no luck.
Thirtyplus, I am still interested in the ectomorph. Call it ectomorph or hardgainer but I believe many people have a body that is hard to improve in muscle volume. Does the book debunk this?.
Thanks.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Albert: in my opinion, the terms ectomorph or hardgainer are total bunk. The book doesn’t explicitely debunk them, but my experience working and research with olympic athletes does.
The reality of the equation is calories in - calories out. If your body finds itself in a depleted state (post workout) and excess calories come in, your body is going to use those excess calories to repair and upgrade its tissues (muscles).
Also, just for reference: I at one point considered myself a “hardgainer” / ectomorph, and once I became very methodical about watching my calories and targeting my workouts (as with this book), I started putting on muscle, no sweat. Don’t let those fake categories fool you — if you find you’re not gaining muscle, it’s because you’re not eating enough.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Who says you need a boat? You can do wonders with a pull up bar, a sledge hammer, and an old tractor tire.
I wouldn’t say I’m particularly motivated so much as it just comes with the job (I’m military)
October 18th, 2007 at 2:17 am
In my humble opinion, physique only counts two times in seduction:
1) the first five seconds of meeting.
2) Getting naked.
I’ve heard many buffed up guys say that last minute resistance doesn’t happen to them once they take thier shirt off. It might be worth getting into for health, but it isnt neccessary for seduction.
Best,
Andrew
July 21st, 2008 at 4:11 am
Not to mention that some people genuinely ARE attracted to people who are not in perfect physical condition, and some prefer it. However, I think that in general, most people would prefer to be with someone who was in good shape.