Never Let Go by Dan John

The cover of the book shows Dan marching through snow with a heavy sack on his shoulders and a loaded sled being pulled behind him, the picture matches the title of the book: Never Let Go. This book isn’t about getting 6 pack abs (but if you follow Dan’s advice in the book you can achieve them) it is about Dan sharing the lessons from areas he is clearly passionate about – living, lifting and learning. I could barely put this book down and it actually had me laughing out loud (I didn’t use the internet acronym out of respect for Dan), and it has taken me almost two months to really process what I wanted to write about after reading this amazing book. He covers it all; picking up heavy things, carrying heavy things, exercise programs, food, sex, learning, throwing, competing, and beer. All of these great topics all loaded into one book.




It wasn’t until the end of the book that I found the chapter that truly blew me away. It is a simple idea, but doesn’t mean it is easy to do. The key to success is matching your goals to your behaviours. Reread that. Now do it again. Simple right? Easy? Take a look around and see how many people have big goals but can’t let go of behaviours necessary for accomplishing their goals. Dan’s solution is you either change your behaviours to meet your goals or you change your goals to meet your behaviours. I couldn’t get these words out of my head, I still can’t. I tell all my clients, I tell my friends, I tell anyone who will listen. Simple idea but not easy.

While winning the National Field Lacrosse Championships with my team the Whalley Ballers I suffered an injury. I had some training goals I wanted to accomplish but due to my injury there was no way I could get these done so I had to change my goal. My new goal was to completely heal my injury. That meant no more training and focusing on visits to an RMT and following rehab orders. A simple plan but not easy to follow because all I wanted to do was train. My past behaviours were train 3-4x week and play sports whenever possible, put those on the shelf I had a goal of being injury free. If I would have stuck to my old behaviours I would never heal my injury, thus not accomplish my goals. My goals currently match my behaviours and I am on the road to success and feel that when I come back I will be better than ever!

This is just one of many great lessons from Dan and I would highly recommend reading this book if you are interested in taking lessons from someone who has been in the fitness industry for many years and is an expert story teller. When you get the book you will NEVER LET GO until you reach the final page.

Josh Neumann, BHK