Make Exercise a Pleasurable Habit The Athlete's Way presents a practical, motivational fitness program by an ultra-endurance athlete that incorporates brain science, positive psychology and behaviorism to transform lives from the inside out. It is the antidote to the imbalances created by living a sedentary, inactive existence. Christopher Bergland, the son of a neurosurgeon, has created a program that uses neurobiology and behavioral models to help improve life through exercise. The Athlete's Way program, focusing on cardio, strength, stretching, nutrition and sleep, uses neurobiology and behavioral models to enable you to think, train and behave like an athlete, making you more optimistic, resilient, and intense. You will want to get a glow on every day to increase your daily bliss quotient. Exercise will no longer be something to dread but something to enjoy and experience to the fullest. The Athlete's Way teaches you how to make exercise a source of joy and something you will want to engage in daily. Sweat will become a symbol of your striving for a standard of excellence and a solid work ethic that is synonymous with peak performance. The stamina, tenacity, and drive fortified through athletics--and this program--can be applied to any dream, obstacle, or goal you aspire to achieve. Christopher Bergland is a Manhattan-based world-class endurance athlete. He holds a Guinness World Record for treadmill running (153.76 miles in 24 hours) and has won the longest nonstop triathlon in the world three times. He completed The Triple Ironman, a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run (done consecutively) in a record breaking time of 38 hours and 46 minutes. He directs the triathlon program at Chelsea Piers and has been sponsored by Kiehl's since 1996. He has been featured in dozens of TV, magazine, and newspaper articles including CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, Fox, Men's Journal, ESPN magazine, and the L.A. Times. He currently manages a specialty sporting goods shop in New York City called "JackRabbit Sports." Inspiring Lessons from a World-class Endurance Athlete"I love to sweat. All told, I have run distance equal to four trips around the world on a treadmill and on the streets of Manhattan where I live. I have biked to the moon and back, dueling it out with a red, blinking pacer light on a LifeCycle control panel or logging countless laps in Central Park. I've even crossed the Atlantic a few times - in the pool - and I've swum in almost every ocean around the world competing in Ironman triathlons. When I am running, biking, or swimming, happiness pours out of me. I am not alone. Everyone who exercises regularly experiences this bliss. And it is available to you, too, anytime you break a sweat. The Athlete's Way is an individual process but ultimately a universal experience. We feel good when we sweat. I have learned how to find Nirvana on the treadmill, and I am going to teach you my secrets." --Christopher Bergland " The Athlete's Way is amazingly informative and complete with a program to get and keep you off the couch. Bravo, for another exercising zealot who has written a book that should be read on your elliptical or stationary bike. He pushed me to go farther on a sleepy Sunday."- John J. Ratey, M.D., author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science in Exercise and the Brain, and co-author of Driven to Distraction Christopher Bergland is a Manhattan-based world-class endurance athlete. He holds a Guiness World Record for treadmill running (153.76 miles in 24 hours) and has won the longest nonstop triathalon in the world three times. He completed The Triple Ironman, a 7.2 mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run (done consecutively) in a record breaking time of 38 hours and 46 minutes. He directs the triathalon program at Chelsea Piers and has been sponsered by Kiehl's since 1996. He has been featured in dozens of TV, magazine, and newspaper articles including CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, Fox, Men's Journal , ESPN magazine, and the L.A. Times . He currently runs a Speciality Sporting goods shop in New York City called "JackRabbit Sports." Chapter One My Story I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew so well. Henry David Thoreau I have spent the past two decades exploring my own motivation and what motivates other people, and I am excited to share everything I have learned here. This book offers hundreds of reasons that will inspire you to exercise. Sport turned my life around and continues to inform my life--I know the power exercise has to improve daily life and to change your life. That is why I am a zealot about this program. By pushing against my limits every day for more than twenty years, I have been able to isolate the components that go into maximizing the potential of brain, mind, body, and spirit. I have probably logged more miles on a treadmill than just about any other person on the planet. I run about thirty to fifty miles