Sean Brooks is well known in extreme sports circles, climbing Mount Everest, camping at the North Pole, hiking the glaciers of Greenland and for any photo opportunity where he has icicles hanging from his face or watching a sunset from atop Mount Kilimanjaro.
So it was just a matter of time before his book hit the stands about how to emulate his lifestyle.
That's a growing a trend nowadays with books out by a Navy Seal, a karate champion and many other folks whose muscles have muscles.
But here's the paradox. Anyone who has the willpower and the single-minded determination to achieve super-hero conditioning, is already there. In other words, who needs these books? Certainly not someone who just hiked the length of the Continental Divide.
Let's be honest. Your average couch potato wants instructions more adaptable to his lifestyle, maybe to prevent his heart from bursting into flames without his giving up the Wendy's Triple in the drive-through lane. The typical people interested in fitness advice either saw a paunch in the mirror, cellulite bubbling up the tight slacks or got word from their doctor that their arteries were turning into water balloons. Those aren't your Iron Man triathletes looking for an edge.
Burch's book is good. He teaches the lesson more common with extreme fitness gurus to use more muscles and mind rather than machines and gadgets. Do what he says at the pace he advises; eat what he eats at the portions he says to eat them; relax in the manner he says is rejuvenating, and you'll be an adventurer ready to leap tall Tibetan peaks in a single bound.
But that doesn't change one extreme sports fact: "We agree. This book is fun to read and is full of original exercises and diet tips that we can use," replied the choir to the preacher.
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(c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.