Article first published as Book Review: ‘Becoming a Stronger Person’ by Josh Wade on Blogcritics.
November 15, 2013
Becoming a Stronger Person:
How to Build Your Mind and Strengthen Your Body Through Nutrition and Exercise
Josh Wade
Team Wade Fitness (2013)
ISBN: 9780615832463
Competitive Bodybuilder Inspires Self-Improvement
Josh Wade’s new book Becoming a Stronger Person is destined to be a hit with male and female readers alike. Besides telling his personal story of how he became an accomplished competitive and professional bodybuilder, Wade provides practical and inspirational advice on how to live life to your fullest potential, increasing your physical, mental, and emotional strength. He provides numerous examples of exercise routines and nutritious meals to help both men and women build muscle, lose weight, or simply stay in shape. Most of all, he inspires dedication to achieve the goal to be healthier and happier.
Becoming a Stronger Person is divided into four sections—Change, Passion, Nutrition, and Exercise. The first two sections tell the story of Wade’s life, from troublemaker and delinquent teenager to devoted husband and professional bodybuilder. Wade explains why he had a bad attitude as a teenager, how he was given a second chance to turn his life around, and how he took advantage of it. By focusing on his goals and dreams as well as becoming the best person possible, he has found a wonderful wife, become an impressive competitive bodybuilder, and inspired many to improve their own physiques. While his life is not always perfect—while writing his book, Wade and his wife lost their unborn son—he has learned to be strong and move forward, never giving up on achieving his goals.
The third section of Becoming a Stronger Person takes the reader through an explanation of nutrition, how to build muscle and to lose weight, and the proper nutrients, serving sizes, and calories people need in their diets. Wade offers practical advice here, explaining why fad diets do not work and how people can lose weight without starving or hurting their bodies. “I always tell people who are interested in losing weight and improving their physical appearance, ‘That’s great, but your number one goal is to improve your health.’” He wisely notes, “I always want to achieve the best look possible, but I will never sacrifice health to get there.” Wade uses practical analogies throughout to illustrate his common sense approach to health and nutrition, as in the following passage:
Smaller frequent meals can also have a positive effect on your metabolism by keeping it elevated to burn more body fat while resting. For example, when you have a fire in the fireplace that starts burning more slowly, you add wood, but if you add too much wood at once, it will smolder it and put it out. If you only add a little wood at a time, you keep an even burning hot fire, which resembles what your body's metabolism does with smaller frequent feedings as opposed to large ones.
For weight and muscle gain, Wade provides lists of specific foods and portion sizes for a person’s diet. He even provides the best times to eat in relation to workouts.
The book’s fourth section “Exercise” offers various exercises for training all parts of the body from chest, to biceps, to legs. Separate exercises are included for women who want to be lean but not increase muscle mass like men. Wade includes photographs of himself in the different positions so the exercises are visually easy to follow. The photographs also show off Wade’s impressive physique—a clear sign that the reader is getting advice from an expert. In fact, very few athletes, much less professional bodybuilders have written such detailed exercise instructions for readers or shared their secrets—Wade makes it clear that achieving a better body is less about secrets than hard work, dedication, and a belief in oneself.
Perhaps most importantly, Wade offers practical and common sense advice to his exercise regime. For example:
The bench press is thought of as an overall chest builder, a power movement, and a great mass builder. All of those things are true as long as you leave your ego out of it by not focusing on the weight you are pushing and concentrate more on the contraction of the exercise.
Wade enforces the importance of not lifting too much weight, lifting weight with proper form rather than sloppy movements, and learning how to max out your workout.
Wade is a positive role model who has been through difficult times but turned his life around, not just 360 but 540 degrees. After years of developing his physique, Wade decided to reach out to help others achieve their goals, change their physiques, and build their self-confidence through nutrition and exercise. He is already a personal trainer, and now he is carrying his practical advice and techniques to a wider audience.
The mission of Becoming a Stronger Person is to show people how to change their lives, their lifestyle, their quality of life, as well as their overall outlook of themselves, their physiques, and their futures. If Josh Wade lived near me, I’d hire him in a minute to be my personal trainer. In the few weeks since I’ve read his book, I have been encouraged to exercise more and eat better; he has definitely inspired me to be a healthier, stronger, and better person. This book is a perfect gift especially for the teenage boy or young man interested in bodybuilding and fitness. Wade is sure to influence the next generation of better, stronger young men and women.
For more information about Josh Wade and Becoming a Stronger Person, visit his website at www.TeamWadeFitness.com.
- Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., and author of the award-winning Narrow Lives
