Book Review: Built to Move by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett
Introduction
Kelly Starrett wrote Becoming a Supple Leopard in 2015 and since then has been on my radar (that's also a really good book I highly recommend). I heard him on a podcast about a year after this book came out and I knew I needed to buy it. What I really like about this book is it’s very practical, and he honed in on some basic skills that everyone should be able to do, no matter their age, and actually as they get older these skills become even more important. What surprised me was that 3/10 vital signs (chapters) were not related at all to movement (in a traditional sense), and another 2 had nothing to do with mobility, so in total 5/10 were not mobility related. With that being said, I could actually argue these were the more important chapters in the book for overall health and wellbeing.
Daily Movement:
Vital sign 4 Walk This Way and vital sign 9 Create a Movement-Rich Environment where both related to not being sedentary. Even if someone just goes to the gym for an hour everyday, they could be sedentary for the other 23 hours for a total of 96% sedentary during the day. Moving and simply not sitting down helps with everything such as blood glucose control, blood pressure, digestion and ect. In the chapter on walking, the Starrett’s talked about doing 8000-10000 steps daily for optimal health, which is also what the research seems to point to (I saw in my own research 8000-1200). In Vital sign 9, the important takeaway was it’s better to stand than sit down. Both of these are good for just the overall body, muscle health, joint health and ect. But can also be a useful tool for weight loss as 10000 steps daily for some people could be about an extra 400-500 calories burned.
Physical Abilities:
I would group these 5 vital signs together at physical abilities, things that everyone should be able to do or is currently working on achieving. The first one being the hardest, getting up and down from the floor, as easy as it sounds. Doing this while sitting up and down with your legs criss-crossed is really hard. I was able to do this test, but not without struggle. The vital sign extending your hips talked about stretching out your hip flexor (the couch stretch) to counteract all the sitting we do. The Starrett’s has a chapter on neck and shoulder mobility as being slouched over your phone or computer all day could lead to issues in this area. There was a chapter on squatting, which is what made Kelly Starrett famous, being able to sit down in a squat for 10 minutes is a super important ability. Finally my favorite one is on balance, being able to stand on one leg with both eyes closed, this is way harder than it seems!
Health Pillars:
There were chapters in this book on sleep, nutrition, and breathing! The breathing one caught me off guard, however it’s something no one in the health space talks a lot about, but it’s potentially the most important. He gave a lot of great advice on sleep, such as a regular bedtime, a cold bedroom, blackout everything, and moderating caffeine intake. His advice on protein is spot on 0.7-1.0g/pound of bodyweight, and I really like how he broke down fruit/veggie intake to 800g daily (about 2 pounds). My favorite part of the breathing chapter was the BOLT test and him talking about the importance of no being a mouth breather.
Conclussion:
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their quality of life. From sleep to breathing to nutrition, to movement, the Starrett’s were able to cover everything in some pretty good details. I especially liked how they had tests for all of these vital signs so you could figure out where you stand (no pun intended).
Amazon link for Built to Move by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett
Built to Move by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett