I have been following Ben Greenfield for seven or eight years, back in the days when I was only focused on my physical performance, specifically trying to become a faster runner. I have read and own his last book titled Beyond Training. You can look up Ben and his history to know more details, but Ben has been one of the pioneers for the Biohacking and Self-quantification movement. He is still a young man, but it has been interesting to follow his journey over the years to be less focused on athletic performance and more so on relationships and spirituality. When I hurt my back a number of years ago, I credit Ben with putting Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatments on my radar. PRP along with a low inflammatory diet is what saved my health. I was fortunate enough to meet Ben Greenfield at the Canadian Biohacker Summit a few years ago and thank him personally. I have even taken his 10-week Kion Masterclass. That’s probably enough back story, let’s get to the review of Boundless.
Let’s start off with that this is not a book you can easily lug around with you. I pre-ordered the book and when it arrived, I decided to wait a few months to dig in, as I wanted to immerse myself in the proper setting to really absorb this beast of a book. I bet many of you remember your high school or university textbooks, particularly the science ones. Well this book is basically a biohacking textbook. It is hard cover, has illustrations and color and comes in at a whopping 640 pages. If you have read any of my previous book reviews, you know I appreciate references and sourcing. Boundless is so comprehensive that the publishers need the book cut down. So, all the references and three bonus chapters are available online to those who have purchased the book. I downloaded and printed those off and it filled a two-inch binder. Imagine, basically another book in itself. Also, I went ahead and counted, and I had 51 pages flagged and countless lines of text highlighted.
There are twenty-one chapters in Boundless. I will briefly discuss some of the main topics in the three themes covered.
Upgrade Your Brain
The first couple chapters discuss how to rewire your brain and fix a leaky brain for better performance, then moves on to reducing high cortisol and how to fuel your brain properly. He then moves on to Nootropics and Smart Drugs, an area I am becoming more interested in myself. Next up is tech, games and other tools for brain health.
The last chapter in this section, and I would argue the most important, is all about sleep. In my opinion, the number one thing you can focus on for your health.
Optimize Your Body
This section begins with how to burn fat without destroying your body, how to build functional muscle and fitness for longevity in an efficient manner. Then he discusses some of the gear and tools to work on your body.
A whole chapter is devoted to recovery, which is something I really appreciate and couldn’t stress more with my clients.
Then the book gets into fixing your gut, optimizing digestion and nutrient absorption, and how to customize your nutrition. I truly appreciate this last point, as I have been stressing this for years, with my clients, when I give presentations or speeches; Nutrition is highly individualized.
There is a chapter titled, Never Get Sick, on building a robust immune system, and this couldn’t be more appropriate in 2020.
The last chapter that I am including in this section is on how to test, track and interpret blood, saliva, urine and your stool. This chapter helped nudge me into taking a course to learn about optimal blood markers so I can provide this additional service to my clients.
Defy Aging
This next section begins with a chapter on maximizing your body symmetry and beauty. While I have made it my goal to be a Centenarian for a number of years now, I never really thought too much about how my skin etc. would look. I have been more focused on the mental and physical aspects. This chapter has pushed me to make some changes in my own life and look into some new practices. It should be noted that this isn’t for those aging and wanting to look and feel younger, these are strategies that anyone can use and I plan to incorporate them with my kids when they are age appropriate.
There is a chapter that delves into libido, sexual satisfaction, hormones and more. Followed by how we all can use ancestral wisdom and modern science together to maximize our health span. This is essentially the outline I use for my Masterclass.
Another chapter is titled Invisible. I would call it the hidden sources of stress. These are all the little paper cuts you get all day long, every day, without even realizing it. If not mitigated, all these little paper cuts will eventually harm you beyond repair. I give a corporate presentation on this exact topic.
The last chapter of this book (I won’t discuss the bonus chapters mentioned earlier) is about putting all these topics and things you learned into a plan for you, a ritual or series of new habits for you to become Boundless.
Boundless, along with just a handful of other books (see previous reviews) are my go-to books, if I need to refresh my memory on a topic or reference something for one of my clients or myself.
While I don’t agree with everything the author follows or believes, I am a Ben Greenfield aficionado. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to take a SERIOUS dive into upgrading and optimizing yourself. Why did I just all-caps SERIOUS in the last sentence? I realize tackling this book is daunting, as is wading through all the information about health, performance and longevity. You need to be committed to tackling it on your own. I hope you do! But if you want to, or need to work with someone to upgrade your brain, optimize your body and defy aging, contact me and perhaps we can work together.
