Secrets of Giants
A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Everyone wants to know if they could do the impossible. Few of us will ever try.
Alyssa Ages was the strongest she’d ever been, able to flip monster truck tires and walk with 300 pounds on her back. She felt invincible, until the day her body betrayed her, leaving her vulnerable and grasping for control. Rebuilding her strength slowly brought her back to life. She began to wonder: What if strength isn't about how much we can lift? What if it's about how we manage life’s struggles?
In Secrets of Giants, Ages, now a mom of two, embarks on an immersive journey to the fringe of the weight-lifting world, the sport of strongman. She hoists kegs and lifts boulders in suburban parking lots, attempts to pull a 50-ton truck using only a rope, and occasionally frightens her neighbors by dragging a sled full of weights down her quiet tree-lined street. She meets a powerlifter-turned-boxer who shares how lifting taught her to become a master of the mundane. A ten-time World’s Strongest Man competitor is brought to tears illustrating how the gym helped him survive an abusive childhood. A pro strongwoman muses on managing setbacks before stepping on stage to deadlift the weight of a baby grand piano. Psychologists, researchers, and coaches offer insights into the fascinating ways that the pursuit of strength can permeate every aspect of our lives, from building resilience and confidence, to finding joy in discomfort, to teaching us to handle adversity.
Part personal narrative, part research mission, part reckless midlife crisis odyssey, Secrets of Giants uncovers why physical strength matters, and how it teaches us that we’re capable of so much more than we know.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Ages debuts with an energetic exploration of "why strength matters" beyond a "great set of biceps or six-pack abs." After taking such standard exercise classes as Crossfit, the author decided to begin training for a strongman competition, and felt "invincible" until she suffered a devastating miscarriage before her first contest, driving her deep into a "hole of self-pity." Back in the gym, Ages sought to "pull, press, and push out all the sadness and anger" and found that lifting was helping to bring her "back to life." Determined to find out why, she spoke to strongmen and strongwomen, researchers, and authors in the field, many of whom pointed to the sport's ability to help adherents tackle fear—lifters begin to see themselves as "someone who gets frightened but doesn't back down," and they learn to "tolerate and manage discomfort." The physical benefits extend beyond bigger muscles, according to Ages, who cites a 2022 meta-analysis suggesting that undertaking any amount of resistance training reduces "the risk of all-cause mortality by 15 percent." Along with salient insight into female anxieties about becoming "bulky"—rooted in cultural notions that "a woman who takes up space is threatening"—Ages weaves a lively, research-rich appraisal of the hidden psychological depth of a deceptively primitive human pursuit. Readers will be motivated to pick up the dumbbells.