I really enjoy getting the chance to meet up with local bloggers, which is partially why I’ve logged so much travel time this summer. So when Word of Mouth Women asked me if I’d like to organize a book club event for area bloggers, I was really excited. The book club was being coordinated to discuss “Fitness Confidential”, written by celebrity trainer Vinnie Tortorich with “Arrested Development” writer Dean Lorey. One part memoir and one part healthy living manual, this book is a humorous, fun read that touts a more common-sense approach to weight loss and exercise over gimmicks and fads. I was eager to see what my colleagues would have to say about this, especially since I met so many great people at FitBloggin’ in June.

Usually, I would host an event like this at my house, but since I’m the only blogger in Seaside, I knew that wouldn’t work for this type of gathering since everyone else is either in or close to Portland. As I mulled over where to hold the event, I quickly decided on Pioneer Courthouse Square. This brick courtyard in downtown Portland has tons of places to sit, free Wi-Fi, and a Starbucks – where better to hold a book club than a coffee shop?

On Friday night, a great group of local bloggers came out to hang out, chat, and share their thoughts after reading “Fitness Confidential”. Pictured from left to right are Jennifer from The Quirky Momma, Jodi from The Mama Gut, Evelyn from Momsicle, myself, Mary Ann from A Cloth Life, and Krista of Mostly Mommyhood. We were also joined by my fiance and blogging tech guru Jai, who conveniently offered to hold the camera so he could get out of being in the picture. 😉

After we all got a cup of coffee and sat down, we began our discussion of “Fitness Confidential”. I was looking forward to hearing everyone’s honest opinions – I figured that if a few people really hated the book, we’d have some lively conversation fodder! But that didn’t end up happening, because our group unanimously enjoyed the book, even those who were expecting to dislike it. A couple of bloggers said that they had been dreading reading it because they thought it would be dull, and were surprised to find that they couldn’t put it down after they started. Lest you think me disingenuous, I’d like to mention that I lead the discussion with several critiques of my own, because I wanted the bloggers to feel comfortable sharing anything they didn’t like about the book.

All of us enjoyed the storytelling in this book and the no-nonsense way in which Tortorich conveys his diet and fitness advice. His philosophy on health is simple and does not involve any elaborate systems or steps: For losing weight, he believes that a no-sugar, no-grain diet is they key, and he also maintains that diet is more important that exercise for getting and keeping weight off. This brought up some really interesting discussion on how this approach could work for us – some of the bloggers had already taken steps by ordering their coffees without sugar, or making bacon for breakfast! What a lot of us appreciated about the book was the fact that he doesn’t tell you to eliminate sugar and grains 100% of the time, since deprivation can really sabotage healthy eating; instead, he advises that you simply avoid grains and sugar most of the time, even if you have cake on your birthday.

This brought up the interesting point of how much work can be involved in eating this way, since so much food contains sugar even when you don’t expect it. Obviously, making all your food from scratch is the ideal way to go, but our group pointed out the challenges that poses when you have several children as well as a full-time job. A working mom who pulls shifts at two jobs before picking her kids up at daycare faces different challenges than a celebrity – so we may have to adapt some of these strategies in order for them to be realistic for our own schedules. I’m sure personal trainers are sick to death of the excuses they hear from their clients, but I think it’s important to remember that some people have very good reasons why their health is on the back burner, so it’s important to look at their life as a whole when addressing potential solutions rather than dismissing everyone as just being lazy. If Tortorich comes out with a book on healthy living for families, I think it’d be a huge hit with our group, and I’m sure he could put together a great one since he’s actually trained children!

The bloggers really enjoyed how Fitness Confidential utilizes funny anecdotes and life experiences to entertain and inspire. The book is full of one-liners which the author refers to as “Vinnie-isms”, with stories ranging from hilarious and surreal moments training his Hollywood clientele to his own triumphs against unimaginable adversity. His style is very opinionated and blunt – our group didn’t seem to really be offended by the language used in the book, although they said they could have gone without some of the more explicit anecdotes about his conquests. In fact, the dismissive jokes about women in the first half of the book seemed to be the only thing that really got our eyes rolling when reading the book.

As the sun set over Pioneer Square, we wrapped up our book club and said our goodbyes. It was a great evening of thought-provoking discussion – I had such a wonderful time connecting with these great women. I’ll be sharing their reviews on the book with you as they post them, but in the meantime, I will leave you with mine and Jai’s take on Fitness Confidential.

I read this book in the car last week during our trip to Orcas Island. Fitness Confidential is a fast, light read – in fact, it took me almost as long to get the Kindle app working as it did for me to read the book! Tortorich and Lorey have created a book that is engaging, compelling, and funny. I loved reading his personal story and was glad that he made this book fun and humorous, because I’m so bored of traditional health books; I was reluctant to put Fitness Confidential down because I was absorbed in the story.

Tortorich’s skewering of the diet/fitness industry is entertaining, and while I don’t agree with him on everything, I think his overall approach makes a lot of sense. When I got to the portion of the book about “No sugar, no grains”, I thought, “Well, I’m out!”. 😉 However, everything he says makes sense and the fact that he encourages his clients to still indulge occasionally makes it much more practical for real-world success. I certainly can’t argue that reducing my intake of sugar and bread helps me, because as a matter of fact, I try to avoid keeping those things in the house specifically because I know I will want to snack endlessly on them.

“This book covers a lot of ground in its 240 pages and, no matter your interests, there’s a little bit of something for everyone. Gym rats, weekend joggers, Ultra-racers, and people who just want to lose a few pounds will find something good to walk away with. Vinnie Tortorich has decades of real-world experience as a personal trainer and has seen fad diets come and go. He has a way of distilling a lot of complicated concepts into something that can be adapted into lifestyle changes that work. I can think of two major concepts that I’ll be taking from this book and integrating into my life. The first is the general approach to food. Notice that I didn’t use the word diet in that sentence. The other is the advice on which exercises are most important for weight lifting, and guidelines on the best way to increase the weights as you progress. I’m glad I got a chance to read this book!”

Fitness Confidential is available on Amazon for $9.99. For more information and to listen to the author’s free podcast, visit VinnieTortorich.com.