Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Time to stop sleep-walking through your life; to challenge the status quo; and to truly ask yourself if you're on the right path to success, happiness and fulfilment. Whilst yes, he did talk about this, he's going by his experiences and then telling you to interpret them and he does state this a few times in the book. All in all an incredibly bland listen from a stereotypical personal trainer, providing absolutely no original thoughts or highlights. It was finished within a couple days and I love what he has to say as far as making a life for oneself vs making a living.
As for the target audience, through reading the book I percieved it to be aimed towards young adult men in their early 20ies. The only possible reason why he abruptly kept quoting Einstein about the law of thermodynamics in a self improvement book is the effort to seem smarter even though “he didn’t do school”.I quickly realized that I’m not the target audience for this book, and that influenced my perception of the material. Time to stop sleep-walking through your life; to challenge the status quo; and to truly ask yourself if you’re on the right path to success, happiness and fulfilment.
If your looking for that book to help you plan your next step or looking for the push to chuck the traditional life in a follow your dreams this ones for you! I purchased this title based on Jame’s Instagram content, which was mostly good humoured, punchy advice about wieght loss and approaches to life, these 1-4 min videos are entertaining yet informative, I have now learned through 6.I had a look of some of them after reading it and I really felt that it wasn't properly read or interpreted. I know his ethos, banter and growth stories because of Instagram, I’ve been in the JSA, I’ve listened to his podcasts (pre the most recent lads in Aus podcast series) and I’ve seen the value James can bring to people and I’ve personally drawn a lot of value from him. I’ll start by saying I’ve followed James on social media since he only had a few thousand followers.
He doesn't blow smoke up your arse and tell you what you want to hear and he doesn't feed you bullshit. It gets worse when there is a chapter titled “fucking” where the author brags about hitting his “century” (for those of you who have been spared the painful explanation in the book, a “century man” is someone who has slept with at least 100 different women). Only you can take the reins of your own life and choose to make a change, but with invaluable experience, a hunger for genuine happiness, and a drive to be the kind of coach he needed when his life was broken, James can give you the tools to do it. I also don't agree with the author asking on Facebook to give him good reviews because someone has given him a one star review!I didn't find this book anywhere near as good as his first book, and I think that is probably because it is abundantly clear that he is not at an accomplished level of most of the topics of the book. The truth is James Smith has no real grasp on what he actually believes or at least he is uncomfortable trying to sell you his actual beliefs, this leads to a scattered and incoherent listen. Also its ironic that he slates Joe wicks for suddenly becoming a chef when thats not what he is trained in yet he suddenly feels qualified to release guide book for life when he's a 30 year old middle class wealthy man and always has been (not always 30 obviously but you know what I mean)! Let me start by saying I've followed JS for years, love his fitness content, loved his first book and love his general approach to health and fitness advice. Just that "Don't compare yourself to others" "Know your values, what you want and what you don't want" He shares a lot of his own life-experiences and interests as well, making it come across like part memoir, part self-help too.
This second book by James Smith is fantastic, the first one was amazing about diet, exercise etc but this one is about life and has some incredible ideas, at parts I felt I was a bit too old to take bits of advice but. Not a Diet Book mercilessly takes down every fad diet, workout and health drink you have been sold and instead explains [James’] mission to make understanding weight-loss as two words – calorie deficit. Personal trainer James Smith’s new book, Not a Diet Book, offers frank advice on getting in shape and busts some major diet myths. It’s time to reassess and decide in the end will you look back and say working 60 hours a week was so important?this book is more like a condescending, smug, patronising life guide from a middle class boy who has made money from an early age. It gets more diabolical in the next part where he says his future wife will thank him for “getting it out of his system” … I just have no words for this drivel, it has no place in an alleged “self help” publication. Sometimes I think we just need a little reminder of things aren’t as we always perceive them and this book was good at that. Giving it a very generous 2/5 stars here when really it only deserves a one, subjectively speaking of course, objectively I would say this book is good for those who aren't self-aware enough to understand themselves and their own values. With hard-hitting home truths and a helping of tough love, be prepared to reset your outlook, redefine your goals and unlock your potential.
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