Survival Of The Fittest: The Anatomy of Peak Physical Performance

by Mike Stroud

Mike Stroud, it would seem to most, is a very remarkable man. A qualified doctor, his fascination and involvement in the study of human performance and endurance fitness have obsessed him rather more than the average fitness fanatic. From crossing Antarctica unaided with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, to participating in countless marathons and triathlons traversing deserts and glaciers, Stroud has become his own human guinea pig, testing the limits of human strength and survival in some of the most extreme and inhospitable environments of our planet.

Yet far from simply the journal of one man's extraordinary fitness, Stroud sets out in Survival of the Fittest to tell us that we are all capable of the physical achievements usually left to realm of world class athletes. We are all able to attain such performance levels, Stroud assures us, because we are evolutionary designed to do just this.

At the heart of the book, Stroud claims that human beings have not altered genetically in the last 10,000 years, so physiologically we are identical to our ancestors. The problem is that we now have a markedly different lifestyle to the hunter-gathering times of our Cro-Magnon forefathers--a lifestyle that simply does not match our evolutionary heritage. This, Stroud believes, is the reason why we are seeing an emergence of modern diseases such as heart disease, obesity and cancer.

Illustrating each chapter with adrenline-inducing accounts of his own expeditions and Adventures--falling through Antarctica ice into minus 40 degree water is just one that springs to mind--Stroud examines the physiological capacities of our bodies to perform and adapt to extreme situations, all the time reminding us that these capabilities are a fundamental part of our evolutionary inheritance.

This is a captivating book, not only a serious comment on the dangers of our modern "civilised" lifestyle, but also a source of remarkable facts on our human design, sure to liven up conversations and office chit-chat (this book certainly gets you talking). Although unlikely to spur you on to organise the next Polar expedition, it will give you the confidence--and quite possibly the inspiration--to become more active and to take up the challenges our genes intend us to do. --Abi Frisby

About the author…
Mike Stroud qualified as a doctor in 1979. He was the doctor on the "In the Footsteps of Scott" expedition in 1985-6, and in 1992 he teamed up with Sir Ranulph Fiennes to cross Antarctica on foot, breaking two world records for the longest unsupported walk in history. His book, Shadows on the Wasteland, is the account of that expedition. In 1993 he was awarded the OBE for Outstanding Achievements and Charity. Mike Stroud continues to practice medicine and to study metabolism and nutrition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, Science, Health, Medicine, Fitness, Sports

192 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 1998

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

Reviews

[Nur Ahmed]

Mike Stroud gave a lecture about some of his expeditions when I was in my 2nd year of uni. It was so interesting and it was the most beneficial lecture throughout my course. He shifted my perspectives on exercise & soon after I started running for the first time outside of compulsory PE lessons. He mentioned his book & a few years later I’ve finally gotten round to reading it - I regret not reading it earlier.

What I really enjoyed about this book is that he doesn’t just preach mind over matter, he underpins the book with facts about how & why the human body is as capable & adaptable as it is. He then supports the facts with anecdotes of his extraordinary trips across the world while maintaining that he is not an abnormally athletic person. It did strike me that he is someone who is addicted to pushing his body to the limit but I suppose that provided for great content.

I especially loved the descriptions about Helen Klein completing the Eco Challenge at the age of 72. How incredible to hear that she could complete a 300 mile multi-sport race. He dispelled some myths about ageing and broke down quite clearly how our cases of mortality have changed over the years & what we can do about it. It really hit home that our bodies were designed to move.

Overall it was a really inspiring read, not many people can say they’ve have done what he has. I won’t be running across the Antarctic anytime soon but I like to think this book has given me a new found appreciation for how amazing mine & everyone’s bodies can be if we give them the opportunity to be.

[Alice Southwood]

Although I found it fascinating to read about the capabilities of the human body and the extreme physical challenges Stroud has completed, I couldn't help but notice how out of date some of the explanations were. That said, it was written many years ago, probably before the information with which I am armed was even known by anyone; so rather than being a direct criticism of the book, it's merely an explanation for why I did not enjoy it as much as I might have. I believe this is a great book for those who like to understand physiological underpinning of the limits of the human body as well as those who like to read about adventure.

[Ai-lin Kee]

This is not just a book for those into endurance sports or extreme adventures to the poles. It is a book that will help you view the physiological make up of you body differently, appreciate the mental strength that we are all capable of and can tap into,should we will it so. It also debunks, myths and beliefs we hold about what our body, its ills and how to get healthy, stay healthy. There really is no short cut and it really isn't that difficult to lead a healthier and active life, we were borned with all the right tools, we just need to stop abusing it, and do what we have evolved to do. Simple written. Witty on times, a great read.

[Erik Hjalmarsson]

Stroud bevisar att ålder inte är någon anledning att sluta röra på sig, snarare tvärtom. Kroppen klarar betydligt mer än man anar. Vid två tillfällen ställde han upp i Eco-Challenge, första gången tillsammans med 72-åriga Helen Klein, och andra gången med sin egen far, Vic Stroud, då 71 år gammal.

Genom boken varvar han spännande skildringar med vetenskapliga förklaringar till kroppens förmåga att uthärda extrema förhållanden, allt från minus 50 grader Celsius till 37 grader i 100 procent luftfuktighet. Han visar också att inte ens Saharaöknens brutala hetta och torka kunde hindra honom från att klara ett ultramaraton över dess sanddyner.

I bokens sista kapitel bestiger Stroud och Fiennes sin största utmaning: sju maraton på sju dagar på sju kontinenter. Detta bara månader efter att Fiennes genomgått en hjärtoperation till följd av en blodpropp.

Boken väcker en stark lust att själv ge sig ut på äventyr!

[Emma Charlotte]

This book was very interesting, and definitely reminded me that I need to read more books about big adventures, as those chapters were by far my favourite part of the book.
Stroud's discussion of the evolutionary basis of our body's relationship with food and exercise was presented in a clear way that made it easy to follow his logic.
I'd be interested to look up some of his more recent work (should it exist!), as the copy of this book that I read is borrowed from my dad, and is now 23 years old, so I'm sure Stroud has been involved in many other adventures and research projects since this book was written!

[AdamT]

Fascinating read about how the human body is so much more capable of amazing endurance no matter what your age. Also an inspiring example of how we should all challenge ourselves throughout our life time to make sure that we make the most of the time we have walking this earth.

Will definitely read another of mikes books and continue to exercise into my later years.

[Cordelia]

Completely loved. A two day read mostly done at work sitting on my little kiosk at the farm. I constantly felt like i wanted to rip out of there and run 7 marathons in 7 days just like he did (maybe not on 7 continents- too much flying. I know his words are gonna be ringing in my ears whenever I feel like giving up. And actually peng literature and learnt lots of medical advice + anatomy. Love.

[Darren Conlon]

This is an absolutely brilliant book, I have read it 3 times now and recommended it to all of my friends. This book completely changed my views on endurance running, and ultimately got me into ultra marathons. Mike Stroud paints a fascinating picture how the human body has the ability to endure and how evolution made us incredible endurance machines.

[Mark Bell]

Survival of the Fittest gets 5 stars for me.
The facts in here have fuelled conversation on several social bikes rides and runs. It really is great to see some text that promotes fitness in later life - I don't consider myself to be old, but I'm looking forward to remaining active when I get there.

Read it. Be inspired. Stay fit and active.

[Mike Elm]

A real wakeup call for all us lazy sods. We're but an evolutionary minute from our ancestors who were always active and we can and should be too! Also: Never eat margarine, smoke or have too much salt they're gonna give you heart disease.

[Simon Dechant]

Important book to remind us of the strength within us all and if we don’t push ourselves physically as we’re built to do, our bodies will simply break down.

It’s amazing how many “modern” fitness influencers rehash what Mike Stroud explained 25 + years ago

[Robert Günther]

quick but amazing read - and incredibly captivating - this book makes you long for running, exploring, going outside.

[Kenny Holden]

Loved this book! It really reminds you that you can dig deep and go further

[Saravana Ganesh]

Super inspiring. Must read. I am going do ultra marathons thanks to this book.

[Thomas George]

A healthy mix of adventure, science and storytelling. Really good book!

[Tom Murphy]

Very interesting and inspiring read and much to ponder with big physical challenges ahead! Also interesting that it sounds like a lot of this advice has changed in the last 10/15 years since.

[Richard Wright]

This is an odd sort of book, with on the face of it quite a narrow audience. To properly enjoy it you have to be a) the sort of person who enjoys tales of human endurance, and b) interested in the detail of evolutionary biology and sports physiology. If you DO tick both of those boxes, then this is definitely for you. The author tells tales of his own endurance adventures, including ultra marathons in the Sahara and treks to the Poles, and uses the extreme impacts they had on the bodies of he and his companions to illustrate the theories of evolutionary adaptation that make up the other third of the book. Stroud tells excellent stories, and his own adventures are colourful and vivid. While a little one-sided in places, the science of what kind of animal the human being is and why is also very clearly mapped. While there are small details here and there that are debatable, Stroud is balanced enough to point most of these out as he goes, and at least references the counterpoints even if he doesn't delve into them in the same detail as the perspectives he himself is most interested in. Overall, the book stands well as a fascinating and demonstrated narrative of what the human body is for, and why it so often goes wrong in the modern age.

[Toni]

I’ve read this book 4 or 5 times over a couple of decades, and although parts of it are out of date now, it is still a fascinating and inspiring read. Steroid’s argument that our bodies were designed to move and to withstand physical hardship into old age, and that obesity and cardiovascular disease a caused by lifestyles that are at odds with the way we were designed, probably won’t be new to anyone coming to this book for the first time, but he writes simply and passionately about how this translates into the way we should be living our lives. I have taken different lessons from this book every time I have read it, and as someone who probably can’t convincingly deny that I’m now entering middle age, Stroud’s arguments for continuing to challenge our bodies throughout our lives are coming at a good time.

[Alex Johnson]

Okay, you've got to hand it to this guy, he's done some incredible things, and has a lot of knowledge about the human body and its ability to withstand extremes. If he'd stuck to what he knows and avoided straying into the realms of conjecture about what does and doesn't represent the correct human diet, then I'd have given him 4 stars for this. And most people wouldn't have noticed some of the howlers he commits when talking about diet. But since I know a little more about that than the average person, I found it offputting. That said, he wrote this book quite a few years ago, probably before the information with which I am armed was even known by anyone; so rather than being a direct criticism of the book, it's merely an explanation for why I did not enjoy it as much as I might have.

[Alex Tilley]

Despite being a few years old now, the science and physiology is still so relevant, and he shows considerable foresight in places regarding discoveries that have only recently come to light. Also, what a complete nutter! His muscles physically breaking down due to trying to run 7 marathons in 7 days. Why didn't they hire a Kenyan?
In terms of ease of reading, the expedition sections are smoother going than the in depth physiology, but these are nicely placed within the thread of his own experiences (other than the wooly mammoth hunting - I dont think that was from pers. obs.), so you can see the experiments in progress in a sense. Nice book, worth a read.

[Alana]

About 60% story of amazing (?crazy) endurance challenges that the author has been involved in and 40% a good summary of exercise physiology from an evolutionary perspective. Well written and researched, the author sees himself as the ultimate lab rat and shares his learning with us. He challenges the reader to understand the enormous endurance capacity of the human body, a feature that is shared by everyday people not just by specially gifted individuals.

As someone who has studied much of this stuff at University, I didn't find the physiology sections as interesting as newcomers to the topic would. I can however vouch for them being good summaries that stack up.

[Caroline]

You don't only get to read about other people's sportive exploits. With this book, you also get to learn about your own extraordinary mental and physical capacities, how to read the sign your body sends you and when it is right to give in and when they are wrongly misleading as your body not always has it right. I would recommend this book to everyone who is health concerned and enjoy exercising as a way to improve his day-to-day life. A very much positive thinking and action book that provides concrete evidence that age is indeed mostly in one's head.

[Maria]

This book has been sitting in my Kindle, waiting to be read for the longest time. After starting it I'm not sure why I waited so long. I loved the book, it's informative and very inspirational. As a species we really are capable of amazing things, so much more than most of us believe we could do. Mike Stroud explains why and how, with each chapter alternating between the science and his personal experience, making it a very interesting read. It's engaging and motivating. Highly recommended.

[David]

The science is a tad out of date, but the majority still holds firm. Excellent chapters on Stroud's unsupported attempt to walk the North Pole with Ranulph Fiennes, his following of Scott's Antarctic expedition etc interspersed between thematic chapters on man's evolution and how our post industrialised lifestyle is out of kilter with our evolution from active pack-like animals, and how this inactivity leads to diabetes, heart disease and cancer

[Mark Bell]

Survival of the Fittest gets 5 stars for me.
The facts in here have fuelled conversation on several social bikes rides and runs. It really is great to see some text that promotes fitness in later life - I don't consider myself to be old, but I'm looking forward to remaining active when I get there.

Read it. Be inspired. Stay fit and active.

[Sleepy]

This is the book that got me off my overweight, middle-aged arse. Fascinating and inspiring read from cover to cover - anyone who thinks they can't run needs to read about Helen Klein. I still think Mike himself's a bit of nutter mind you.

[Matt Broomhead]

I enjoyed this book, however I feel that some of the information and advice is now out of date and irrelevant.
The sections detailing the authors endurance challenges we're by far the most interesting.

[Nat Wallbank]

Inspirational book. Makes me want to do something!

[Carolyn Ivy]

A truly excellent book that functions as an adventure novel, inspiration for how to age well, and a book on the science of extreme endurance.

[Sophie]

Excellent and inspiring book. I re-read it at least once a year. It makes me want to get out there.