Finding Ultra (Revised and Updated Edition): Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering M

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 6,576 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 10-05-2024


About this item

“Finding Ultra blends Rich Roll’s story of superhuman personal transformation with an amazingly practical guide to plant-based living. It’s also an enlightened manifesto for anyone wanting to transform their life.”—Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Zones books

“An incredible story of mental, emotional, and physical endurance.”—Michael Greger, MD, FACLM, New York Times bestselling author of How Not to Die

On the night before he was to turn forty, Rich Roll experienced a chilling glimpse of his future. Nearly fifty pounds overweight and unable to climb the stairs without stopping, he could see where his current sedentary life was taking him—and he woke up.

Plunging into a new routine that prioritized a plant-based lifestyle and daily training, Rich morphed—in a matter of mere months—from out of shape, mid-life couch potato to endurance machine. Finding Ultra recounts Rich’s remarkable journey to the starting line of the elite Ultraman competition, which pits the world’s fittest humans in a 320-mile ordeal of swimming, biking, and running. And following that test, Rich conquered an even greater one: the EPIC5—five Ironman-distance triathlons, each on a different Hawaiian island, all completed in less than a week.

One of Men’s Fitness Magazine’s “25 Fittest Men in the World,” Rich has become one of the most recognized advocates of plant-based living. In this newly revised and updated edition, he shares the practices, tools, and techniques he uses for optimal performance, longevity, and wellness, including diet and nutrition protocols. Rich reflects on the steps he took to shift his mindset and leverage deep reservoirs of untapped potential to achieve success beyond his wildest imagination, urging each of us to embark on our own journey of self-discovery.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of appendices and recipes from the book

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.


Top reviews from the United States

Jeff Sekerak
5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff, I say. To put it mildly!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2013
Rich Roll's book is one heck of a riveting, good read. And NOT, only for the subject matter it covers. Which of course, is deeply engaging in its own right. As, there are not many who sink to such lows as did the author, and then come back to perform so well, on a such a grand, public stage.

Yet, I've not heard many speak of it from another, 'angle.' It is a concisely-penned, well-organized, often heart-breakingly honest narrative - one that'll keep your eyes, some might say, 'nailed to the book.' It'll have you understanding, even 'feeling,' what it is like to watch a life spiral out of control, toward addiction. Yet it'll also have you cheering, in mind, as things take turn for better. A good aspect, there.

Ah yes: And if you're anything like me, the story'll likely have you laughing out loud, in sections. As in case of author sharing true tale of showing up to law school, among the many, well-read, well-prepared souls - whereas he, after months of alcohol addiction? Well, he claims: 'The only thing I was prepared for was happy hour.' Yep, I believe I DID 'laugh out loud,' at that admission.

Hilarious.

Most memoirs, at least the ones I've read with an athletic bent to them, cannot do that to you. 'That,' being bring about such a wide range of emotion. Tell such a worthwhile story, one that needs to be told - particularly, as so many can use it to help bolster true notion that 'it's never too late.' And do it all, in such a concisely-written, engaging, enjoyable way, so as to make it a read - no matter length! - that demands to be read in a sitting or two. Good stuff, I say...

To put it mildly!

I downloaded the Kindle version - worth each, every penny, and more.
Celine
5.0 out of 5 stars Really cool autobiography!
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2012
OK, so this is NOT a runners's guide, and the last 15% to 20% of the book are dedicated to giving more information and tips about a plant-based diet (yes, vegan). So if that puts you off, don't pick it up - I was already convinced so I didn't mind at all, although I had no idea when I bought it that Rich was vegan.

This is a great, enthusiastically written autobiography about how Rich went from promising swimmer to alcoholic, and after he settled down as a family man, was literally reborn when he started doing sports. How he then went from regular plodder to top athlete is awe-inspiring -unlike others, I didn't think he was boasting, he's not exactly lenient on himself about the times he screwed up - and the pîctures in the middle of the book are a testimonial to the change it brought about. Better than a before/after!

The book does convey a lot of dynamism, which is probably why a lot of people find it inspiring.
Besides, it is well structured, organised around two key moments from which Rich rewinds and tells the whole story: one where he injures himself by falling from his bike during an Ironman and is ready to quit, the other when he realizes he will likely die of a heart attack within a few years if he does not get in shape (yes, the chronology is a bit topsy-turvy but it gives an interesting tempo to the story, and it never gets hard to follow).

Most of all, I loved the tale of the last achievement described in the book, the "epic 5" (hope I remember it correctly) doing 5 Ironmans in a row! It gave me something to dream about while recovering from a running injury.
Michael J. Walker
4.0 out of 5 stars Cool read, but some misgivings:
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2012
Finding Ultra certainly is an interesting book. Rich Roll is a phenomenol athlete, no question about it. Gifted and talented genetically, no question. However, his diet is very advanced. Many of the food items discussed are either not readily obtainable or not realistically affordable. To boot, it appears that Rich supplements like crazy. In fact he has a whole side business of supplements and recovery products that fit in with the extreme plant diet. If the diet works, why the need to supplement? Basically, the diet is scant on protein, but the question of the healthiness of the foods he eats and recommends is without doubt. The foods certainly are healthy. Everyone should at least try to incorporate as many of Rich's food recommendations as often as possible.

Some things I did not like about the story - we here have an obviously nice, talented, and charming person, movie star looks, all the right things. But then again, we don't hear any real remorse where he nearly killed someone due to his callous and viciously intoxicated driving. There's an actual tone of glee in the book's voice as he describes a supposedly "lost" conviction for his first DUI, thus letting him avoid a mandatory jail sentence. There are ways to convey deep remose for the wrongs one has done. However, the book doesn't really display this. Second, as other reviewers mention, we basically see an obsessive compulsive addictive personality, driven to abnormal extremes in just about every facet of life, whether it be diet, exercise, time spent "on the bike" and in pursuit of other activities. He certainly wasn't a blessing, and was what I read as quite a pain in the butt to the closest people around him while he was drinking. He was extremely fortunate and very lucky to have family and friends that cared for him and supported him through a really intense, expensive, and lengthy rehabilitation process which no question saved his life. Unfortunately for most readers, the same luck, love and opportunity simply would not be available. So he's a lucky guy.

Now some good things about the story. For all of Rich's faults, he is a fun, flawed, interesting, inspirational, talented, unique person with gifts certainly worth admiring, and lessons certainly worth considering. He makes exercise sound gruesomely fun, and the more of it, the better. He brings a whole new wicked focus into the plant based vegan diet. This enthusiasm is very cool.

Just remember, this is a very hard act to follow. Rich's compulsions are not average at all. His is an experiment of one among many plans which might work or might not for any number of people. I think that's the bottom line on the book. As Rich says, "Nothing changes if nothing changes."
Melissa P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story teller and inspiring Message!
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
Couldn’t put this book down. I have be recommending to friends and a great real life journey!
Leslie
5.0 out of 5 stars Love!!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
This book is so inspirational and just fantastic. Love reading it every morning before work to get my day going! I don’t want it to end!

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