At its core a guide toward greater pain-free physical mobility, Built to Move: The 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett is a thoughtfully organized health manual offering strategies designed to make meaningful improvements to one's stamina, balance, breathing, diet, and sleep. Between them, the authors have amassed an impressive amount of experience in the health and wellness arena. Kelly is a physical therapist and a consultant to professional athletes; Juliet is an attorney and entrepreneur dedicated to combating kids' sedentary lifestyles. They created The Ready State, which offers virtual mobility coaching and performance therapy, and are coauthors of Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World.
Summarizing 10 "Vital Signs" essential to good health, and providing self-assessment tools designed to help readers evaluate their overall well-being, the authors make it easy to incorporate guided physical practices such as hip mobilizations, squat variations, intentional walking, balance exercises, and "dynamic sitting" into an everyday routine. The chapter "Unleash Your Superpower: Sleep" addresses the ways in which diet and movement (or lack thereof) during waking hours impacts sleep quality and offers techniques for better rest inspired by what the authors call their obsession with sleep. Built to Move closes with a "21-Day Built to Move Challenge," intended to help everyday athletes enjoy better movement, agility, and strength with the help of stretch and mobility exercises, nose-breathing sessions, dietary guidance, and, critically, an instructive motivational attitude that is a fundamental ingredient for improved health. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer