Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Endure: How to Work Hard, Outlast, and Keep Hammering

Rate this book
THE EXPLOSIVE NEW YORK TIMES AND NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Push beyond your physical limits to improve yourself by following bowhunter and ultramarathoner Cameron Hanes's lifelong philosophies and disciplines.

“It’s all mental.”

I say this all the time, and it’s true.
If you believe you can do it, you can.
We all have virtually limitless potential.
Our bodies are capable of so much more than what we ask of them.
Take off the mental handcuffs, get out there, and start on your way today.
What is your passion? You can become better at it.
Committing yourself to fitness only fuels your beliefs.
You gotta believe to achieve.

Cameron Hanes discovered his true passion for bowhunting when he was twenty. Inspired by the physical challenges of stalking elk in the Oregon wilderness—traversing mountainous terrain, braving erratic weather, and evading his quarry’s even more dangerous predators—he began an ever-evolving journey of self-improvement. To become the best bowhunter of wild elk, to the caliber he believed he could be, Cam realized he would need more than archery skills. He would need the stamina and strength that could only come from an athletic training regimen of long-distance running and heavy-weight lifting. And every day for more than thirty years, Cam has put in the work, building miles and muscles, pushing through pain with a single-minded focus on the only goal worth having—besting himself time and again.

Part memoir, part motivational manifesto, Endure reveals how Cam—a self-professed average guy—put himself through the paces to live the life of an expert bowhunter, respected writer, and family man. With discipline, sacrifice, resilience, a hard work ethic, and a belief in his own capabilities, Cam not only accomplished his dreams but continues to surpass them. There is no secret to his success except relentless determination and loyal dedication to his own self-worth.

If Cam can do it, we all can. Everyone has what it takes to endure adversity so we can rise above average, be the best we can be, and enjoy living life to the fullest.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 2022

1568 people are currently reading
11857 people want to read

About the author

Cameron R. Hanes

5 books204 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
4,032 (39%)
4 stars
3,430 (33%)
3 stars
2,037 (19%)
2 stars
585 (5%)
1 star
192 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 719 reviews
Profile Image for Stephen.
17 reviews2 followers
June 27, 2022
I was not the right audience for this book. I also found the title of the book to be slightly deceiving. The title implies to me that the subject of the book informs the reader on how to get through the grind and continue working harder when struggling. That was not at all the content of the book.
• 40% of the book was about bow hunting,
• Another 40% was a sales pitch on how tough the author is to have endured all he did while training for bow hunting, and
• The remaining 20% of the content in the book were a bunch of cliché statements about how you just need to push through and work harder to outlast.
I'm incredibly stubborn and like to finish reading books even if I don't seem to like them at the beginning. I want to give them a chance to redeem themselves. However, in this instance the disappointment that I felt when reading the first three to five chapters did not go away as I worked through the book. I was hoping that the author would get a little more detailed into the psychological aspects of how he was able to push through his difficulties during times of adversity, but that did not happen. I would argue that unless you know the author personally or are very much into the world of bow hunting, this book likely wouldn't interest you.

Profile Image for Simon Bullock.
169 reviews12 followers
May 24, 2022
Cam is undoubtedly an interesting dude with an undeniable grit and hustle. Love listening to him on the JRE. A bit of low rating just because I didn't get much out of this as a reader. This book seemed more for Cam, than for an audience. There's not much here to "get into" or thereby a story; feels more like a compendium of journal entries. I'm sure some people will get some inspiration from it, but I'd recommend more Goggins or Jocko if you want a "hustle-hard" book with some story and insight.
Profile Image for Samantha.
41 reviews4 followers
April 30, 2022
*I had the opportunity to read this book thanks to a Good reads giveaway.

I definitely had a conflicting time reading this book. While I often found what the author said to be repetitive and/or contradictory of it’s self, I also found myself really engaged in the story. When Hanes wrote about his experiences with particular ultra marathon runs, the losses he experienced or meaningful hints he went on I found it really interesting. Hanes has had an interesting and unique life that could fill many books. I did struggle constantly reading the message “I’m not special, I just work hard”. Besides the fact I feel that I am far from this book’s target audience, I just found myself checking out every time and then eventually just skipping the sections of the “inspirational questions”. So much potential to be a great book that could reach a wide variety of people.
Profile Image for Amer Atiah.
13 reviews
August 3, 2022
Learnt more about endurance by trying to endure this book than by reading its contents, great efforts tho Cam, keep hammering
Profile Image for Christopher.
74 reviews6 followers
June 18, 2022
The title has "How to..." in it. I was hoping for a tiny bit of 'how to' knowledge. Perhaps some training tips or diet, but all it offered repeatedly was, 'be as tough as me, most can't, but at least try or you're a little b-tch. Did I mention I bow hunt, and bow hunt, and bow hunt....I'm tough, most aren't, I am. Don't give up, if you give up you're a little b-itch. I like to bow hunt." Woof that was actually painful.
Profile Image for Gregg.
620 reviews9 followers
July 30, 2022
I’m not sure what the point of this is. It is part motivational speech, part bow hunting memoir, part eulogy. “I’ve achieved some success in unrelated fields so read my rambling book with no plot and direction.” This was a waste of time. I don’t need an individual that has risen to the very top of a field that consists of ~7 people yelling at me to get out of bed and droning on about largely unrelated fields of vegans, ultramarathons, bow hunting, and personal finance. I wish I hadn’t purchased this and I recommend you don’t either…there are better books in this genre.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
160 reviews41 followers
November 24, 2024
Much respect to the author, as I’d not heard of him before and he’s an accomplished athlete/bowhunter.

I love read-by-author memoirs of people who endured through challenging circumstances, but couldn’t get 100% into this one. Still a decent listen though, even if I did speed the playback up a few notches while listening.

Random selection checked out from my local library.
Profile Image for Deirdre Rosenberg.
Author 4 books8 followers
July 12, 2022
I thought this book was fine. Nothing new. A little weird, a little… off putting. The general themes are nice, but I think this book got repetitive and a bit off topic in places. Off topic in a way that made no sense. The intro by JR was really bizarre.

All in all this could have been a blog post by Cam. Or a podcast episode. It didn’t need to be a book and WOW is the title misleading.

I got a refund on audible for it- something I’ve never requested. But I was not looking for a book of humble brags and bow hunting. I was thinking this was supposed to be inspiring and about working hard.
Profile Image for Nathan Dillon.
1 review
September 15, 2022
Cameron Hanes is undoubtably an interesting person.

But as a reader, one can’t help but empathize with a dying elk. With each paragraph I felt as though I were struck by another non-mortal and repetitive blow, hoping for the sweet embrace of death but all the while knowing that I would be forced to live through yet another sentence.
Profile Image for Blake Deines.
41 reviews1 follower
May 20, 2022
Much like the cyclical nature of Native American oral literature seen from the Iroquois, Navajo, and Algonquian peoples, Cameron Hanes also exhibits this trait in his story telling. This is how the Native American peoples and Cam like to tell their history and tales to teach life long lessons. Cam repeatedly hits home on topics such as: friendship, fatherhood, and giving a little more each day in pursuit of passion and dreams. Obsessing over earning this gift of life we are given each and every day through hard work, grit, and determination. This cyclical type of story telling is far from a bad thing! In fact it keeps hammering the points he is trying to get across to the reader. Truly a zero to hero story that can be devoured in mere days. I highly recommend and encourage readers of all ages and walks of life to give this book a read.

The Foreword from Joe Rogan and the Afterword by David Goggins are an amazing garnishing on top of an incredible book.
Profile Image for Matias Myllyrinne.
142 reviews4 followers
June 27, 2022
This could have been a great book. However, it is unfortunately a glorified blog post. The writers core message is train hard, follow your passion and be obsessed about what you want to be good at. That kind of gets told in different (and the same) manner over and over again.

He clearly has passion and is unique, yet there are only rare moments when he actually takes you along for the ride and shares something.

It is interesting to hear someone who trains for ultras, does well in their own field and is unrelenting… but feels like there should have been more here. Feels like a wasted opportunity.

121 reviews
May 22, 2022
An inspiring book but one that could be condensed into a twitter thread
Profile Image for Howard.
2,002 reviews115 followers
June 15, 2025
5 Stars for Endure: How to Work Hard, Outlast and Keep Hammering (audiobook) by Cameron Hanes read by the author.

This is a fascinating story of a rather average guy that got hooked on bowhunting. And that passion turned into an obsession to be the best that he can be. Along the way Cameron Hanes figured out that he needed to be fit and that led to pushing himself ever increasing limits. Ultimately he now competes in ultra marathons so when he’s hunting he’s nowhere near his limits. He does all of this with a full time job and a family. I’m not sure how inspiring this story is for me, it just makes me feel lazy no matter how hard I’ve worked and how exhausted I feel.

Joe Rogan took notice of his crazy training routine and had him on his show. And Cameron introduced Joe to bowhunting and it’s changed his life. Cameron has also become friends with the former Navy SEAL and now ultra endurance athlete David Goggins. And they like to train together and push each other to find their limits.
Profile Image for Mehrzad.
226 reviews29 followers
June 5, 2022
This gave me David Goggins vibes. I think if there's one thing that will stick to mind for the rest of my days is the ending of one of the chapters, where he started talking about "no one cares, #keephammering".

Hands down, one of the best autobiographies I have ever read or listened to.

//
391 reviews1 follower
June 15, 2023
- They don't make statues of critics
- stay strong in your conviction

Good read. Some things could have been taken out to make it better.
Gets better halfway through the book.
Profile Image for SneakySquid.
39 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2023
Not for me. Although, i am a bow hunter I found this quite stretched and full of bragging. More of a long form magazine about this bow hunter than a book about "how to" do anything.
Profile Image for Cav.
900 reviews193 followers
July 22, 2023
"LIFE IS NEVER MADE UNBEARABLE BY CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT ONLY BY A LACK OF MEANING AND PURPOSE."
VIKTOR FRANKL

Despite being really excited to start Endure, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would... I am typically a huge fan of books about the fields of high performance, mastery, grit, and excellence. I have read just about every book I can get my hands on in this genre. And despite having a high-energy intro by Joe Rogan, and an Epilogue by the BAMF David Goggins himself, Endure just did not meet my expectations. More below.

Author Cameron Hanes was born October 2, 1967. He is an endurance athlete, backcountry bowhunter, author, entrepreneur, and podcast host. He is the owner of Keep Hammering brand and an Under Armour sponsored athlete.

Cameron R. Hanes:
1911137-760377827335581-1922542158-o

The book opens with a good intro. Hanes tells the reader about his passion for bowhunting. In the book's preface, Joe Rogan says he has a 100% success rate in hunting elk; which is a rare feat. Later on in the book, Hanes mentions that a good hunter can have a 10% success rate. It turns out that elk don't like to be hunted, and they are a twitchy bunch... Crack a twig in the brush from 300 yards away, and they're gone. Meanwhile, they're wandering onto the highways all the time. Go figure LMAO.

The writing here is part autobiography, part self-help, and part motivation. Sadly, despite saying "How to.." in the book's title, there is no real actionable advice presented here, other than "keep going," "give it all you got," and other assorted generic rah-rahing. This is ok in small doses, but there's nothing else deeper in the book...

The top review of the book here sums up my feelings:
"The title implies to me that the subject of the book informs the reader on how to get through the grind and continue working harder when struggling. That was not at all the content of the book.
• 40% of the book was about bow hunting,
• Another 40% was a sales pitch on how tough the author is to have endured all he did while training for bow hunting, and
• The remaining 20% of the content in the book were a bunch of cliché statements about how you just need to push through and work harder to outlast."

And the above 40% figure is not an exaggeration. Despite saying: "Regardless of how it may appear, this book isn’t about bowhunting," at the start of the book, most of the writing here is either directly about, or leads right back to bowhunting...


***********************

Undoubtedly, Cameron Hanes is an amazing athlete and hunter, and his mindset seems to be rock solid. Unfortunately, his book left much to be desired for me...
I would not recommend it. There are many others in this genre that would be a better use of your time.
2.5 stars.
Profile Image for Ruan Stander.
53 reviews2 followers
May 29, 2023
Ok sure, I get it. You bow hunt, and you write… about bow hunting. And yes, you grind! Your ass off! Every day. You bleed, and sweat, and suffer, and push, and never quit! But for what? For yourself? To be a good bow hunter? To be the best bow hunter? Good for you.

I’m not sure I’m for that. I think life is about adding value. I believe grinding and hard work only holds long lasting value when it is aimed at valuable things. You have super human discipline, but you aim it at hunting dear, and writing about hunting dear.

Being the best at something is not enough. Being mildly good at rehabilitating the earth around old mines, adds more value than being able to shoot an arrow the farthest in world... for instance.

You make some good points, and yes it is inspirational. But, I mean, if Elon Musk or Steve Jobs or Gandhi wrote this, I would be like “ok shit! This is how you add value to the world”.

My conclusion - hard work is merited by what you work on.
Profile Image for Anna Eshuis.
3 reviews
October 16, 2023
DNF@142. Or something. Not even sure what page I quit at, to be quite honest. I’m not sure what I thought this book was going to be about but I certainly didn’t think it was going to just be some guy jerking off over all of his hunting conquests. There was nothing particularly insightful about what it takes to “endure” anything, unless the author wanted us to endure his writing style as a test of mental fortitude. I don’t DNF a book often but man, am I glad I failed this test. Waste of time.
Profile Image for Charles Reed.
Author 334 books41 followers
July 3, 2023
15%

Nobody actually wants to listen to Cameron complain about people the way he does, that fucking much.

I was super into the first part of the book, then he says, haters don't bother me, but goes on to talk about them for what feels like at least 25% of the book.

Talk about your training and experiences but ffs, don't bitch about people.
Profile Image for Douglas Collier.
5 reviews
October 18, 2022
Decided to get this book because of David Goggins endorsement. I loved David’s book Can’t Hurt Me. This book is just blah blah blah. Not even going to finish it because life is to short to waste on bad books!
1 review
March 2, 2023
This book is so good that I read it twice. Would suggest listening to it on audible because it is narrated by the author, and it just makes it that much more inspiring and real.
Profile Image for Ryan Beltz.
79 reviews4 followers
September 27, 2024
Cameron Hanes' "Endure" is a remarkable book that offers an inspiring look into the life and mindset of an extraordinary individual. The writing style is clear and accessible, making it a breeze to read and relatable to the Everyman or woman. The stories in this book delve into universal themes such as hardship, love, parenting, and loss, ensuring that there is something for everyone to connect with.

One of the strengths of "Endure" is its structure. While parts of the book delve into hunting—a topic that I initially had little interest in—I found myself gaining a deeper appreciation for the discipline, morals, and life lessons that accompany this practice. Cameron’s respectful tone when discussing hunting should resonate with readers, regardless of their stance on the topic.

Cameron Hanes’ credibility as an author is undeniable. His accomplishments speak volumes about his character and work ethic. Yet, the most significant takeaway from the book is Cameron's portrayal of himself as a regular guy, demonstrating that anyone can better themselves through hard work and discipline. I appreciated how he incorporated the works of others into his journey, not with envy but with a mindset of "what can I learn from them and apply to my own life."

The author's relationship with friends and family, and his honest discussions about friendship, faith, loss, and parenting, make him incredibly endearing. His perspective that “no one cares about your troubles, keep working” is a powerful reminder that we are our greatest allies and that we shouldn't let excuses hinder our progress.

What sets "Endure" apart from other books in the same genre is Cameron’s incorporation of fasting and the insights he has gained from other books and mindsets. This unique blend makes the book a standout read.

However, it’s worth noting that readers who are strongly opposed to hunting might find certain sections challenging. If approached with an open mind, though, there are numerous valuable lessons scattered throughout the pages.

In conclusion, "Endure" by Cameron Hanes is a heartfelt and motivating book that encourages readers to push beyond their limits and continuously strive for self-improvement. It’s a testament to the power of hard work, discipline, and a relentless pursuit of personal growth. Whether you're a hunter or not, there is plenty to learn and be inspired by in this compelling narrative.
Profile Image for Andrew Lafleche.
Author 32 books162 followers
August 25, 2025
Cameron Hanes’ Endure is less a hunting memoir and more a blueprint for mental toughness, discipline, and pushing past perceived limits. Hanes shares his journey from humble beginnings to becoming an elite bowhunter and endurance athlete, showing how an ordinary person can achieve extraordinary results through relentless effort.

What stands out is Hanes’ philosophy of “keep hammering.” He emphasizes consistency over talent, grit over comfort, and passion over excuses. The book isn’t about easy wins—it’s about the grind: early mornings, long runs, and daily sacrifices that compound into meaningful growth.

For professionals, Endure is a powerful reminder that success—whether in business, leadership, or personal life—is rarely about shortcuts. It’s about showing up every day, doing the work when no one is watching, and embracing challenges instead of avoiding them.

If you’re looking for motivation that goes beyond clichés, Hanes delivers an authentic voice that challenges readers to recalibrate their limits. It’s a call to action: to outlast, outwork, and ultimately, endure. It's a reminder of a simple truth: the limits we feel most often are self-imposed.

Takeaway: Talent may open the door, but endurance keeps you moving forward when others quit.
2 reviews
August 11, 2022
Update. I initially gave this a 1 star review. I was about halfway through when writing that review. For some reason, I “endured” and kept reading. I just say, the book gets quite good. I had trouble relating to the first half of the book. It almost feels like this is two different books. The running stories and stories about enduring Roth latches and negativity is inspiring. Lesson learned. Definitely worth a read but make sure you ensure until the end. Perhaps Cam did that on purpose?!
Profile Image for Hans.
860 reviews347 followers
November 30, 2022
I love the self-made man story that is Cameron Hanes, only he takes it to another level. His intense motivation to turn around his life and stay focused on pushing himself hard is truly inspiring. He demonstrates with his life how the impossible is possible. Pushing himself beyond the limit in both his Elk hunting and in his running. The embodiment of the ultimate hunter-athlete. This was a great reminder that one has to get comfortable being uncomfortable if you want to experience some of the best that life has to offer.
Profile Image for Anna Kendall.
3 reviews
June 17, 2022
I’m really disappointed in this book. I couldn’t finish it. It was not at all what I hoped it would be.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 719 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.