Athletics Books

Very clear and prescriptive programmes set out with photos for each sport. I used the ski programmes this year and was very happy with results...

Brian
London

Learn the basics of plyometrics with the clear descriptions and great photos in this book. There are also some helpful programs for you to try.

This book covers all the basics of Plyometrics, has good descriptions and pictures. However, people who already know the basics will want something a little more advanced.

It's a good investment overall.

Along with John Kuc's "Kuc Speaks" this is one book on powerlifting that you must read. Written in the early 80's it has remained one of the most informative books on the subject of powerlifting ever written. Eastern bloc lifters who now dominate the sport consider this their Bible. Dr. Squat has talked of updating it, but when taken together with his powerlifting manual on his website at [...], you have a complete system for putting up champion caliber totals.

I found this book extermely interesting and explanatory. Dr.Fred Hatfield (professionally known as Dr. Squat) presented the sport of powerlifting and bodybuilding in a way that even the "weekend warriors" can understand. And I have had this book for about 10 years now.

I am not a powerlifter, but i weight train for fitness. I found this book to be very helpful in giving straightforward explanations of the importance of building a good strength base, and what exercises and approaches to use to achieve that. The different workout systems were clearly explained and the pictures and explanations of the exercises were clear. The diet information was also helpful and non technical. A nice addition to my fitness library (...).

I bought these books because of my job as a relief teacher and these books are great because they are very comprehensive. They wil help to put lessons together quickly.

I used this book in my current teacher education program and it is absolutely a must!! It is easy to use and the students loved the activities. If you are going to teach P.E., you must have this book (the whole series is great!!)

This book is great for all P.E. teachers who are interested in giving their students age-appropriate activities. I have used it in my student teaching at the University of Arizona and will use it in my teaching. It is full of intro-activities, fitness, game and closing activities. Just what every elementary school P.E. teachers need to do a complete lesson.

If you've ever ran in college, and have forgotten some of the tougher workouts that your coach forced you into, this is probably a great reference text for you. I bought this book after I ran Chicago and qualified for Boston to get myself some new insight on what harder workouts I should try on the indoor track during the winter.

Two of my favorite workouts are Frank Shorter's 800s and Castella's "400s with Fast Float workout," both of which put a new, tougher spin on doing 400s and 800s. I ran the 400m workout a week before a race to get some nice turnover and speed that I could recover by race day. Needless to say, there a great number of workouts in this book that will break up the monotony of regular speed training done on a track.

The edition I purchased had 75 distinct workouts, covering long runs, off-road/cross-country and fartlek training, as well as intervals, hills, and tempo runs. The toughest ones for me were the long run workouts. Can you imagine running 2hrs straight at 10K pace as a workout or 20 miles on hilly terrain, with the second 10 being faster than the first half? For training?! YIKES! Needless to say, some of these are a little excessive for average runners. Still, fun to attempt!

Now, keep in mind these are pro athlete workouts, so EXPECT to have a lot of pro names dropped. The authors spoke with a lot of pro athletes/coaches to get the workouts they used/created; hence the extra background discussion that doesn't necessarily pertain to the workout itself (see Pre's 30-40s 200m workout). I honestly like a little background as to why and how the workout came to be.

For the cost of the book, I think every competitive athlete should purchase this book. If you're thinking about turning into a competitive runner or shooting for a PR without having a coach to give you ideas, I think having a text like this one is a necessity. It has a short section on how to pick your workouts and how to not take the workouts line for line, pace for pace, to avoid overtraining.

Like I've mentioned, this is a good text to have for training ideas, but if you don't run more than 30mi/wk, you might not get much out of it. As it mentions in the text, having a good solid base is crucial before attempting some of these workouts in order to recover and not burnout after a couple weeks of training.

Highly recommended as a hard WORKOUT reference, not a general reference of running.

I agree, this book is for serious runners, or runners who are ready to get serious. You are not going to improve that PR by doing the same old thing. I am going to integrate these workout's in to my plan. Sandrock states in his book to build a base first,and be true to your self. None of us is Shorter, or Salazar, adapt it for you.

Mike Sandrock follows up his previous chronicles of stud runners with this well done book. Competitive runners will enjoy the chance to see what others profess to doing for their hard sessions. I thought the book gave me good ideas for new workouts to incorporate in my training (although at a slower pace of course.)

Author John Feinstein's college basketball narratives are interesting, exciting, and informative. He covers the game with a broad approach, letting readers see many personalities, the pressures, and the often intense practices in this ultra-competitive sport. This book does not focus on any one conference or team, but presents a very interesting and broad national view of college hoops in the late 1980's. Yes, many of us fans realize that this multi-billion dollar industry unfairly gives players scholarships while coaches (and others) get rich, but hey, this is still a very entertaining sport. This is a very readable and entertaining look at the college game.

What Feinstein did for Knight in his Season On The Brink, he now does for one entire season in the world of college hoops. This book is an inside look at everything from the grueling (and often gruesome) practice sessions that go on behind closed doors to the intimate personal lives of some of college basketballs biggest stars, from the tough lives of teams and players going nowhere to an astonishingly close up view of the winners who go all the way to ultimate glory. A Season Inside goes from coast to coast, from top to bottom, from glory to defeat.

An exremely entertaining book which takes you on a trip across the United States to examine the great venues and stories of college basketball. From the awesome early-season tournaments in Hawaii to the meccas of college basketball like the Palestra and Madison Square Garden to March Madness, from the Lute Olsen-Steve Kerr Arizona Wildcats to the Admiral to Danny Manning, Feinstein's book is a must for any fan of college basketball.

I liked it, but it was a bit repetitive (each season was documented in the same style which made them blur into each other at times).

It read much more like historical documentation than a novel. The 20% or so that did read like a novel - I really enjoyed.

The author's point of view was a little defensive - especially when it came to Ross Perot. She definetely didn't hide what side she was on, though. Nothing was said negative about the team or city. But, its not like Friday Night Lights didn't make you wonder about objectivity - so I enjoyed both - they were just really different.

Finally, this one stops in the mid 80s - not long before Friday Night Lights picks up.

This is a great book for anyone who likes high school football. This would be a great book to read before anyone reads "Friday Night Lights". This book looks at High School Football in Texas from the 1960's to the 1980's right before "Friday Night Lights"
This is an indepth look at High School Football from all the angles and all the perspectives. A must ready for any football fan out there.

I bought "Friday Night Lights", a good book on Odessa Permian football. It only temporarily whetted my appetite."Mojo" is the real deal on Odessa Permian, a top ranked Texas team for years. It has the stats, the players, the pictures, the beginning, the middle and the end. It's the ultimate HS football fan's book. My copy from Amazon even came signed by the author. Read "Friday Night Lights", to get you started. Then get "Mojo" for the real deal.

Very detailed, I found "serious cycling" easy and enjoyable to read. Ideal for the self - coached athlete, it helps personalize your cycling program depending on your present abilities. While reading you find that there is much more to training and becoming a better rider then you first thought, but it puts the "why" into training in addition to the "how" giving a better understanding and appreciation with what changes your body must undergo to be a better cyclist.

Periodization, training modes, keeping diaries and more... The nutrition section I found to be a little "old school" but, nevertheless, interesting and backed by studies. This information is aimed at the "serious cyclist" and may be too much for someone not willing to put forth the 15+ hours a week.

Burke, a well known name among cyclists, gives very detailed and sometimes complicated advice about how to train, how to create a training schedule for various goals, how and why to make a training diary, etc. Readers should be aware that his advice is aimed at the very serious cyclist, and his training schedules range from those for serious collegiate cyclists (~15hrs/week) to professionals (~25+ hrs/week). His advice is sound, but it may be more than most people really need. His peak mileage (feb) is 2000miles--that's 500 miles per week!

A big question for me when buying my first book on training for racing, was "Who provides the most reliable and important information?" I have seen Dr. Burke quoted in a variety of sources including Bicycling magazine, Velo magazine, and Chris Carmichael's web site. So I had the impression he is respected in the sport. Further, when reading his writings in other sources, he has gone into the underlying physiological processes that contribute to one's performance on a bike. As such, I decided to purchase his book based on his apparent credibility and the depth of information he provides. Strengths of his book include its excellent coverage of what goes into training for competitive cycling. From beginning "base training" to sprint training, periodization, and planning one's training for the entire year. He also speaks at length on nutrition, equipment/rider aerodynamics, body positioning on the bike, and adjunct training methods. Again, there is an emphasis on underlying physiological processes including some discussion of relevant research. I would say the book's weaknesses lie with it's failure to address racing tactics. Certainly, you learn about what is happening with the body at race pace, but this book will not tell you about positioning for a sprint or pacing one's self for a time trial.
In short, buy this book if you are serious about racing and want to enhance your knowledge of what goes into training for competition. Don't buy this book if you want to learn about tactics.

Chris Dortch is a terrific basketball writer who regularly covers the SEC and helps put together the Blue Ribbon Basketball guide each year. He has written an excellent book that covers all 12 SEC programs, discusses their histories, and focuses on a 10 year period during the early 1990's until the early 2000's, a period when the SEC was at the top of the college basketball world.

The book features detailed accounts of each program's successes, terrific recruiting stories, insights into the various coaching personalities, and helps put a lot of the wins and losses into context. A terrific read for any SEC basketball fan.

This is the book for the hard-to-buy-for-Dad- an easy to read, interesting look at SEC basketball- I will make two Dads happy with this one!

While the writing tends to be more of a reporter's style and doesn't deviate much from a recitation of the facts and events, it is still a very interesting read about the development and trials of the basketball programs around the SEC. Dortch knows this topic as well as anyone and does great job of covering the league.

Highly recommend this book for any fan of the SEC

This appears to be the only publication, apart from Mike Plant's wonderful book Iron Will, that records the early years and development of triathlon. Both the text and the multitude of pictures (with very amusing captions) bring to life the events and colorful characters that shaped the sport. There are many personal (often very entertaining) anecdotes, some scraps of personal philosophy, and references to athletes and others whose names will likely be known to few people outside the sport. There is no attempt at a careful chronology, or thorough analysis of the development of the sport over time, and there is an inevitable emphasis on the Hawaii Ironman race. There is also little narrative thread; instead it is the kind of book one can haphazardly dip into for inspiration and entertainment. This book provides a highly idiosyncatic historical perspective on triathlon, which will certainly be enjoyed by experienced triathletes who have done or are contemplating doing an Ironman race. A thorough history of triathlon remains to be written, but it will likely be a lot less entertaining than this book is.

I picked this book up this weekend at the Columbia triathlon. Tinley was there, and was signing the book. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far it looks like a great history of this somewhat unusual passtime.

Tinley has been there pretty much from the start, and his collection of anecdotes and photographs from many sources (Mike Plant especially) tells the story very well. Tinley's writing has improved since his early days (some of the articles in "Finding the Wheel's Hub" are pretty tough to read), and, hey, he's Scott Tinley! If you're a triathlete, you should have this book on your shelf next to your training log.

This is an excellent book with one really annoying problem. The proofreading is some of the worst I have ever seen. Lots of misspellings and typos as well as poor grammar. I would love to give this book five stars but it is so difficult to read that I cannot. Great pictures and Tinley is simply an awesome guy. If you are at all into triathlon you must have this book. Just be prepared for major typos.

Rarely does a book title tell you everything that's going to be inside the covers, but The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running sure does. No topic is left uncovered, or better still, in trail parlance, no rock unturned in covering every possible question about making way on those earthen paths.
I first read this book before I began the adventures enjoyed running, training, and racing on trails. It supported my thirst for knowledge and, incidentally, how to quench the real thirst in the woods.
With a few years of ultradistance runs and races in the ultra bank, I find referring to the book is like asking a trail friend a question . . . except in this case Nancy Hobbs and Adam Chase are true ultimate ultrathoners themselves.
You can't call yourself a trail runner or ultra racer without your own copy underlined, pages turned down, carried with you like one's favorite gear.
Phillip Gary Smith

Very comprehensive book, very thoroughly covers all aspects of trail running, racing, gear, nutrition, training, etc. Most appropriate for someone with little/no experience, but a good read even if you have been around a bit !

At the end of the day you just have to get out and run. Have a good one !

Just as you wouldn't start running a road race without the correct shoes, shorts, shirts and gear; you wouldn't want to start running on the trail without first reading this book from the people who have the most experience and have run the greatest variety of courses. This is a great book for the novice to intermediate trail runner who wants to understand how to acquire an intimate and healthy relationship with running off-road. It covers nutrition, techniques, terrain, gear, climate, and much more. If also covers those nasty little surprises like snakes, mountain lions, bears, boars and insects. This guide gives you important abstracts and introductions to heighten your trail running experience; required reading for any beginner.