Athletics Books

This series Zanbanger, Zanballer and Zanboomer are about a girl named Suzanne who is constantly told she can't play sports that are supposed to be "boy sports". If you like stories about determination, hard work, and winners this is the series for you! - I also read this back 20 years ago and even still have my copies. Fantastic BOOK!

It's simple: If you are a fan of baseball-meaning you go to more than 2-3 games a year, or watch a lot of games on TV-then you need to read Moneyball.

Moneyball tells the story of how the Oakland A's, with a limited budget, manage to out smart almost every other team in baseball. Basically, in a nutshell-they use science instead of old baseball adages, and apply statistics to better analyze a players ability to get on base and avoid making an out-the key to winning games in the long-run.

Great book, well written. Highly recommended to all baseball fans.

Michael Lewis made his name writing books describing the people behind our financial system -- books that were inevitably described, for some reason, as "funny" or "hilarious." Perhaps these same reviewers were in stitches while reading Javascript technical manuals or the Kyoto Accords. Truly, I saw neither any humor nor any attempts to be funny in these books, which were, sadly, just dull.

How refreshing, then, to have him find a topic better suited to his tone. Yes, money plays a role, but what's described here is the pursuit of excellence, and the courage to flout conventional wisdom in the pursuit of a competitive edge.

A fascinating subject about dedicated professionals. True, these people may come off as a little singleminded, but they have to be (as this book demonstrates) in order to compete against people equally dedicated to finding an edge.

I so love the work of Michael Lewis because this story, and another favorite, Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street, are essentially about stepping back to consider groupthink. Groupthink is a topic that fascinates me. I haven't read The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, but it's about startups and silicon valley? Hmmmm... it might be about groupthink too. I'll check it out this weekend.

In Moneyball, Lewis examines the effects an outsider can have on the group, in this case, Major League Baseball. That's an extremely high level but, if you're like me, that's about all you need to know. Even if you don't care for baseball, I think you'll enjoy Moneyball. You might even be angry that Congress and the media give so much time to baseball. Since baseball is hard to avoid in America, I think people should try to understand it better. And even the most die hard, stat-loving baseball geek I know learned things from reading Moneyball. So whether you're a total insider to baseball, or a complete outsider to baseball, I think you should read, and that you'll enjoy, Moneyball.

This book has become the cliche for the transformation of the way that baseball is approached over the last decade or so. This book explains in a detailed but highly readable manner how baseball went from simply a business to a quantitatively analyzed (and analyzable) science. Given the large amounts of money in baseball over the past 20 years or so, it isn't surprising that baseball has undergone a transformation so that the computer nerds have taken over. I'm a fairly big baseball fan, and was turned off from reading this book for so long because it has become a `cliche' and I believed that it would be shallow and trite. It is anything but. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who wants to understand how `professionals` view the game today. It is easy to read, but packed with details about the new way of looking at baseball. There are also detailed character studies of some of the players (like Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford) and front office people (primarily Billy Beane and John DePodesta of the As).

The central theme of this book is why the As were able to remain competitive year after year even though they had a total team salary that was 1/3 or 1/4 of the big players like the Yankees and Red Sox. Judging from the reviews I've read on the Amazon sights, many of the reviewers still don't fully appreciate the arguments in this book. The goal of Beane and his cohorts was to bring a mathematical approach to the game and find out which aspects of the game were overvalued (from a mathematical and financial perspective) and which were undervalued. Beane wanted to quantitatively determine which traits were most important (and not rely simply on scouts judgment), but also determine how these traits were compensated in the market. Many have said that Beane and company look at OBP, slugging, OPS, etc., and disregard batting average and defense. This is true, but the key point here is that these traits were also undervalued by the market (at least when Beane got started). It is this point that allowed the As to remain competitive. They could trade players who were overvalued (like closers) and pick up inexpensive, undervalued, but highly productive, players in return.

The first part of the this book details the development of Bill James and his mathematical approach to baseball. There was apparently a small community of baseball fanatics who had, in the 70s and 80s, analyzed the mathematical details of baseball and determined that things like OBP were key factors, and not BA or defense. It took the major league clubs another decade or more to realize (or accept) this. Subsequent chapters deal with Beane's maneuvering to get players that fit into his philosophy, detailed accounts of some of the players Beane acquired (like Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford), and lots of inside details about the messy business of the day to day workings of a baseball front office.

One of the thing that is stress over and over again in this book is that Beane and his cohorts stress process over outcome. They don't care if, in any individual case, their decision works out. They are confident however that over the long haul they will be right. They are playing the averages, and this is what is keeping them competitive with the big-payroll clubs (it is also why they really can't compete in the playoffs with the big payroll clubs - they are beating the `league average' in the long run, but the teams in the playoffs are far from `league average'). Beane and his cohorts have often been wrong (one obvious example taken from the book is Scott Kazmir - they wanted nothing to do with him in the draft as he was a high school pitcher and their process said that the risk on high school pitchers was too high - I wonder if they would like to have a do-over on that pick?), but because they are playing the averages, their system keeps them in contention year after year.

This is a MUST READ for any baseball fan, whether you agree with the conclusions or not. It is well written, contains lots of detail (and will keep the nerdiest computer geek happy), but is also highly readable and doesn't get bogged down in minutiae. There is so much fascinating info in this book, I couldn't put it down (read through it in a day).

Michael Lewis' Moneyball, is a great introduction to the increasing role statistics play creating a winning baseball team. Lewis profiles the A's owner, Billy Beane, and shows how Beane has managed to create a winning team despite a small budget. It begins to put to rest the use of worthless stats, such as RBI, which is really only a measure of how good the batters are in front of you.

As a former baseball coach, I was interested in the chapter on how Beane selects players from the amateur draft. He creates a strong case for players attending college before entering the draft, especially if one's life long dream is to play for the A's.

If you enjoy Moneyball, I would suggest reading other similar books such as Baseball Between the Numbers, The Fielding Bible, Mind Games, and The Baseball Economist. In general, anything by the Baseball Prospectus people is a great choice.

Not sure what was worse, reading this 'item' or pounding my head against a concrete wall. It has received much fan-fare, and I don't know why, it's best described as...trite.

This book is good, but not great. Listening to the rants and raves of Bissinger's politics is painful, but it can be battled through if you're patient.

I was excited to read this book, to learn about the lives and the environment of football in a completely different context than the rest of us can witness. The excitement quickly dwindled as the author lost track of the actual story, and puts his own "journalistic" spin on the entire story. In the epilogue Bissinger claims that he had to report what he saw, as he had to be the responsible journalist, and from his writing it is clear that he is a typical, one side of the story journalist. Normally, I wouldn't let his clear bias affect the quality of the football story, but it became impossible to ignore, after chapter after chapter of clearly one-sided views of western Texas.

He openly mocks the fervor that the Odessa area has for George H. Bush page after page, who was running for President during this time. He makes fun of the lack of Democrats, the Texas religious beliefs, and the conservative values as if it's a complete crime that Texas supports one of its own. He doesn't even mention that Bush lived in Midland until halfway through the book, after chapters of mockery.

His view on the oil industry is completely laughable. Again, he mocks western Texas for being so foolish as to support Ronald Regan, who acted as a villain to western Texas by - ready for this - lowering oil prices. Bissinger thinks that lowering oil prices is a travesty that deserves the harshest of penalty, and that Texans are gullible for believing in the free market. If George Bush acted this way, would he be treated the same today? I wonder what Bissenger's attitude toward lowering oil prices would be now?

The football aspect is done well, with the lives of the football players, how much Permian football means to them, and the troubled and sometimes tragic life in Odessa, Texas.

Bissinger, the author, came to Odessa to follow the Permian Panthers thru their entire 1988 season, attending practices as well as games, spending time with several of the key players and their families, reading the newspapers, interviewing the movers and shakers in the desolate, tapped-out landscape in the middle of Nowhere, Texas.

Most of us have heard that Texans regard their high school football with the reverence of a born-again religion--remember the story about the mother of a cheerleader who sought to have her daughter's rival on the cheerleading squad wasted? As a one-time resident and frequent soul mate, I can vouch for its high-school football mania, in East Texas as well as in West.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2008

First, let me say I've enjoyed "Friday Night Lights." Mr. Bissinger is a talented writer, and this is a very interesting take on football at a large Texas high school (although there's a lot of sociological analyses of the city and people of Odessa). I do recommend it.

This is a good read that shows the effects of overblown boosterism towards high school sports. I'm not sure the case of the Permian Panthers is entirely realistic because they are an extreme case used to illustrate Mr. Bissinger's overall point (this is not some backwoods small school prep team as in "Eagle Blue" or "Counting Coups," which I consider better books), but there's enough reality that you'll recognize the athletes, cheerleaders, coaches and boosters from your own high school days.

Mr. Bissinger is not shy about putting his personal politics on center stage at various points, so be prepared for your share of conservative bashing. This is not to say I disagree with all his points, but I don't need simplistic knee-jerk reactions from either Democrats or Republicans to complex social problems that require more than a one-sided approach, including books about prep sports. Just be aware of its presence.

I can understand why so many people in Odessa had such a virulent reaction to "Friday Night Lights," but there's truth to what Bissinger wrote about turning teenagers into throwaway heroes. It makes no sense to blame the mirror for what is reflected.

Friday Night Lights
A Town, A Team, and A Dream
By H.G. Bissinger

By Cael Kiess

H.G. Bissinger spent over a year getting to know the people of Odessa, Texas. During that year he spoke with Permian football players, their families, and Odessa citizens in his attempt to write a book that told the story of how one team of teenage kids could inspire an entire town. Bissinger, an American journalist, has won the Pulitzer Prize, the Livingston Award, the National Headliner Award, and the American Bar Association's Silver gavel for his reporting. He is also the author of A Prayer for the City, and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Bissinger did a great job accomplishing his goal of reliving the wild journey of the 1988 Permian football season and the struggles off the field. He vividly portrays the racism through schools in Odessa County, the oil booms, typical school days of Permian football players, the Mojo Fanatics, and Friday Nights in late August. One chapter, "The Watermelon Feed," really describes the passion and devotion of Permian football fans and Mojo Fanatics. Bissinger writes, "The faithful sat on little stools of orange and blue under the lights of the high school cafeteria, but the setting didn't bother them a bit. Had the Watermelon Feed been held inside a county jail, or on a sinking ship, or on the side of a craggy mountain, they would still have flocked to attend and support their team." This description allows me to feel like I'm actually there and helps me sense the amount of pride and dedication given to Permian football by the fans. He also gives a second look farther into the town of Odessa, off the football field, enhancing a better view of what was occurring in the town of Odessa and its neighboring towns. There were many highlights and struggles happening in the streets and classrooms that one would not be able to find out in just the movie. One weakness of the book is the possible effect of losing the reader through the ongoing descriptions and passages of events, people, and struggles in Odessa. There is not as much of the actual football games incorporated into the book as one would think from watching the movie. In the book, Bissinger does a marvelous job describing the life and events of the 1988 Permian football players and the Mojo fans.

My husband made me read this book. I wasn't looking forward to it. After about 10 pages I was hooked. I knew nothing about football going into this book and absolutely loved it. I got it for my brother for his birthday and he was obsessed. He got it for our father...he's hooked.
Great story of overcoming odds while teaching about the sport of football.

Everyone will enjoy this one!

On the surface, this is a book about Michael Oher, a poor teenager in Memphis, whose size and speed turn him into one of the country's top football prospects. Michael Lewis, one of the greats at mapping the intersection between sports and economics, expands the story to include much more. He demonstates why the frenzy occured over someone like Michael Oher (the Left Tackle covers the Quarterback's blind side, a huge gap after Lawrence Taylor showed exactly how fragile the multimillion dollar QB investments can be) as well as how people try to jump on the bandwagon.

The book is at it's finest when it shows the conflicting loyalties of people "helping" Michael Oher improve his life. What are the true intentions of the coach who also is looking for a ticket to a college coaching career? A mentor looking to assist his alma mater? Or even the unwritten - an author looking for a topical subject.

The book is a very easy read, and hard to put down. And you won't ever look at those offensive lineman the same.

If you liked Moneyball and are hoping this will be its spiritual successor, it's not. It's much more a story of one player, Michael Oher, and his travels through high school and college football (as of July 2008 he's still in college so no pro career to speak of).

I used to work as a lawyer for a pro football team so I read these kinds of stories with some personal interest, but if you're looking for a pure sports book buy Moneyball. If you like Lewis' writing style and his ability to tell a story you won't be disappointed at all. It's a great story and does contain an interesting analysis of the development of college and pro football and especially the role of the left tackle in the new offence. But it's much more personal than Moneyball - much more in the style of Liar's Poker, which becomes explained in the afterword when you discover that he knows the family described in the book personally and so he had significantly more insight into their private lives than an ordinary author.

The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis, is primarily a biography of projected future NFL first-round draft pick Michael Oher and secondarily a history of the evolution of the left tackle position in the NFL.

Lewis chronicles how Oher, who bounced around as a child and never learned to learn, was taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family, how they helped him to learn and to play football, and how he went on to start at Ole Miss. Lewis does an excellent job communicating the characters' personalities to the reader, particularly Oher's.

Interspersed throughout the book are historical anecdotes about the evolution of the left tackle position. Lewis gives particular attention to Lawrence Taylor and the shift to fast, destructive pass rushers, and to Bill Walsh, who was one of the first coaches to emphasize protection of the quarterback's blind side.

While Lewis tells a very interesting story, his writing style has its flaws. He jumps around quite a bit, which is almost as distracting (he just does it one too many times) as the sentence fragments he loves to sprinkle in. Lewis also uses the wrong word a few times. He mixes up "insure" and "ensure". He calls linemen "ectomorphs" (ectomorphs have slender builds). The copy editor for this book was asleep at the switch.

On the whole, this is an interesting and entertaining book about a likable young man, and a good recap of a major strategic shift in the NFL.

Moneyball was as insightful as it was cutting edge, but Blindside goes to another level entirely.

The glimpses into the mechanics of football, coaching and player selection are brilliant. The humanitarian side is another story all it's own. Lewis doesn't pull any punches as he details the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Big Mike by the Tuohys, nor does he gloss over the potential self-serving interests that could have been at the heart of the Tuohys benevolance.

All of these moving parts beautifully packaged into a fantastic (and true) story.

As great as his other books were, I have to give this one the nudge as his best work so far.

This book covers every aspect of stretching, for every part of the body. Many illustrations help the reader understand and execute the movement. The three pillars of fitness are strength, agility, and endurance. The stretch routines in this book are a supplement to whatever strength training and aerobics excercise you currently do. The rewards from the relatively easy act of stretching are many, as are the rewards of this book.

All I wanted was to learn how to properly stretch to increase my flexibility and to prevent injuries. This book not only did that, but it hammered home the message that you shouldn't compare your flexibility to that of others, and that stretching has a multitude of practical benefits, besides flexibility. This is not a book for extremists trying to do the splits on two folding chairs with a child perched on their shoulders. I've never been able to touch my toes, but this book has shown me what stretches to do to get my hamstrings more limber and it's also shown me that stretching is beneficial in many more ways than just flexibility.

I recently purchased the book "Stretching" by Bob Anderson. It is great a book for any one that has back problems, sore hamstrings or that just needs to stretch the body from soreness. It is extremely informative and easy to follow.

For anyone in the healthcare profession(s), this is a must for getting clients into proper home care or self care, as well as anyone wanting to improve their own range of motion and flexibility

This book has great drawings of showing you the correct and incorrect ways of doing the different stretches. I only wish this version (20th anniversary) was put in a spiral binding, so the pages would lay flat when you're trying to do the exercises!

This is a great book for both beginnners and intermediate triathletes. The book contains the basics, as well as advanced techniques, of training. The concept of "periodization" was especially helful for me. It is easy to read and the author fully explains everything. It is does not matter whether you train for sprint events or Iron Man level events, the concepts still apply.

it takes either a lot of hubris or some sort of confidence to put "bible" into the title of your book. joe friel doesn't do so without good reason. not only does this book come highly recommended from my collegiate triathlon friends, but in taking a triathlon "class" this semester to help with my pre-season training, this was our supplementary textbook. a great book through and through with advice for athletes on so many levels from a proprietor of the (tri)sport.

Buy this book! If you are a Triathlete, novice or Elite, this book will help you to train smart and reach your goals! Period.

I am an exercise scientist, and triathlete, and this is the best book on periodizing triathlon workouts that I have come across. It is very detailed, so is more geared toward intermediate to advanced athletes. If you are looking for good strength training workouts, though, this book does not have that. The strength training in here is very generic, not tri specific.

All triathletes should begin here. Even if you have lots of experience, you should own this book. Everything you need to know, every question you might have, this book will guide you in the right direction. Even after 6 years of racing, and 5 Ironmans, I still refer to it.

Tour Tempo is a very useful instructional book for someone who has an intermediate level of golf ability/experience. It may be the only golf book that deals with how fast one should swing, as opposed to the detailed positions and mechanics that also make up a golf swing. Tempo is indeed important in a golf swing, because a golf swing is not a static event.

This book is the perfect complement to another terrific instructional book, 'The Keys to the Effortless Swing' as Amazon noted.

As a coach and instructor I am allways looking for information that helps to explain aspects of the golf swing to my students. Tour Tempo has provided me with just another way of explaining what the effect of taking the club away to slowly will have on distance and direction. Thank you
John Novosel for your insite. Coach H.Turk Walker

Great product as everyone else points out. Such a simple idea, yet so remarkably capable of fixing your swing. I didn't realize just how mush I was trying to muscle the club, rather then let my natural tempo and fluidity carry it. I'm the kind of person who needs a swing thought, but at the same time they make me stiff and awkward. But if my swing thought is tempo, i.e. proper speed back and through, I become much more free loose and less timid, the club glides along rather then feeling like I have to reroute it and muscle it back to the ball. Truly a great book.

Novosel's book makes an excellent point about how having good tempo in your golf swing will produce many benefits. Many golf instruction books give lip service to the concept of tempo, but I don't think anybody has ever explained it like this before and provided a rhythm track for you to practice with. He debunks the old saw about "swing slow" or "slow down your swing" etc. and shows how a slow swing actually allows a lot of counterproductive and inefficient movements to creep into your swing. When you swing with good consistent tempo every time, as do most PGA players, you improve the efficiency of your swing and you improve the likelihood of hitting the ball the same way every time. Of course, you have to have decent swing mechanics as well, and this book does not purport to teach mechanics.

Tour tempo is easy to read, the concept is very simple to adopt and more importantly works! The downside is my wife thinks I have lost my mind walking around saying swing, set, through!

I've used this program for several years as part of my PT training cycle, and even as Ranger school prep with outstanding results. If you need a program that takes you away from the weights or you are bored easily with your workout, his program will push you out of your comfort bubble and keep you interested, especially when you see the results.

This is one of the best fitness programs ever. Regardless of if you are trying to become a Navy SEAL or not this is a great physical fitness program. The exercises are explained well and and theprogram is easy to follow. Great tips for just overall fitness are included throughout the book. I love it and use stuff from it all the time. I will be buying products from Stew Smith in the future.

If you are looking for a book that will get you into shape as well as give you a great look, well this is the book for you. I used this book a few times now and each time always see results. I must say one thing though if you are not dedicated don't buy this book. You will just be wasting you money. It is for a person with a great deal of desire and personel resolve. All in all this book is worth its weight in gold. No matter what physical expectation you are looking for this is the book for you. I have tried many other workout books and none seem to even come close to the quality of this. Just get this book and it will be your companion for a long time.

The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness is the most complete and informative SEAL preparation guide available.

The guide covers everything needed to prepare for BUD/S. It starts off by explaining how to properly warm up, then moves on to the exercises that are experienced in the workout. All of the stretches and exercises have excellent photos showing exactly how they are to be performed. There is also a helpful workout devoted to those who wish to start the 12 weeks to BUD/S workout, but who aren't yet in proper shape.

Not only does this guide cover workouts to get physically and mentally prepared for BUD/S, but it also covers how to properly run in the sand, techniques for climbing rope, and how to perform the Combat Swimmer Stroke.

All I can say is that this workout got me into the greatest shape of my life. I did the workout my senior year in high school and gained 15 pounds of pure muscle. I went from doing 13 pullups to 25 after the workout, and from 42 pushups to 100. Definite increase in chest size and some in arm size as well. Abs are now well defined. But that is not the best part. No, the best part is the unstoppable confidence that you gain from doing the workout - after this, I felt like I could do ANYTHING I set my mind to. Trust me, this workout is not easy, but it IS entirely doable. Just thinking back to the lonely nights where I was mentally and physically exhausted, having completed 60 pullups, 150 pushups, 300 situps, 100 dips...only to know that I was only halfway done...and pushing THROUGH that mental barrier gave me the utmost gratification. You feel powerful after each workout, knowing that you are doing something that the average man could not even dream of, and knowing that YOU possess the self-discipline to make yourself great is the most wonderous benefit that you will walk away with...if you complete it.

This book is not only trains your body, but your mind as well. Do it. Hooyah!!!

Daniels does a good job explaining all of his different ideas: the 4 (sometimes 5) phases in a training cycle, his different intensities (easy, moderate/marathon pace, interval, rep, f pace), and includes some very detailed training programs. He has general training programs, as well as programs for the 800, 800/1500, 1500/3000, cross, 5k-15k, and three marathon programs. Throughout the book he does a good job explaining everything and though at some points it can be "scientific", nothing is over the top and can be understood by probably just about anyone. He also includes helpful sections on topics such as overtraining, supplemental training, what to do during unplanned and planned breaks from running, and race preparation. Overall this is a very thoughtful, well laid out book. However, as Daniels himself says, this is just one approach to training and while he does include detailed programs, it is best to pull ideas out of the book that work for you- you cant just superimpose all of his training ideas onto your own running plan.

As a multi events coach in "the old days", I have more or less had distance coaching thrust upon me by some new athletes. Jack's book was suggested by a coaching collegue and I am not disappointed. It has lots of information that I imperfectly understood. Most impressed with the idea of working EASIER/SMARTER when running too fast is actually harmful to your training goals. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Scott Glaspey, Powell River, BC Canada

I think Dr. Daniels does a fine job of explaining the purpose of each of the exercises. His explanations of the physiological and metabolic changes that each specific run and intensity is trying to accomplish is helpful for people without a medical backround. However, he definitely slants the book towards collegiate and elite level athletes. As a novice runner, I found a lot of this irrelevant. I won't be running 6-7 days a week with a wife, two small children, and a busy career. I think for the bulk of Americans who run, we run for health and fun rather than to win titles and prizes. I think there are probably 300-500 people in the USA who can really follow his top training plan. For a book with less science explanation and a more realistic training schedule, try Run Less, Run Faster by Pierce , Murr and Moss. It does touch on some of the science but nearly as in depth but I found that it was more applicable to the average American's schedule.

I'm an old, but fairly serious competitive runner. Book was great set of routines to get faster without getting injured. Not as encyclopedic as Noakes', Lore of Running, but this is the book I will use to set my training schedule.

Every now and again I get back in the running habit. And what with it being so long since I've done any formal training and not being able to afford an actual coach, I usually call on my Brooklyn Road Runners Club buddies to recommend a decent training book.

Turns out Jack Daniels, the author of the book they recommended, lives less than an hour from where I spent my summer in 2006, in upstate New York. Not that it did me any good, as he's almost 80 years old and not taking in new athletes. Too busy taking in new wives, I guess - the newest one is as young as I am and has borne him a child that probably can't remember when her father wasn't farting dust.

But I digress. Geriatric standing aside, he's written the running book I've always wanted to find - very little of the confessional, running-as-spiritual-quest crap or Runner's World-style product mongering of the newest insoles or energy gels - just distance-specific training plans, time conversation tables, and scientific (as far as I know) reasoning for all of his advice.

There is some padding throughout - the "Training Essentials" unit is kind of general and not very useful, he puts runner's profiles at the end of each section that are uniformly dry and uninspiring ("Sara's ability to graciously accept both success and disappointment, her resolve to take one day at a time, and the faith we both share make me a fan of hers," "It's amazing how favorably his lab tests results compare to those of Jim Ryun"), and the "Training for Fitness" seems to have been added after the rest of the book was written just to get people who've never run before started. Come to think of it, some people may get something out of that section; I didn't even read it.

Overall though, a great textbook - easy to read, what's useful is easy to pick out, and the inevitable padding is easy to page through. So, like all good textbooks, the key word is "easy."

Your review was not accepted because we only allow each customer to write one review of each product set. An example of a product set is the collection of all editions of a book: hardcover, paperback, and audiobook. If you'd like, you can edit your existing review.

I think this may work for some people, but I am suspicious of any book that tells you that you only have to work out for half an hour a week to get good results. I tried the method detailed in the book (extremely slow and intense lifting without a break for half an hour) and didn't find it to be as effective for me as stated. However, that said, I am sure it does work for some. For me, the main benefit of this book is the detailed instructions he provides on how to use various weight lifting machines.

I was recommended this book by a guy from my church who lost something like 50 lbs on the program. I checked it out and was impressed that the program was both simple and yet also up to date with contemporary fitness research. It takes much of what I've read in books on fitness and nutrition and what my trainer has told me and puts it into a program that is simple to follow and easy to remember. It is probably not for the intense athletes or serious body-builders, but for those who want to stay or get into shape and stay there while still living a relatively normal and busy 21st century lifestyle, it is quite good.

I am not sure this is the correct style for everyone. I am trying to get strong which is typically done using heavy weight and low reps. And this training is not designed for that. I think you can only get so strong with this style because you will burn out before you build up.

If you're interested in the idea of lifting weight slowly, there are 3 books, that I am aware of, to consider:

1) Super Slow: The Ultimate Exercise Protocol, by Hutchins
2) The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution, by Hahn
3) Power of 10, by Zickerman

To sum up 1-3: lift weights slowly to help lessen momentum so you are lifting the weight using as much muscle as possible, which will lead to muscle failure, and can help reduce the possibility of injury. Also be wary of the stress caused by aerobics. Work out less per week so you have time for a real life, and follow a sensible diet.

Note that 1-3 all are preachy about weights being superior to health over aerobic exercise, although 3) is much less so. Also note that they don't seem to say 'get rid of' cardio, but that weightlifting provides some cardiovascular benefits itself, and to do aerobics as a supplement never as a substitute.

Some miscellaneous comments:

1) reads like a dissertation or a scientific manual, while 2) and 3) are popular reading, 3) moreso.

I like the comparison to taijiquan (t'ai chi ch'uan) that 1) makes.

Dislike the endless "this worked for me!" anecdotes in 1-3.

3) seems to have zero references.

2) and 3) take a lot of material from 1).

3) doesn't seem to be against stretching, but rather says stretching is built into the slow moving full range of motion system.

Final verdict? Get 3) because it is less preachy, costs less, and presents the main ideas from 1) in a more accessible form.