Athletics Books

This is a great book if you are interested in the history or philosophy of Pilates. It is not, however, a good book if you are interested in doing Pilates at home. The basic conclusion of the book is--find a good trainer and a good Pilates studio. The authors give great advice about these things, but I was hoping to have more clear advice on doing Pilates at home (I live in a community--San Juan, Puerto Rico--without a good Pilates studio.)

As a teacher of Pilates, this is the book I insist all new clients buy and refer to. It is simple, articulate, packed with lots of excellent information and provides a context (history, philosophy and ethic) for this work. The Everything Pilates Book is also an easy read and a valuable addition to anyone's workout program.

Well, not really. I've been a student at Amy and Rachel's Pilates Center -- which is often called "the Harvard of Pilates" -- for four years, starting as I recovered from back injuries in a car crash.

I love it, and I'm a heavy middle-aged man.

It's true that this book concentrates on the philosophy of Pilates more than home practice, but then Pilates, good Pilates, is much more a thing of the mind than simply physical exercise. It's very nearly impossible to really learn to focus on, say, the illiopsoas muscles from a book.

This book, combined with a good instructor, is the best.

This book really had so much good, solid information in it. It was written very clearly and succinctly. I really enjoyed reading the history of Joseph Pilates. The book made so much sense to me. It is not just about exercise, it's about a way of life. It's about finding your core, getting everything in line.

This book is responsible for getting me very interested in the art of Pilates.

These authors know what they are talking about. This is my favorite exercise book. I love the photos and all of the quotes from Joseph Pilates.

If you have been hearing about the benefits of Pilates and wondering if this exercise program is for you, this book will convince you that YOU can do it! Thanks to Amy and Rachel for taking their time to document their approach to a lifetime of fitness.

The idea behind this book is very sound in that when designing a football offense it is very easy to try and put too much in the play book. The Simple Six asserts that a coach should have six plays that form the core of your offense. Six plays that you can run any time any place on the field that your players know and understand. The plays diagrammed in the book are based on the I-formation, but the author makes it clear that the plays are shown as guidelines, and that your own Simple Six can be based on any football offense. The plays follow a logical progression, and the plays all look similar to the defense at least at the beginning of the plays. In a nutshell, this book helped prepare me to be an Offensive Coordinator and eliminate superfluous plays from the offense I coach.
A very good investment.

As a former varsity coach now coaching the lower levels, this book contained good insights for building an offense that works without either being too simplistic or unneccesarily complicated. Especially helpful was the section on goal line offense. I wish there were more detailed diagrams, and more on practice organization, but this is a solid read nevertheless. If I were a head coach, it would be required reading for the Freshman and Sophomore staffs.

If your a football coach looking for the holly grail of coaching Don Schnake breaks it down to what is most important. There is more how-to and common sense in this one book than in my entire coaching library.

The title "Simple Six" refers to six base plays the author recommends as the foundation for your offense. He gives examples, but it is up to the reader to decide on what their focus will be. From the base plays he goes on to discuss counters and play action passes that stem from the base. He also discusses goal line packages.

This is a good place to begin if you are just starting out to develop your own offensive style/philosophy. I've been coaching high school football (both JV and Varsity) for 8 years now, and it reinforced my belief that offenses at this level should limit the number of plays they run. Master a few plays, run them to perfection, and only add when you are comfortable that your players can handle something new.

I would say the author also believes in the K.I.S.S. principle. It's not a very long book, but it is easy to read as the author uses a conversational style.

Coach Don Schnake's newest book "Football Simple Six" is an excellent read. His solution to running a high-school offensive to day is to limit the amount of plays so you can maximize the reps in practice of those six plays. The six plays will fit into anyone's offense.

Coach Schnake is an excellent author and coach. Try and get his earlier book on his father in law, prep basketball great Arhur Trout of Centralia, Illinois,

Fundamentals of track and field covers all the basics. The exercises are creative and easy to apply. Athletes acquire basic skills without too much conscious effort.

We've adopted this book as our Level 1 Coaches Manual. It gets all the major points of each event discipline in easy to understand terms.

I was happy with this book as soon as I opened the front cover. I am a new track coach who "only has a clue" about track from what I have observed from my star athlete daughter. I am pleased with this book because it has a lot of drawings which show good form in executing running, throwing, and jumping events. It is the perfect book for elementary school, middle school track athletes. It gives coaching tips after every explaination, common errors and corrections, and lots of drills to help reinforce the new skills the students learn. I highly recommend it for the beginning track coach, or the old track coach who is getting stale and needs new games and drills to keep track fun.

I am a middle school track coach and I've found this book very helpful in explaining the basics of all the track and field events. Carr also offers various activities to gradually develop the necessary skills for each event. Some of the technique motion pictures are slightly incorrect but I'd highly recommend this book for anybody just starting in track coaching

This book is a great resource for the physical education teacher or track and field coach. It has broken down each event into simple to understand stages. The coaching tips are of tremendous value to those who work with athletes. The illustrations that show how to perform each event are excellent for visual learners. Information within this book has been used in the preparation of my athletes.

Melvin Baker International Track&Field Coach

The author did a good job laying things out for us. Here's a hot tip. Linger over the opportunities at West Point. Almost everyone there is a scholar-athlete on full scholarship. And YOU DON'T LOSE YOUR SCHOLARSHIP IF YOU GET HURT! For a heads up on what it's really all about there, read "West Point" by, Norman Thomas Remick.

As a high school coach who believes it is part of my responsibility to assist acdemically and athletically qualified student/athletes to find athletic scholarsips and have found the recruiting process confusing, frustrating, and unfair, this unique book has turned me into a recruiting magician.

The other books I've used for recruiting information are mostly designed for Blue Chip athletes. They don't need much help in getting athletic scholarships. This book is written to help the athletes who aren't necessarily Division I prospects. The different ways it helps from Profile creation to the visit, to important questions, to negotiation strategies and scripts to understanding how unfair the recruiting process actually is and how to use that unfairness as a counterforce t level the playing field for parents and athletes is amazing.

The Chapter revealing the real story about Division III recruiting and financial aid for athletic ability is incredibly insightful and powerful.

This is an outstanding book for parents and students alike.

The book opens so many doors with information about financial help to both collages and universities that the average person is not aware of. It offers places to seek financial help and rewards for the great amount of time and efforts these athletes put into their accomplishments.

This book which has, listed by states, the names of collages and universities where schoarships are offered, along with the guidelines on how to seek financial help which is so very much needed these days. I only wish a book like this had been available when my children were entering that stage of their lives.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has children or knows of anyone who are athletes and are looking to continue their education.

I wish this book had been available when my student athlete daughter was considering her college choice. It is an easy to use resource filled with practical guides for navigating what is available to students.Information on putting together a videotape, documents needed, the school visit and negotiating guidelines will assist anyone going through this process. There is a huge list of colleges and universities covering the type of athletic scholarship each offers. This is a gift book I will be giving friends and family.

I simply can't believe how well this book is written! A good sized, easy-on-the-eyes font (I've read a hard copy, 1992 library version), an easy-to-read and flowing writing style, and even has a bit of humor thrown in.

While not highly technical, it does explain all aspects of running in simple, clear, everyday English (of course, it does not cover, in detail, training for marathon running). Within the last couple of months, I've looked at and read about a dozen books on running and this was by far the best. A lot of other writers throw convoluted training schedules at you, backing them up with confusing and controversial "research." Mr. Higdon's recommendations are based on a lifetime of running experience. He also quotes a lot of other running authorities in this book (I mean a lot!), but all these quotes are brief, clear and very practical.

All that said, this book is not aimed at the elite runner. In my opinion, it is written for the beginning and intermediate levels.

The book clearly explains the process and importance of warm-up and stretching drills (applying dynamic flexibility for smooth running), running form, speedwork (feel the difference between fast and FAST), speed endurance, and such training methods as interval training, repeats, sprints, surges, strides, fartlek, up-tempo running, and power hills (both up and down hill). Again, I can't emphasize enough, all these terms are explained very clearly, without applying lengthy and boring technical terminology. He speaks to runners of all ages, from teens to seniors (he had just turned sixty when he wrote this book). He also touches on strength training and becoming your own coach.

Although I have said this is not a highly technical book, you will still learn about VO2 max, heart rate monitoring and training (i.e., training at different percentages of MHR - this section is very brief), anaerobic (or lactate) threshold, and the likes. And you will finally understand them too!

Mr. Higdon will even warn you about tying your shoelaces incorrectly prior to a race! - Very thoughtful and insightful.

(To compare, I liked this book much more than "Daniels' Running Formula", or "Galloway's Book on Running, 2nd Edition", or "5K and 10K Training" by Clarke, or even "Road Racing for Serious Runners" by Pfitzinger, etc. While these authors may be great runners, their books just did not reach or connect with me. However, a book that you may find helpful and a good companion is "Total Heart Rate Training" by Joe Friel. It fills in the parts that Mr. Higdon's book did not cover quite enough.)

If you are tired of reading dry, confusing, highly technical or misleading books (some giving instructions that, if followed, could cause injuries), do yourself a favour and read this straight-forward and highly practical book.

I FOUND THE BOOK LACKING IN BASIC INSTRUCTION FOR THE AVERAGE ,OR IN MY CASE BELOW AVERAGE RUNNER.MOST RUNNING TIMES ARE BASED ON PEOPLE WITH LEGS AND LUNGS.I PERSONALLY THINK I AM IN GOOD SHAPE.I RUN(AND ENJOY DOING SO)AND LIFT WEIGHTS ON A REGULAR BASIS.IM 5'11,200.SO MOST OF THE TIMES ARE OFF THE CHARTS FOR ME.I STILL THOUGHT THE BOOK HAD A FEW HELPFUL HINTS,AND I GUESS THAT IS WHAT THE AUTHOR INTENDED.THE CHAPTER ON INTERVALS IS BEST.BUT I STILL THINK THE AUTHOR IS THINKING TO MUCH LIKE THE WORLD CLASS RUNNER HE IS THAN BRINGING HIMSELF DOWN TO AVERAGE NICKS LEVEL.

The only book I have found on how to train for the short distance races. The 10K race has now become the most popular road race in a America with the 5K quickly gaining in popularity. Whether you are a beginner road racer or shooting for a new personal best, this book does a great job of breaking down training schedules and drills to run smarter and prepare for race day. Hal also covers nutrition for runners and pre-race rituals that have helped him compete over the years.

I found the previous reviews interesting because they suggested that this book was for seasoned runners. As a seasoned runner, I didn't find it extremely useful. It discussed things that I have already heard of.

Overall, I would suggest it to someone who has been running for a year or two and is now interested in racing but isn't sure where to start. It offers training insights without the technical jargon that seasoned runners, such as myself, throw around without even thinking. For those very new to running, this may be a little too much to think about. For those who have been around the block quite a few times, you probably have heard this all before.

This book was written for runners with at least a year of running behind them. Filled with anecdotes, it serves to demistify principles and terminology unique to the running culture. The training methods described are tried and true, scientifically backed methods used by today's elite athletes. It is very thorough without having the quality of a "dry" technical manual. Like Galloway's Book On Running, I find myself going back to it to brush up on my training.

A must read, great story of hope and determination that leads to the salvation of the Greek Nation during a ten year span of war.

Stylianos Kyriakides, champion of the Balkans, ran the 1946 Boston Marathon to save his country from famine. World War II buffs, runners, and anyone who likes stories of true heroism will love this inspirational tale of an athlete who risked his life not for personal gain, but for his people.

Stylianos Kyriakides, champion of the Balkans, ran the 1946 Boston Marathon to save his country from famine. World War II buffs, runners, and anyone who likes stories of true heroism will love this inspirational tale of an athlete who risked his life not for personal gain, but for his people.

The authors select their characters that are not characters, but in fact, human beings with the attributes that people around the world need to know exist(ed). They are real and represent not just themselves, but those they love and that which they treasure; happiness, freedom, love and living!

We all have our strifes and struggles, as do these characters. We don't all achieve fame or fortune, but in the end, if we rest with peace, we have achieved success of a good life.

Congratulations to the authors for yet again choosing their characters with those attributes so rarely found; strength, courage, and purpose.

Stylianos Kyriakides, champion of the Balkans, ran the 1946 Boston Marathon to save his country from famine. World War II buffs, runners, and anyone who likes stories of true heroism will love this inspirational tale of an athlete who risked his life not for personal gain, but for his people.

I'm new to the world of triathlons, and this book is fantastic. It tells you exactly what to do everyday in terms of training. It makes me feel like I've got a lot of structure in my weekly workout routine. Highly recommended to anyone that likes having a professional tell them what to do in their workouts, instead of trying to figure it out on their own.

I have a shelf of triathlon training books--they all have certain strengths and weaknesses. But this particular book is the best of the lot. It gives specificity along with and overview for each plan. Simply the best book around for beginner through expert ironman racer.

If you are a triathlete or you are looking to become a triathlete this is the best training book/program available.

I bought this book for more access to training plans. The variety of plans and number of different fitness levels it offers is great. The key in it is great and fairly user friendly. I found that the plan I chose based on my "fitness level" according to the book seems a little ambitious so I found myself editing a lot of the plan. Also, some of the training plans require knowing where a 5-6% grade hill is that takes at least 1 min to bike up. I don't really know where one is and so that makes some of the workouts unable to do or extremely limiting. I also find some of the swimming workouts get to be very redundant, just adding on one extra hundred yards to the same workout every week. More importantly, I feel that for a beginner swimmer, these workouts require a lot of yardage and perhaps pushing too hard, too soon. I have been a competitive swimmer for 14 years so I can tune these practices to the ability of the swimmer, but if my boyfriend would've picked up the book and tried to do some of these workouts I think he might injure himself (shoulders). Overall, great book to get ideas, but some of the workouts are a little difficult to make it easy to fit into your schedule and location.

This book have all the information you need for have a good training you can choose whatever your condition, there are very goods training plans for everyone, this book do not have 5 stars,because i did not found any measure to see my performance, i mean time, so if i run 10 km in 30min. or 40min. or 1 hour, i would like to receive a status of my training.

I picked this book up shortly after it first came out. Back then I was a budding new coach. It opened so many avenues of study for me in my development over the years that followed. I can honestly say that without this book I would not likely have become the coach that I am today. It is in my library still and I continue to refer to it from time to time.

I just returned from an Arie Selinger camp and it was terrific. The man is passionate about the sport and is obviously extremely knowledgable. He has spent the last 40 years thinking about the training and the teaching of the game. Whether it has to do with technique, strategy, training, mental game, or state of the game, he has an opinion which is more than backed up with experience and data. Lots of data.

The book is a little problematic in that the explanations of the concepts are a little too involved for the beginning coach. But the man is obviously the foremost thinker on the game that the American game has seen in a long time. You may disagree with his conclusions, but his attention to detail and his arguements for his ideas are very strong. He is a great believer in statistics and measuring progress, so a lot of it has to do with measuring athlete accomplishments.

If you are looking to get a book to help your kids with their intramural team, forget about this book. If you are out to learn to coach volleyball at a very high level, this could be the one book you need. Keep in mind that he has always dealt with the highest level of athletes and have had the luxury of training six hours a day seven days a week, so some of the offense are way too complicated, even for college teams. But they are good ideas which stimulated even more ideas.

I wish he had put in more of his unique training ideas based on the Asian training methodology, but that is quibbling.

I consider this book to be one of the best ever written.
The detail is fantastic.
I refer to sections every week.
I was just reviewing the section on spiking.
A few weeks ago I reviewed the team play on the down call.
Every time I read it I learn more.

I just want Arie to write a new book with his experience in Japan

Vic Lindal
Canadian National coach 69 to 72
currently coaching club (16 and 17 girls)
On Vancouver Island BC

Arie Selinger is a legend among coaches, and this book won't let fans of the former coach of the U.S. Women's Olympic Team down. Whether you want to learn more about Arie's philosophy or to pick up some tips for your own game, this book is worth a read.

As a high school coach, I've implemented many of Arie's ideas into the program I took over 3 years ago, a program that had struggled for decades. And this season, I'm proud to say, we posted only the 3rd winning record in school history. A complete turnaround in 3 years!

Our girls now FEEL like winners, and players that's the first step toward becoming winners. Arie Selenger's Power Volleyball helped bring that change about, and that's high praise, indeed.

If you're a Michigan State or Notre Dame football fan, this book is a must-read. Celizic does a great job of describing the mounting anticipation and excitement in both South Bend and East Lansing throughout the fall of 1966. More than the game itself or the mood on the campuses, the book has some fantastic biographical information on the teams' stars, such as Terry Hanratty and Charlie "Mad Dog" Thornhill. Read this book in August and you'll get excited about the upcoming college football season or the MSU/ND match, which is usually a fantastic game.

This football game is still referred to in football lore and often by television commentators as the famous "10 - 10 tie". In the old days before BCS, who was "number 1" was determined in a variety of ways - usually polls by sports writers, and by coaches. And when #1 and #2 play each other at the end of the season - with legendary coaches (Ara Parsigan and Duffy Daugherty) - then play to a tie - and both send so many superb players on to the NFL,----- well it was a game to be seen and remembered.

The book captures the era of football in the early 60-s -- I was at the game and in college (MSU) at the time - and it is a great book for the pre-baby boomers, as well as the earliest of the boomers. College football had been changing, and continued to change, and this is an excellent snapshot of football and the times before all the Vietnam unrest.

My only problem with the book is that the author is, of course, pro Notre Dame, so some of his interpretations are subject to some questioning...... However, despite this flaw - it is a wonderful book for college football fans of this era.

Remember - Duffy said, having a tie was like kissing your sister! And also remember that the qb was knocked out by Bubba Smith and the runner injured himself getting off the train!!!!

This game is a major source of the rivalry between Southern Cal and ND, as ND had one more game - and ran the score up on SC. Interestingly, MSU and ND split the polls and each one received a first place.

MSU and ND remain a fantastic rivalry.

As a kid I remember listening to the end of this game on the radio. I couldn't remember why I didn't see it on TV until I read in this book that, because Notre Dame had already played in the maximum allowable nationally televised games that year, it could only be broadcast regionally--meaning those of us in the Pacific Northwest were denied live TV coverage (it was shown tape delayed here and in the South).

My recollection had always been that Ara Parseghian, the Notre Dame coach, went for a tie with a field goal late in the game rather than going for a touchdown--but this book corrected my recollection. Notre Dame tied the game with a field goal at the end of the third quarter and later narrowly missed what would have been a winning field goal with about 5 minutes left to play.

It turns out Parseghian was blamed for running the ball up the middle when they got it back deep in their own territory with less than a minute-and-a-half to play rather than trying to throw for a touchdown or to get in field goal range. But surprisingly no one blamed Michigan State Coach Duffy Daugherty for punting the ball away on 4th-and-four on their own 36-yard line with just 1:24 left to play.

I also didn't remember that Notre Dame's star quarterback, Terry Hanratty, left the game for good after their first possession with a dislocated shoulder, or that their star halfback Nick Eddy didn't play at all. All these years, like many fans, I unfairly blamed Parseghian for failing to win (and failing to play to win)this game.

But like Dempsey and Tunney's "Long Count," this is one of those games that is remembered primarily because of that controversy and because a game intended to decide who was No. 1 left that question unanswered.

I found this book to be very interesting as I compared the times detailed here (mid-1960's) to today. Society has changed in many ways, but the intense competition on the field is nothing new!

The author, as a Notre Dame alumnus, tends to bring the Irish point of view into his narrative, especially in regards to the fallout of Ara's decision at the end of the game, but this is a minor flaw and I enjoyed the book very much. If you are at all interested in the history of college football, and historic moments, this book is for you.

After all these years, and a million other books on the subject published in its wake, Fred Hatfield's seminal tome remains one of the best sources of information for anyone interested in serious weight training. The junk science, fad workouts and dubious nutrition suggestions which are commonplace in most other bodybuilding books (lets face it, most muscleheads aren't geniuses) are delightfully absent here, and virtually all the information is stuff you can rely on. If the language is too "difficult" for you, find somebody literate to read it to you! But by all means, get it.

This book is full of good information, and I am a big fan of Dr Hatfield. But at times this can be a difficult read. It is like reading a text book and some of the workout applications are difficult to follow.

Being an engineer, I like numbers and Dr. Harfield's book lays out a beginner's course by the numbers; what to do, how much, and how to recognize when you're overtrained. It was great for me.

I have purchased many books on bodybuilding and some are better than others when it comes to the training. However, I have found none that compared to this intelligently written book that discussed the importance of strength training in one's OVERALL health, nor has any book given such a clear example of WHY bodybuilding can be such an important path to a person's MENTAL, health and outlook. This book has been a goldmine of motivation for me....and has given me the REASONS why bodybuilding can be such a wonderful sport to be involved in.....far beyond the aesthetics.