Athletics Books

I bought this book to help my oldest son with weight training when he was about 13 years old. I found it to be an excellent source of information on warmup, stretching and of course the resistance exercises for young people. I like the concise format. The focus of the book is for all young athletes to increase strength and condition themselves; it's not just a weightlifting book. Increasing strength and conditioning should help the youth be a better athlete, and hopefully help reduce injuries. Even so, it may be used as a weight training text for the one whose preferred sport is weight lifting. There are detailed descriptions and photographs of the stretches and exercises. Explanations are given for free weights and cable exercises where both apply. The photographs include both boys and girls performing exercises. Both sexes can benefit. Sample routines are provided, as well as explanations of how to plan a training program. Be sure to read the questions and answers section. It is very informative, also. The book cover indicates it is for parents and players, but it could even be useful for a coach.

Found this book to be very candid & HONEST assessment about one man's career in MLB. I read this book after reading 'Game of Shadows', then went on to read Jose Canseco's other book 'Vindicated' and found all these books compelling and informative. I admire anyone that can make a mistake (?), learn from it and then own up to it. Like him or not, Mr Canseco did a great public service by exposing the greed and deception behind the scenes by players and owners alike. Players are not heros, they're businemen as much as athletes and at one time, Steriods were good business. Level the playing field - Jose did it. Good read!

I thought he was just a sleeze, but really, he does a great job of displaying the things he knows (seemingly) without speculating. He could have gotten all over Bonds and A-Rod, but refrains. He only speaks on guys he knows by first hand - and it's still a lot of people. Very fast read. Glad I read it. Very different perspective from Game of Shadows and the Mitchell Report.

Jose Canseco's "Juiced" really introduced me to a bit of the steroid culture in baseball and the appeal that steroids definitely have. While reading "Juiced", I found myself yearning for the chance to try steroids and see what they would really offer to me (against all of my better judgment of course). He offers such a bright picture of them at times done in a disciplined way that who WOULDN'T want to give them a try when a career depends on them.

The book is entertaining and as Jose says: he is an entertainer. Don't expect anything cerebral here ... just a interesting view of some of the baseball culture that you may or may not know about.

I enjoyed the book for what it was and found it an entertaining, quick read that I enjoyed while floating around my swimming pool. This was perfect for that.

This was really fun to read. It's been passed along about 4 times...great beach reading

I read this book when it first came out and I am glad I did not review it then. Like many others I was skeptical about what Canseco was saying. I just couldn't believe that all the famous athletes that he named took steriods or HGH. The idea that he personal injected many of them seemed ludicrous. The media put it down as a bunch of lies to sell books. Canseco also had his ups and downs and did not have a great reputation in baseball. After the hearings things looked even worse. But what came out in the long run was that everything he said became highly plausible or confirmed by drug testing or further investigation. This book is now a landmark book in the history of major league baseball. The only thing I disagree with Canseco on in this book is the idea that taking steroids was good for the game of baseball even though it led to more home runs and excitement for the fans. At least in his new book based on the accumulated medical evidence he has changed his tune. No one can deny that this was one of the major books to blow the lid on the use of steriods in baseball.

I believe that Canseco wrote this book for the noteriety and the money and that his selective choice of names to name was deliberate to sensationalize the book and sell copies. He now freely admits to naming people to make the book marketable in his new book vindicated. Also I think the book was intended to provide a rationalization for his own use of steroid and for turning so many others onto it. But hte Mitchell report and other investigations has confirmed that those named were really users!

I really enjoyed "The Last Amateurs." I've been a sports fan since grade school and as I write this, I'm closer to 50 than I'd care to be, so it's been a while. The past several years, I've tended to seek books about sports at the more grass-roots level because the games are (usually) purer than where all the money can be found. This is such a book.

If you're a fan of quick and snappy books about major league sports, stay away from this one. It is not a fast read, and there's not a protagonist in it who played in the NBA (okay, maybe Adonal Foyle or David Robinson, but they're abstract figures). That's the point. The Patriot League is all about colleges who expect their athletes to attend class and graduate, and these are good SCHOOLS just below Ivy League status.

I've seen a number of reviewers downgrade "The Last Amateurs" because author John Feinstein spends so much time on so many people. Well, YEAH...it's a large cast of characters when you're writing a book about a league. As tired as I've become of NBA players with college backgrounds who somehow made it through up to five years of classes without being able to string a coherent sentence together with any sense of intellect, it's kind of nice to get to know D1 players who can actually tell you who the president and is and would likely be able to find Iraq on a map if you asked. When I think of college athletes, these guys are closer to what I'd like to see than the ones you usually see on ESPN.

If you're a skeptic like me who doesn't buy into the notion that the Final Four is the pinnacle of college basketball, you'll enjoy this one. If you're still held in the thrall of major college sports programs but could care less about schools outside the big conferences like the ACC or Big 10, you SHOULD read it because you've been missing something.

I moved to Indiana roughly 18 months ago, and thus, re-read this book that I had first read a few years back. It was better and more telling the second time, obviously. It's nice to see kids who play for love of the game. You can see that here in the Hoosier State at any Butler University or high school game. I enjoy those tilts/atmospheres far more that IU, Purdue or the NBA's Pacers.

Feinstein has particularly good insight herein, thanks to his fastidious documentation and "all access" passes to the seasons of these teams. I actually follow the Patriot League more now because of this book.
John Feinstein writes a new book each year, and some are better than others. This was perhaps his best.

Remember Feinstein's book when you watch Carolina and Duke and think that's what college hoops is about.

I bought this book since I went to Lehigh and thought it would be extra interesting because of my background and because I played soccer and ice hockey at college. What a let-down!
I found the game by game annayasis drawn out and boring. About the only thing I can recommend to you from the book is the "amaterism" ( if there is such a word) of college sports at Lehigh and the great majority of other colleges in the US that we do not read or hear about on a daily basis.

I see you can purchase a used copy on Amazon for $0.99 - so what the hell - for a buck it's worth it I guess.

I agree with other reviewers who said that Feinstein would've been better off following one team instead of all of them. This could also chop the length down to a more reasonable amount. There's just too much going on to remember everything. I didn't even finish the book because it just took too long to get to the end and it didn't seem like the end would ever come. Feinstein could've told this story in about 250 pages instead of almost twice that. Not terrible, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get it.

I generally enjoy Feinstein's writings and his commentary. 'The Last Amateurs' is Feinstein's best work. Following his standard procedure, Feinstein gets inside access to the teams of the Patriot League, an east coast league of mostly small private colleges. At the time the schools did not offer athletic scholarships. The players played because they wanted to keep playing competitive hoops and they were all required to be real students.

These games are played in small arenas far way from the glare of the big time spotlight. Nonetheless, these players and coaches passionately want to win. The big dream is to make the NCAA post-season tournament. The conference torunament championship that determines which team goes to the the Big Dance is one of the great sporting events on the modern scene.

With very few exceptions, none of these players have the slightest chance of making the NBA. For the coaches, things are a little different because coaching college hoops is their career and they are looking to move up.

Feinstein does a great job of taking the reader behind the scenes. In a way, these players and games are the ideal of amateur competition that has a deep emotional resonance for many fans - and therein lies a danger that too much exposure will ruin the very thing that makes the league attractive.

Highly recommended for college sports fans.

Mr. Browne does an excellent job of examining a sports phenomenon which has not received much actual scholarly treatment. His writing style is clear and level-headed, and the level of detail into which he goes is fascinating. He's written a useful and comprehensive book which is also consistently entertaining. I'd strongly recommend AMPED to anyone who would like to learn more about the subject matter in a pleasurable way.

This book wasnt all I thought it was cracked up to be, it was actually very dull sometimes. He doesnt seem to know what he is talking about to much and talks in very stereotypical terms sometimes. I wouldnt suggest this book.

Amped was an awesome book that really looked at the extreme sport industry. I loved it!

I thought that the book was solid. It points out a lot of aspects of the action sports world that haven't been covered before and I thought it was good. I'm backing it.

Im not a skater, bmxer, or rollerblader. I am a critic and was told to review this book honestly. Honestly it is very bland. It leaves you hoping the next chapter is the final chapter. I dis-like publications that leave me bored throughout each sentence. I would only compare this to my 5th grade social studies bible I so desprately wanted to burn in my fireplace.. Give it a chance and know that you will probably feel the same way..

After looking at the way Tiger has taken HIS game to the NEXT LEVEL, I know one factor is his level of fitness that is undoubtedly surpassing the rest of the field. This book has given me a new body and a new attitude toward the game of golf as well. I am playing with much more energy and control, both physically and mentally than ever before! If Tiger can be the example for being in great shape, why can't WE ALL learn from HIM??? I know I HAVE!

Compared to other books like Complete Golf Conditioning, etc, this is really generic fitness with the word golf added. I was really disappointed in the nutritional section as I am diabetic and there were only high-sugar options which I had to make. Out of all the golf fitness books I bought in the last 2 months, this was the worst by far.

Don Tinder's book gives the best golf fitness tips in the sport. Add this to the book, Nutritional Leverage for Great Golf which tells us how to improve our game through diet, and you have two books that can give you the edge you need to lower your score. Tinder is a master at swing technique and practices what he preaches.

I follow the recommendations in this book and feel great. I don't want to be bored with useless information, and this book hits at the heart of what to do both in the gym and on the golf course. The author has motivated me to work out again! Thanks Don!

The title of this book says it all. I am feeling better, looking better, and I play with more strength and energy than ever before. This book is the answer for my fitness and golf game too!

There are so many good running books. Don't waste your time with this poor effort. Ms. Pont's prose is passable but she has no feel for the sport of cross country. A very poor effort.

The story lines that make up this book are interesting, and the development of the team and individual student-athletes during the season makes the book a worthwhile read. Still, I found the author's relentless overuse of adverbs and adjectives almost unbearable at times. There is almost no event too trivial to be overdescribed. I would encourage the author to "think Hemingway" in the future, because sometimes less is more. I do not mean this criticism to be overly harsh, and perhaps for younger readers -- and by that I mean students, not middle-aged former runners like me -- the stylistic elements that annoyed me wouldn't be a concern. I have a son who's an aspiring runner, and he enjoyed the book, so maybe it's best suited for readers close to the age of the students the author teaches and coaches.

As a cross country coach and runner, I found this book appealing on several levels. It is an easy read and it shows the joys of running to run, not just to win. The style was very descriptive, but it gave a unique and original twist to the book. That is one thing about distance runners . . . they all have a unique and original twist!

Great topic, but I wish she'd written more like a coach and less like an English teacher. Does every runner on her team have blue shadows for muscles? Not a complete waste of time, but pretty close.

What a wonderful book!

Sally Pont truly captures the pain and glory of running in this elegant portrait of the Moravian Academy co-ed cross-country team. If you've confronted and embraced the daunting task of running at any time in your life--especially on a competetive level--you will love Sally Pont. As an extremely involved coach and teacher, Pont takes us on a journey through the fall cross-country season, showing us the changes in the leaves and the obstacles her athletes encounter as they continually ask themselves: Why run?

Surprisingly, this book is not just about or for the runners. Reaching into her bag of literary treats, the English teacher in Pont emerges as she looks lovingly at her athletes and compares them to Shakespearean characters or analyses the team in terms of Greek mythology. Her writing is lyrical and beautiful; even for those who have never run a mile, this book is inspirational in the pure feeling that Pont puts into her prose.

In glorious detail, she describes the ins and outs of training for a 5 kilometer race (3.1 miles), the struggle for improving a personal time, and the team effort that is its own ultimate reward at the end of the day. Through Pont, the reader shares in this experience as we find ourselves cheering through each winning race and empathizing with the disappointment of defeat.

An inspiring read for both runner and non-runner alike--I highly recommend Sally Pont's book for all readers!

This book is a very useful tool for any aspiring athlete. Some of it is obvious and some it is quarky but altogether it is very useful. And I'm certain that if one applies these techniques you will see big gains. This book helped me understand my emotions as they relate to my sport. And it gave me ways to be a tough thinker and a actor. Everyone knows its important to try and be tough but not everyone knows how. This book has just about everything you need to know to take you game to the next level.

If your short on time skip through and just read chapters 1,7,9,11, 14 and 15. Theres 18 chapters total.

This book provides some great "food for thought" for practitioners of any sport, be it a team or an individual sport. You do not have to believe every word or make all the written exercises the author proposes; just read and think. At least, you will approach the "mental game" in a new way.

Extremely helpful "how to" book for becoming mentally tough. Unlike other sports pysche books, this one tells you very specific things to do to improve concentration, focus and most important, resiliency. Think of this as a cookbook of recipes for creating the appropriate mental response at the right time.

All I can say is that my husband a college baseball coach of 35 yrs thought this book was so important he sent it to the Cubs trainer and the pitching coach for the Padres!

This is a pretty good, easy read. It doesn't hit you with a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo that you'll never understand. Instead, it gives you a basic, common-sense approach to improving the mental aspect of your game. The author shows how the physical world and the emotional world are related, and how being stronger mentally can help you perform better in your sport.

It is not geared towards any one sport, but rather it is geared to athletes in general.

The exercise introduced in the book
is precise and easy to do, also time
saving.

The book looks like brand new, thanks.

The author of this weight loss manual knows from personal experience how difficult it can be to lose weight. He used his own experiences to develop this weight loss plan.

As far as I am concerned, '8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly' was a total waste of my money. I've been following this workout and eating plan for over four months now and have seen no reduction in neither my belly size nor my weight. Frankly, I was seeing more results from my old Denise Austin Low Impact Aerobic Workout tape than this, so it looks like I'm saying goodbye to Jorge and going back to Denise. Sorry Jorge, I gave it my best shot but your plan just doesn't work for me.

Jorge Cruise has built a successful career around weight loss through books, appearances and his website. His personal experience struggling with weight as a young child and adult have won him over an audience that can relate. With this kit the New York Times Best selling author guarantees users will lose up to 6" in less than 4 weeks. I think it's more important to focus on the increased muscle strength and tone your body will have rather than the number of inches lost and that's how I went into this review.

This 8 Minutes in the Morning to a Flat Belly Kit includes an instructional CD (not DVD) of a 33 minute personal coaching session with Jorge and 26 daily workout cards made of very thick cardstock. The purpose of this kit is to help busy people lose two pounds a week by getting their muscles to burn fat 24/7.

THE CD

The CD Breakdown:

* Intro/Welcome
* Get Ready to Start
* How to Lose 6" in 4 Weeks
* Kit Overview
* Your New Life
* Your Challenge

Jorge explains the focus of this kit is using exercises to build muscle, not increasing your cardio like most weight loss programs. Cardio is good for your heart but it's not effective for weight loss but still he recommends some form of cardio activity three times a week for 20-30 minutes to strengthen your heart muscle. The exercises restore metabolism by building muscles that will burn more calories than fat. Jorge swears the biggest cause of muscle loss is fad diets.

As for eating, Jorge only touches on this. He wants participants to eat to make muscle, avoiding calorie counting, eat every three hours (breakfast, lunch, supper, two snacks and an evening treat), use the Cruise down plate (visual image of protein, carbs, veggies on your plate) and stop eating three hours before bed. The biggest asset here is the flat belly planner (you make copies for each day of the week) to organize and log success by tracking food, water and exercise.

He touches a bit on emotional eating and again touts his website for 24/7 support and meal plans but I couldn't find anything other than ads to buy meals, books and vitamins. The CD closes with an inspirational talk about enjoying your life.

THE CARDS

The specialized fold out cards are a multi level "strength training plan". Each card contains four one minute moves which you repeat once giving you an 8 minute workout. There is a card for every day of the week with a weekend card covering both Saturday and Sunday.

There are three levels of intensity to choose from. Level 1 is for the beginner and requires no equipment other than a chair, table, wall and the kit box. Jorge recommends everyone start at level one. If you haven't had any physical activity, I totally agree. Level 1 is by no means for wimps but it is doable. After 8 minutes you can definitely tell you've worked your muscles. Level 2 is more challenging; again, with only a chair and wall as your required equipment. In Level 3 the exercises are advanced using a fitness ball and medicine ball. The three levels are colour coded in pink, yellow, and blue for easy searching.

If you follow the recommended cards you only actually work the belly 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Tuesday is for the upper body and Thursday is for the lower body. On Sunday Jorge recommends a body cleanse using a Psyllium shake. The card and CD recommend you visit his website for further details on the shake but all I found was a link to buy the powdered product. The natural Psyllium husk can be found in a bulk food store if you need more fiber in your diet.

The cards also contain a Power Thought and Visualization. Jorge Thoughts provide useful suggestions for improving your health and mental wealth. Some of the visualizations are corny, i.e. visualizing a first date with someone after you've reached your goal and their response to your body. The first week of visualizations center around how others see you, looking better to get a response from others and feeling better because of their response. Sometimes there are hints on emotional eating and success stories about people who have used Jorge's plan.

Does it work? Yes, but like any routine meant to put you in shape it is a life long plan of action, not a miracle cure. This kit is easy to understand and the exercises are doable. Obese people can do these exercises (week one and two anyway) but might have to slightly modify the moves due to surrounding flesh and extra weight. I found it helpful to have a small minute timer to do the one minute exercises as there are no repetitions to keep track of. I felt reasonably energized after only 8 minutes. It actually works out to ten if you include the warm up and cool down stretches.

Even if you didn't follow his dietary suggestions these exercises will be of benefit. If only 8 minutes a day can improve your life it's worth trying and we all can spare 8 minutes for some activity. Reviewed by M. E. Wood.

I really love the exercises in this book, and they really do help me! I have been adding more than just these exercises to my routine (mostly walking), but for toning, I love these.

As for the rest of the book, I am not sure that I agree with his ideas. If you are looking just for some great exercises to do in a small amount of time, this is an awesome book!

The process as detailed in this book is completely correct and only an utter idiot could or would fail to see this in terms of the cycles functioning in every aspect of their own life. Its very simple and involves a "decision/belief" connected to what you want to do, or something that you find that you must do in your life. Then comes intense, hard training and focus ( mental and/or physical ). All "training" toward a desired objective which you believe is possible to attain MUST consist of hard and intense focus - "sweating it out" with increasing stress to a specific level ( a la the Yerkes-Dodson Law ). When this level is reached, it is immediately followed by a "release", which means backing off or letting go of the training and then pursuing some other unrelated activity which completely disconnects the intellect and body from the training process. This causes an automatic "catching up" of various elements and capabilities to take place and in turn, this "catching up" causes a "Breakthrough" experience where you advance to a higher level in your initial training. A new reality of function is then the norm.
The process is absolutely accurate and it works with 100% consistency. However, the book is written in a meandering, long-winded, side-tracking manner that makes it tedious reading. When I read a book on subjects like this I want the meat-and-potatoes right in front of me all laid out step-by-step sequencially with straight-up talk and explanations. I don't want trips into the lifestyles of people I don't know, or views on case histories from almost the beginning of the book onward - all of which bogs down the flow and lessens the grasp of the topic.
The whole issue with what's wrong with this book is that it doesn't GET TO THE POINT fast enough. It doddles. It blathers. It keeps droning on and on. And in fact, the book could have been one third of its length if the topic had been explained properly ( A + B = C ) so that the reader could put the process into practice right off. Since the process is itself very simple and easy to employ, all the superfluous information must only have been included for one purpose, and that is to increase the book's size and thereby increase its price!
Still, its a great and accurate process and its worth learning about and consciously using, but its too bad the book explaining it is so damned drawn out.

Some do it in the shower, some do it in the woods, some do it with friends, and some do it in their sleep. If you don't do it; read this book. "It" is `Breakout' of prior mental and emotional patterns and into a state of mind where enhance performance flows. Athletes call it the zone, for others it is when solutions `pop' into the mind or conversations/presentations flow and `connect' with others. In this book, Herbert Benson, M.D. and William Proctor take the reader through the body's biological or anatomical response during the Breakout process, as they define the four-stages:
* Stage one begins with a hard mental or physical struggle.
* Stage two involves pulling the Breakout trigger, completely severing prior thoughts and emotional patterns - the doing "it" part.
* Stage three is the `peak experience', or performance element of the process.
* Stage four is a return to a `new-normal' state, meaning one with enhanced mind-body performance patterns.

In Part II of the book, the authors devote a chapter each to six types of Breakout resulting `peak experiences' - Self-Awareness, Creativity, Productivity, Athleticism, Rejuvenation, and Transcendence - before discussing how an intrinsic belief system can help trigger a Breakout and offer peak experiences beyond our analytical mind-set's capabilities.

Although the book is an easy read and does contain several descriptions of how the Breakout trigger might be pulled, I would not describe this as a self-help book. It more of an informative read than a practical how-to book for finding your `zone'.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

Why did I buy this book? It was one of those darn impulse purchases. I mean it's not terrible or anything In some ways it explains the well-known phenomena of creativity after intellectual struggle and more interestingly it provides an explanation of why meditation etc. may work. But there's not much substance and it is certainly not worth full price. Also towards the end it pushes religion on the reader. If this type of thing bugs you, be forewarned.

Excellent Read! The best self-help book ever. It will take you to the next level and higher than you have ever been!

Greg

Pretty much anything you enjoy doing can be a source of "The Breakout Principle." There. I've read the book for you.

Residing in Ohio, the chronicle of the travails and triumphs of the Salem High School cross-country team has extra meaning; the scoring error in the state championship meet which spoiled a solid season was a controversial issue chronicled in the sports media throughout the Buckeye State.

And that is where the story could have ended, but is only the beginning. The hard work to climb the hill back to the top the following season is the compelling story from team members and cousins Paul and Joe Shivers.

The story is geared to high-school readers and could be used by coaches as a teaching tool. Champions are not made simply from reaching the finish line in first place; they are shaped by adversity and never giving up.

This is an inspirational story that is played every late-summer and fall out on turf courses throughout the nation.

Personally, I found that this book wasn't very inspiring and was written quite amateurishly. The only reason I finished it was that it was given to me as gift. If you are looking for and inspiring running book I would highly recommend Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder.

I got this by mistake, thinking it was another running DVD & haven't read it.

Good read - enjoyable, quick. As a parent cross country supporter, I found it insightful to get the kids' perspectives.

To be perfectly honest this book was an utter dissapointment. The language is impressive for the authors age however the overall story line is lacking. The book overemphasized the work effort that the boys upon this team actually underwent, and also downsized the incredible amount of luck that they were able to have 5 extremely talented athletes in two very uncompetetive years for the state of Ohio. In addition the author Joe Shivers desperatley made himself up to be an important member of the team by exagerating the importance of the sixth runner. I myself have competed in numerous major cross country meets and other than within this book I have yet to find a meet where the winner was decided by a sixth runner. This is a prime example of how joe attempted to make his inability to make the top five somehow important and relevant to the story. Overall this is a story of ten or so spoiled boys that manage to be lucky enough through enormous talent and an uncompetetive state meet become state champions. The story has no depth and lacks any sort of inspiration that a book of this nature should posess. If you want a good running book try Running With The Buffaloes by chris lear but do not buy this book for it is a complete disapointment.