Athletics Books

I've only been running for about a year, and I was afraid this book would be too technical, or too focused on competitive/marathon runners. But I've gone through this book with a highlighter time and time again finding helpful tips to make running safer, healthier, and more fun. It's a keeper!

I am a triathlete, and as such I am always searching for ways to increase both my endurance and my enjoyment of excersize. Joe Henderson, not only makes reading about running fun but offers some unique and worthwhile suggestions for even the serious athlete.

Hey if it isn't still fun to run then read this book and follow his advice. Before long you will wonder why did not think to make these changes earlier and save yourself some unproductive pain.

Also, many of these lessons transfer nicely into other sports so do not be afraid to try them out.

Like the other reviewers, I loved this book. It will keep you interested in running for a long time to come. Henderson makes sense.

But I want to make sure that serious runners know what the book is really about. It's not a book about developing a competitive edge--at least not in the normal sense. It's not about living on the edge--in terms of high mileage training. It's about not falling off the edge--that is, staying healthy and interested in running over the long haul.

As much as I loved the book, I couldn't give it 5 stars because right now I'm in the competitive mode, determined to qualify and run the Boston Marathon. I need more tough training right now than Henderson promotes.

Once I run Boston, I'll come back to this book and love it more than ever.

I had been running on and off for years. Injuries here and there and lack of motivation prevented me from attaining any consistency. Late 1996 I decided to run the Chicage Marathon in the fall of 1997, consequently shortly before my 40th birthday. Trying to prove to everyone and myself that I am not really aging. That even though I'm 40, I feel 25. Who am I kidding! I decided that I would become knowldegable on the topic and searched for running books on the amazon.com site. Joe's book came up in the list. I had heard about him in Runners World magazine so I decided to try the book. It totally changed my view of running. Run for FUN!! Run for your health not against your health. So many great tips on how to run but also a wealth of thoughts that changed my mindset that has allowed me to get past the boredom. I love each and every run and look forward to them with a new enthusiasm that I never had before. This book was a great investment in my future health. I will be a runner for life

This isn't it what it says. It's mostly reprints of Henderson's columns from Runner's World and other periodicals. As such, it's a good picture of his outlook, warts and all. Unfortunately, it's not as cohesive a perspective as it would be if it were a complete work. Henderson contradicts himself several times, and gives some genuinely bad advice, like training for marathons by running no more than half the distance (even he admits to barely finishing with this approach -- imagine what it would do to a novice!), and drinking soda or sugar water during endurance runs (this can be downright dangerous).

What good information there is to be had here is mostly quoted from Sheehan, Galloway, and others. This gives a good overview of some of the primary sources, but it's marred by Henderson's inconsistency and his obvious ego.

TJ and LJ were my specialties in high school and college, and I have been an avid technical student of the TJ and LJ events for over 20 years, as both an athlete and a coach. The Complete Book of Jumps is a book that I wish I would have found long ago. It's far and away the best text I've found on the subject of jumps.

This excellent book breaks down all phases of the jumps, ie: long jump, high jump, triple jump, and pole vault. The book discusses the science and technique of many successful jumpers throughout the world and breaks down each phase of the jump. There is also great training and conditioning information as well.

the book did not explain it clarel

Not only was this book easy to understand, but I went from "no 20 foot long jumpers" to having three that went over 21 feet. Great stuff on periodization. Easy to understand and easy to implement.

I was happily suprised by this book. I'm used to seeing general track and field books or "specialized" books that are nothing of the sort. This book, however, is wonderful. It covers all aspects of the long, triple, high and pole vault jumping events, form the first training day to the approach to the landing to the last day of season. In fact, it gives a comprehensive training plan for the whole year. Plus, "The Complete Book of Jumps" gives really good, clear explanation, complete with illustrations, of each of the jumps. It's definitely worth the money and the read, even for half the information it has!

I'm only 1/2 way through, and I like the book. I graduated from Bama in 1990 and appreciate the historical facts I was not aware of before. I don't find the writing great, but I am accustomed to reading different types of books. I find Eli repeats himself with facts during several chapters which kind of bothers me, but it may not bother some. It still gives some awesome stats and figures I was never aware of before. My favorite Alabama book will always be Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John; this book I could not put down, but it's an entirely different kind of novel. St. John's is more entertaiment; Eli's is more historical. I think either would be enjoyed by anyone that loves to yell "ROLL TIDE ROLL" when the team kicks off. Let's hope for a better season next year........

Eli Gold, the voice of NASCAR and University of Alabama football, came to radio via his humble roots in Brooklyn, NY. How he did, and how he became such an integral part of the Alabama family, are an interesting sidebar to a larger story that Gold weaves--a rich tapestry of football, culture, and camraderie.

Gold has done his homework, but this book doesn't get bogged down in the arcane. It's simply a warm, broad overview of Alabama football history, including some of the key coaches, players, games, characters, broadcasters, locations and moments that make Alabama football such a national treasure.

One of the strengths of the book is that Gold writes like he talks--you can really "hear" him as you read, which is a good thing, given that Gold is one of our nation's finest sportscasters. He is also gracious, and goes out of his way to honor his colleagues and predecessors in the broadcast booth. His descriptions are colorful and accurate...and always interesting.

This is an excellent book; a must for any Alabama fan, but also enjoyable for fans of sports everywhere.

As a life-long Alabama fan, I was excited to read Eli Gold's new book on the Crimson Tide. Written in typical Eli Gold style, the book was an easy read that makes you feel you're sitting around a table with other Bama fans talking about and reliving the great moments in Alabma football history. The chapters on former UA President George H. Denny, Wallace Wade, Harry Gilmer, Don Hutson and Frank Thomas were really good and informative, but the stories in the chapters on Joe Namath, Pat Trammell, Kenny Stabler, etc. really offered no new insights and would be well-known by old-timers like myself. Overall, it is still a good book and would make a great read for any Alabama fan

When Eli Gold took over as the play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide radio broadcasts, I was initially put off by his high-pitched voice. After decades of classical callers like John Forney, Paul Kennedy, and Doug Layton, Gold sounded downright shrill. But he has grown on me over time - and his voice sure cuts through the din of a crowd!

Eli has had sports connections within the state for years and it certainly shows in this volume. There are anecdotes to spare. Honestly, many of the stories are well-worn to old-timers like me. But if you're a relative newcomer, if you're making your first Tide-related book purchase, or if you grew up in the 1960s and '70s and simply love to relive the days of perfection (sigh), you can't go wrong with this one.

If you are a big alabama fan like I am then you will like this book. It is simple and well written and gives a brief and short history of some of the teams. It majors on the late great "Bear" but over-all is a very enjoyable book. Michael Beck- Florence, Alabama

The Last Goode is an enjoyable mystery novel that will keep you interested all the way through. And I would recomend it to all mystery novel lovers.

This book is a pretty good book. It was based on a true unsolved case. As you find out when you read the book, Stacy Davis, a girl everyone thought was perfect, was Marty's baby-sitter. When she screamed her final words Marty thought he should have done something, instead he hid under his bed. He always thought he should have done something.
As the story progresses, Marty finds out that Stacy was into drugs. He also finds out that O.C., Stacy's boyfriend, got Stacy pregnant. For more about the book, read it yourself. If you're into sports or mystery or both, I highly recommend you read this.

...Marty was four when Stacy was kidnapped and thought to be killed and ever since then he had nightmares and felt guilty that if he would have done something it wouldn't have happen. Now that he is older and a track star at Southwestern High he wants to find out what Stacy meant when she screamed, "No!! No, Jesus!!! No!..Tsee!...Hurt!" He wants to find out who took Stacy away from him and why.

The characters in this story were all realistic, stupid, and funny. Marty was a normal teenager who was a great track runner. Stacy, later in the story you find out that she had gotten into drugs and sex. People thought of Stacy as little miss perfect but no one really knew her. Harper was one of Marty's friends and he was also a great track runner and showed some jealousies toward Marty because he always took first.
The author used daily language that made it sound like teenager were the ones talking. He used some bad words and big words which made the story flow and easy to read. The length of the story is about right not to short and not to long.
The story gives a lot key points to make you finish the story and find out what had happen what was going on with Stacy. The conflict seemed real.

This book was pretty good book. Its one of those books that you have to finish because you have to know what happen to Stacy. It was realistic and talked about real life situation and what can happen to in those situations. I recommend this book for teenagers that enjoy reading and like sports and mystery.

The last goodie is about a track star,Stacy who was kidnaped and never seen again. While she was babysitting Marty, her nieghbor. Now marty is the current track star when some new information about Stacy's disaperance is found.A note was found from a friend saying she had a hidden diary in her old house. This diary contains the information to find the kidnaper. Plus Marty's friend is beating him on the track. while tring to be the last goodie and finding out what happend to stacy, this book will keeep you guessing until the last page.
Marty is a track star goodie on his coach's last season following in his babysiters foot prints. Looking for information that will help explain to him what happened to Stacy
This is a great book and i think everyone needs to read it. It'll keeep you guessing until the last page.

Marty Oliver, a runner on his high school track, has been frequented by thoughts of a tragedy that happened when he was five years old. His babysitter, Stacy Davis, was kidnapped! When he heard Stacy scream, he hid under his bed and fell asleep. When his parents came home and found him, they asked him to tell the police everything he remembered. Over the years, Marty had nightmares about what happened. His father would record everything he said on a tape recorder. When Marty listened to the tapes, memories were pulled up from the deepest place in his heart. Marty's mother had never liked the tapes, or the fact that Marty never let go of that night. Marty's coach had also been Stacy's coach, and she was the best on the team until something strange happened. So naturally, anything having to do with her disappearance was a concern of her coach. The police soon started helping Marty in finding Stacy's kidnapper. Once they gathered all their clues, they put a plan into action.

This book kept me interested and I never wanted to put it down. Sometimes I would be reading until late at night. I love mystery stories. The main reason why I liked this specific book was because the characters work together. They devised a plan and did something about a kidnapping that happened over ten years before. It took a teen-aged boy to dig up and solve a mystery that had been forgotten for years. You get to hear Marty's thoughts and that helps you determine who did what and why they did it. You can take Marty's point of view and change it around to fit the image of your mind. The Last Goodie is an excellent mystery story.

I love Paul Tergat. The excerpts in the book that are attributed to Tergat are very good. The photos put together an inspiring story about an interesting man.

But the parts of the book written by Wirz are rife with spelling and grammatical errors. Worse, Wirz is whiny and focuses too heavily on Tergat's losses. The book has one excuse after another. The worst is when he discusses Tergat's rival Gebrselassie's chances in the marathon. He says that Gebrselassie's bouncing style is made for artificial tracks and will not make it in the marathon. Gebrselassie has already had a decent amount of success in the marathon, running 2:05 in Japan last year. Tergat would never say something unsportsmanlike about Gebrselassie, but it comes across like Tergat sanctioned this whiny accusation.

Again, the parts of the book that are in Tergat's words are great. And the pictures, especially the pictures of his post-World Record celebration in Kenya, as well as the one of Tergat's father presenting a goat to his coach, make the book a worthy buy. Too bad a better author didn't write it.

This is part bio; part running manual and more. On November 6th, 2005 Paul Tergat won the New York Marathon over the reigning champion from South Africa, Hendrick Ramaal and it could hardly have been closer. Some friends of mine were saying, the second guy lost the race still; I thought, hmmmn, what does one say to that? But I am reading this book, chapter 5 speaks of Tergats "eternal" battles with another reknown runner, Haile Gebrsellassie, stating that Paul lost by only a nine hundredth of a second against the Ethiopian at Sydney 2000 and it certainly put that discussion in perspective.

I really, got carried off on a tangent there, but this book does discuss many details such as that; it is jammed with photos of Tergat and those usually carry his indelible smile and when I say jammed with photos I mean there must be at least a hundred on a conservative estimate. The book in some ways, is like reading a magazine article complete with photos except this article is over some 200 pages.

The book also details some of the training regimens of Kenyan runners complete with schedules and here, I believe some clarification is needed. It is indeed, learning to run the "Kenyan" style. Though, I would not consider myself a real real runner and certainly not a marathon runner which this book seems to emphasize, I can compare it though with the numerous books out there on how to run, how to prepare for a marathon, 10k, etc. and it treats the subject very well. I do not know the book "The greatest" on Gebrselassie but another track book to which is compares favorably too, is by US standout Michael Johnson "Slaying the dragon." In fact, what I would like about this Tergat book, is that it is printed on a paper similar to your standard magazine, slick paper and includes the photographs in color. Though the book is by Swiss journalist Jung Wirz, included are many paragraphs verbatim from Tergat on running, training and even on life and his life growing up. I did a double-look to see if he was listed as a co-author because really, it is very close. These quotations of Paul's are always in blue. A very well done book.

Tributes to Tergat, his endeavors such as publishing the magazine, "Athlete" a Kenyan track magazine, discussions of his doctor Rosa etc. makes this book very complete.

However I once met some Kenyan runners, training in a "high altitude" location. The book mentions the diets of Kenyan runners and to me is almost worthy of purchasing on that basis alone because of their graces, they allowed me to dine with them a few times and that is priceless? I was generally aware of their diet, but had some questions. Mursiik is sour milk, maziwa lala is a fermented milk. The runners I met, always had buttermilk. Perhaps there is a slight difference. The book does not call it buttermilk, but as to my own thoughts, I wonder if these are one and the same? At times, in this book, I do wonder, if the Swiss writer, Wirz always uses the most appropriate English translations but it does not stand in the way. It is probably correct in fact. Kenyans in the US will eat spinach but the related plant back in Kenya may be slightly different and has the name Sukuma Wiki.

Tiny details I have singled out, is why this book is also very fascinating to read just in order to get a background on Kenya and its culture. Yes, surely, a "Wazungu" like me and many others would appreciate this book.

This book is truly fantastic , it is well laid out and gives alot of infomation on the way Kenyans eat , sleep and train etc .. Also it has alot of infomation about the life of Paul tergat and he includes numerous numbers of hints and tips for the beginning runner and the elite but I belive the best part of this book are the illusrations . The illustrations are truly amazing nearly every page of second page there are coloured "good quality" pictures of really interesting things . This is a book that you would expect to pay well over $25 for because the printing is just done to perfection . I highly recommend this book for any one who is interested in running . It is truly the best running book I have ever come across(and I own alot of running books)
So if you want a big bang for your buck go the "Kenyan Way" and purchuse RUNNING TO THE LIMIT .

Paul Tergat's life was pretty cool. It was a good book and if you like stories about winners, this one is for you. He had an awesome running career.

I thought this book was a nice bio of Tergat with lots of nice photos. I wish there was a series with all my favorite runners! The writing is not the greatest, but it's readable and interesting. Plenty of quotes from Tergat.

I loved this book. This book represents the end of an era. When female fitness competitors still looked like women. Its really sad that as womens fitness has evolved hyper-muscularity and super ripped conditioning has become the standard.
All the photos are black and white and I love that about this book. Models like Mia Finnegan, Monica Brant, April Moore, Carol Semple, Ahmo Height, Sharon Bruneau ....most of them long gone from the fitness biz. If you miss the era when womens fitness emerged to try to salvage what was left of the few female physique fans still around you will really enjoy this book. The photos are mostly nudes or with minimal cover like gauze and the like.....
I thought this was infinitely better than Bill Dobbins "The Women."

Excellent book with artistic pictures of beautiful women. The text is a little sugary but the pictures more than make up for it. My biggest moan is that the book wasn't longer or the pages bigger....Monica Brant, April Moore,...ahhh! Not for those who like grotesquely veined parodies of the female form.

The photographs are very beautiful, especially those of Ericca Kern. Though not as good as "The Women," it is still very Goode.

I was thoroughly unimpressed with the quality of the photography in this book. It seemed fairly lifeless to me. It didn't help that the women in general are not attractive. Even the paper quality of the pages seemed to make the photos even more dull. This ones going to be returned.

Very simply, this is a photo book consisting of top female fitness competitors and a few of the more marketable female bodybuilders. The style of the photography is fairly artistic and doesn't always bring the full beauty of the physiques to light, but other times is very flattering and interesting. The text is marginally interesting, but since that's not what the book is about it doesn't detract very much from the overall experience.

This book does what it claims to do. Get a member of the public upto entry level fitness to even think about joining the marines. i.e. gets you to a high level of all round general fitness. It is based around an 8 week course but allows the less fit amongst us to repeat the odd week! It gives a good all round picture of how to keep healthy and allows you do design & maintain your own routines for life. Overall a good book on all round fitness.

The Royal Marines are an elite force renowned for their physical fitness and the harsh demands of their training. This simplistic program, definitley tailored down for the popular consumer, is little more than a Jack LaLane exercise series with some long walks and runs thrown in. No true fitness buff will find this interesting, challenging or helpful.

This book is superb for anyone considering a career in the Royal Marines. Anyone who has looked into this as a possible career will know that the standard of fitness required is second to none. This book takes you from beginner level right through to a standard of fitness that would be sufficient to get you through the first few weeks of training. (Then it's up to the PTI's!) However, I think that the author's boasts that there are some things in the book that are at the same level of difficulty that can be found on the SBS selection course is unfounded - He is obviously NOT ex-SBS!

Any one thinking of joining the royal marines should seriously think about buying this book to help them prepare for the training that they will have to endevor thought the courses. Although sometimes the book was a little simple the main core of the book was trueful and a good starting point for anyone to start.

Robin Eggar's book is a good solid foundation on which to build any fitness programme and covers the basic exercises of circuit training well. Instructions and diagrams are mostly clear (mostly; one particularly unclear instruction lost it a star) and written with the non-military reader in mind.The simple tests provided within the book provide a helpful way of measuring progress and it also provides a reasonable programme of fitness progression, especially for beginners. The previous reviewer, although of course entitled to his opinion, is being slightly unfair to the book; although I would agree with him that book is probably not going to teach experts much that they don't already know, I don't think that they were necessarily the target audience of the author. In summary,as military style fitness books go, this is one of the better ones.

I purchased this book thinking it would help me with my adult learn-to-swim classes. It did in a round about way. I would purchase this book only if your into drill swimming and need help with the basics.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK TO ASSIST THE BEGINNER TO ADVANCED SWIMMER. FANTASTIC FOR THE SWIM TEAM STUDENT TRYING TO IMPROVE STROKE PERFORMANCE.

The Swimming Drill Book
This book is well written and illustrated. There are easy to practise drills wich state 1) the purpose of the drill, 2) the procedure to follow and 3) the focus points to concentrate on to achieve body position. The author has covered the four swimming strokes, the starts, turns and finishes in an easy to cognitively assimulate style of writing. Overall if you wish to improve your swimming strokes the practise drills in this book will aid your endevours, all you need is to practise, practise and then practise.

it's really useful and well designed, with very clear images...
you need it to improve your swimming technique...

This book is quite good for a review of the majority of strokes - great help to coaches and swimmers. It cover's about 90% of all the drills I have ever seen in my swimming lifetime.

Digger tells an interesting story of his rise in coaching but there is no real life changing leadership or self improvement tips that have not been written about already. Based on a brief appointment by Bush 1 he thinks about running for Pres. God Luck. But I will give him kudos for being the only coach I know of that has the ballz to speak of UCLA legend Coach Wooden with anything but praise. He really calls him more of a poor sport. No wonder he never coached after Notre Dame again.

The is a wonderful book - part memoir and part practical advice on living - from a sports icon! And you don't even have to be a Notre Dame basketball fan to enoy it.

This is not a basketball book although there are many entertaining stories of Digger's two decades at ND...It's about a man who has a passion for makeing this planet a better place when it's his time to leave...He believes in "giving back" had has donated much of his time as well as money to make "life" for others better....all proceeds go to Katernia victims...

If this were a basketball book I wouldn't have bothered to buy it. It was exactly as promised, life lessons from an American icon. Digger Phelps is so much more than a basketball coach. He's worked for the first President Bush, he served as an election monitor in Cambodia, he's building homes for people still sufering from the effects of Katrina. He learned as an undertaker's son that it's best to do what you have to today, because tommorrow might not come. The book is full of great advice for anyone, not just basketball fans. I read it in one sitting.

early pr release on this book indicated that Digger would have provided lots of inofrmation about basketball: teams, players, recruiting, why he resigned, etc. There is very little about basketball, while it is his life's perspective and he's entitled to say so, to an outsider, the book is a major disappointment. if you are looking for basketball insight, do not buy it. if you want life lessons, you'll enjoy it. Frankly, I'd like my money back.

I have always heard (and observed) that runners have better endurance and overall fitness. I had tried jogging, mostly after dark, to try and get "up to speed" with other people in my biking club, but gave up after feeling faint. After reading this book, running doesn't seem as intimidating; I am gradually improving my cardiovascular fitness, so I can excel at the sports I love. The discussion about breathing, form, and stretching were especially helpful. The book was inspiring to me.

This is a superb book for beginners. Anyone who questions its "slow and easy" approach has never watched friends take on fitness programs with great enthusiasm, only to get hurt or lose interest a couple of months later. This book's number one goal is to keep that from happening by setting goals that Salazar describes as "so easy that you'll always be wanting more." It gains credibility coming from Salazar, who was renowned for his grueling training schedules. My guess is that a lot higher fraction of people who listen to him will be running a year from now than of those who risk an accelerated program not suitable for untrained beginners. The book is also loaded with answers to questions that beginners ask all the time, including many that will apply to beginning racers. If you've been running for a year or two, you may already know most of the answers, but in those first few months it's all new, and this book covers the ground nicely, in a pleasant, easy-to-read style. It's also loaded with entertaining a necdotes. Did you know that Salazar once ran several miles of a marathon with a side stitch so bad it hurt for weeks afterward? No wonder he had what it took to win! Also fun is the fact that Salazar shares the stage with his co-author, giving the book a mix of world-class and "average runner" perspectives. It's an unusual approach that works nicely, because the co-author can write from experience about issues that front-running Salazar never had to face. Bottom line: if you've been sedentary for a few years and are wanting to do something about it, this is your book. If you've been running for a few years (as I have), it's a great gift for that friend who's thinking about starting an exercise program.

Running always appealed to me but everytime I considered taking it up I had second thoughts because of all the injured friends I know who are runners. This didn't seem healthy, so I thought "Why run?".

I ran across this book in a book review in a local paper and was intrigued because it said you could run with a much reduced possiblity of injury by following the plan outlined in the book. Reading it made a lot of sense and I could see many places where my running friends had made mistakes that probably lead to their injuries. I've read other books that back up what the author says so he isn't advocating some "out there" method but rather a method that will allow you to run to improve your health, which is what most of us are probably looking for.

It's sad that one of the greatest distance runners of his generation has lent his name to a book that purports to require a couple of hundred pages to transform people into 12-15 mile per week fitness joggers.

Here's how to do it in 150 words, instead of 50,000:

(1) Buy appropriate running shoes from a running store (they'll tell you what's appropriate for you).

(2) Go outside and walk/jog for 15 minutes, or until you are really tired, whichever comes first.

(3) Repeat step (2) three to five times per week, increasing both the percentage of time you are jogging rather than walking, and the total time spent moving briskly, until you reach a point where you are jogging for at least 30 minutes without walking or stopping. Reaching this stage will take some people a few days and others several weeks. (Salazar recommends taking 52 weeks to reach this level, which is absurd).

That's all there is to it -- really. You don't need to pay a former world class marathoner for this information.