Athletics Books

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 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 is a superb introspective look at the fear an athlete feels when the sound of clapping is silenced. This is a true literary gem that takes a qualitatively research based look at a problem too often ignored. I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever suddenly changed stages in life without benefit of a rule book to follow. You will find it engrossing and mind altering.

Scott Tinley has experienced firsthand the challenging life transition from adulated winning sports star to over-the-hill retiring athlete. Being introspective, he studied athlete retirement in depth. He threw himself into this project with as much intensity as he engaged in physical training for triathlons. On the way, he acquired two masters' degrees, one in writing and the other in sport psychology. And, he is currently studying on a Doctorate. Tinley completed this book in 2003 at the same time he finished an 18 month long seminal research paper on athlete retirement at San Diego State University. His research became the knowledge foundation for this book.

The book is excellent. Tinley has a breezy writing style that renders the book very easy to read. While his research paper is very interesting. The book is a lot more fun. This is because the book reflects his firsthand experience of his sports career from childhood till his transition into academia. Instead, his research paper is focused on 16 other athletes and covers exclusively their post retirement experience.

The professional athlete post-retirement transition is psychologically brutal. Athletes typically face this transition with no college degree, no professional skills, and little financial wherewithal. Tinley uncovered much research disclosing startling facts about athletes' retirement. Fewer than half of pro athletes get to choose when they retire.
The divorce rate for retired athletes in the major professional leagues is over 60%.
Retirement is especially harsh on NFL players. This painful transition is compounded by NFL careers being the shortest at less than five years in average. The suicide rate among retired NFL players is six times the average. Offensive and Defensive linemen have a 52% greater risk of dying of heart disease than the general population. Also, two thirds of football players retire with a permanent injury.

Tinley was not spared the psychological ordeal of the retired sports star. When he retired, his income decreased by 90% (take out a zero as he puts it. That entails he made $100K a year as a triathlete). He experienced marital problems. He suffered a long bout of depression and tried several anti-depressant prescription drugs (Prozac, Zoloft) without much success. He sought therapy. And, he gradually pulled himself together thanks to his success in academia as a student, college teacher, psychologist researcher, and writer.

His own research indicates an inverse relationship between money earned as a pro athlete and successful post retirement transition. Two opposite examples of this are Bjorn Borg, who never quite recovered his footing after retiring from a very lucrative tennis career. His life has been plagued by a succession of failed marriages, palimony suits, depression bouts, and bad business decisions that have nearly jeopardize his financial independence. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Tinley mentions Eric Heiden the five time Olympic gold medalist in 1980 who goes back to Stanford goes on to med school and becomes a successful orthopedic surgeon. "To me what is mythic about Eric is the seamlessness of his transitions between professions, between lives." Eric says "What I do now is so much more meaningful." Tinley states that big money is really a curse. It renders the individual so much more invested in their sport image that the upcoming retirement triggers a devastating identity crisis from which many never fully recover. And, he feels the key to surviving the retirement transition is how you perceived yourself beforehand. The more your self-identity had an obsessive single dimension as a sport star, the less prepared you are for retirement and the more you will suffer psychologically.

If you enjoy this book, I also recommend John McEnroe's You Cannot Be Serious and Boris Becker's The Player. McEnroe is a good example of a sport star that has become very successful in post-retirement. Becker is an example of one who is still fighting his demons. Both books make for very interesting and entertaining reading.

Sorry Scott; I wanted to like this book. I have read pretty much everything you have written and will probably continue to do so, despite this book. Why? Because of all you have done that I can only dream of. And read of thanks to you. But with "Racing the Sunset" you have tried to go into creative non-fiction and take us beyond your experiences. Good on ya! But gee Scott, it really needs another re-write. It reads like a not-quite-finished draft. I don't know if this is a problem of editing, as another reviewer has suggested, or of writing. Read Bill McKibben's "Long Distance" if you haven't already and please keep writing.

I've been a Tinley fan (as a writer) for years and looked forward to reading this. It provided an excellent insight into Scott Tinley, and the way that he's approached his triathlon, and life. The way that he contrasts his ups and downs is excellent. The talks with other athletes and the empathy shown with other retired athletes speaks volumes to the character of the man.

Unfortunately, there were a few times when a particularly well made point was undone by possibly poor editing. An example for me was when he was complaining about air travel - with which I can heartily concur, but then ruins the point by following it up by stating that he was travelling first class. (You should try it economy!) It ends up coming across as whinging.

Nevertheless, I found this book an excellent read, and provided a unique insight into something we often don't see - athletes who never really learnt to "grow up" because they never had to.

One thing worthy of note is to try and read it from Scott's point of view, and to not impose our own individual values on his comments. If you can achieve this, you can get past viewing it as a whinge, and see it for the gem that it really is.

before you can race the sunset, you first need to get a jump on dawn, and mr. san diego has been racing the rosy-fingered hues of early mornings for two decades as he defined, shaped, sculpted this athletic calling now known as triathlon. as the founder of tri-athlete magazine, i used to resent the fact that this bona-fide beach boy with cornflower silk hair and chiseled bod knew how to write--and write well. "jocks" shouldn't be known as true authors. tinley, the man he describes in this heartfelt confessional memoir, is still testing himself against seen and unseen obstacles. the memoir is both a trip down memory lane in the aero tucked position and a homage to the retired jock syndrome (rjs). every athlete must face that time in his or her life when age takes its toll. but that is not a call for surrender. tinley doesn't go DNF on us. nor does he want to. his writing the book was an act of courage--a private correspondence with a very public self.

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.

After running one lengthy race following the schedule they put out, I decided to do something different for an upcoming half marathon I'd like to run. Received info on this book and decided to check reviews and then purchase. Very glad I did! It's been a great resource for me. I've referred back to it many times and I'm sure that will continue. Although I may have read some of the info formerly in Runner's World, I've found it very helpful to have it all compiled into one book.

If you are looking for a comprehensive book that covers everything you wanted to know about running, this one stands out. This books relies quite a bit of past articles in Runner's World but if you have not read this magazine recently, almost everything in this book would seemed new to you. My only wish is that Katie shared more of her running experience. That would make the book more personal and not read like another Runner's World compilation.

Everything you need to get started or improve your running skills in one place. Includes helpful instructions, motivation, nutrition advice and beneficial cross training tips. Enjoyable read, especially for the beginner runner.

I just wanted to let you know that your book is awesome. It has so much information in it, in one place. Usually I have to one thing here and go to another website for something else. But this book has tons of information all in one place, so it is great and a time saver! Also some of the stuff I notice while browsing through the book I don't remember seeing in books before. I have ran other races (5K, 10K, and 5 milers), but this spring I am training for my first half marathon (LV Half Marathon & helping to put it together with the LVRR) this book will be a great resource for me and other races to come. Thank you so much!

Easily the most disappointing running book I have owned. The title and publisher would lead one to believe this is a real guide to running faster and competing; what this book actually feels like is an attempt to recycle miscellaneous Runners World articles in a somewhat organized format. Less than half the book is devoted to road racing; most of it is devoted to pictures of someone stretching and doing strengthening exercises, miscellaneous recipes, and the like. For anyone who really wants advice on racing, try Pfitzinger, Higdon or Glover.

I ordered a couple of his books and while one may be interesting they are kind of redundant. If ordering just try one first.

Get in shape for ski season with this guide to stretching. These easy exercises work well as a morning wake-up call.

This is a good book - a relatively inexpensive book to help know how to get in shape for skiing season. I also purchased Fitskiing (hardback) which is more exhaustive (and was more what I was looking for), but this book is worth the cost.

I'm a personal trainer working in a New York City gym and when a client of mine wanted some exercises for his favorite sport, I did a search and found this book. It has been excellent. All I needed to tailor a program for him, and even exercises he can do on the mountain in full gear. Clear, honest and effective. I highly recommend it.

It is well established that stretching improves agility and quickness of skiers. Resistance exercises strengthen the muscles, but they also shorten them. Stretching makes muscles longer again. This leads to flexibility (greater range of motion in the joints) which allows to get the most out of your training program and helps to ski longer, in better control, with less fatigue. Many books in the past emphasized primarily physical training during off-season period. In the last few years, flexibility and stretches got increasingly large attention. This book is entirely focused on stretches. It contains a well-illustrated 10-20 minute warm-up and stretching routine, and several additional excersises to improve balance. The exercises are very easy, and can be done, e.g., in the morning before work. They help to wake up and to feel better. Additionally, there is a section on warm-up and stretches recommended for the slopes before skiing (partly with the skis on), and a few exercises on skis to improve balance.

The authors emphasize that it is important to do these stretches every day since the result will be nil if you do them irregularly. However, it is not quite clear what kind of progress you can expect if you do them every day. While I appreciate the importance of stretches, I strongly suspect that the result may be rather insignificant if you do these routines every day, but nothing besides them. Stretches obviously work best when they are combined with more vigorous exercise program, such as strength training or aerobics. It is a pity that this book includes very few of those - if it did, it could be an indispensable source for pre-season conditioning. The good part, however, that practically all suggested exercises can be done at home on the floor or standing against the wall, with the equipment which can be purchased at a local harware store, or with no equipment at all.

The subtitle of the book (see the bottom of the book cover) is misleading as it says "flexibility, fitness, and conditioning for better skiing". Flexibility is definitely there, and is very well written; fitness and conditioning - sorry, guys, I did not see much of it in the book. Four stars.

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.

I was under the impression this book was strickly a "volleyball weight training" guide, which it is not. I did however enjoy the weight training sections that were quite generic in nature but informative none the less. If you are looking for a generic overview of weight training for sports, this is your book. If you want an intense guide into volleyball specific weight training, look into another series.

This weight training guide is full of great drills for volleyball players. Increase your jumping and endurance, and keep training with these programs in the off-season.

a really good book about weight training, with specific drills for volleyboll. I have already increased my jumping and endurance.

This book is straightforward, unlike Complete Conditioning for Volleyball. I know exactly when and how to work out.

The off and pre-season programs are very solid.

The only thing I wish it had in it is more agility and plyometrics programs.

I'm a multi sport athlete who trains all year round regardless of what sport I play. I bought a few of these Ultimate Guide to Weight Training books, and they definitely helped me train specifically for the different sports that I play. Then about a year later I received an email from amazon that there was a new edition out. These upgraded editions are even better than the originals, with more articles and a lot more sport-specific information. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who plays a lot of sports or wants to specifically focus on training for one sport in particular.

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.

My book called Arther and the Best Coach Ever. It is for boys and girls.I will give this book five stars.If you like sports,you can read this book. It is a fun book! Elise

Are you a cell-phone toting, work-a-holic parent? Busy cutting business deals on the soccer field? Then this book will leave you feeling a little sheepish. I know of quite a few sports parents who could stand to read this book for the lesson it teaches. As for the kids, maybe what they learn is that they should keep trying their best no matter how miserable their coach is!

I have watched the episode based on the book. It was a great episode and I'm sure that the book would be just as good.

"Arthur and the Best Coach Ever" is the fourth of six books in the 2001 Arthur Good Sports series. This is a great series that teaches kids about sportsmanship in an interesting as well as humorous way. However, this book, "Arthur and the Best Coach Ever," shows are startling lack of coordination between those working on the television show and those were developing the book series.

Both the television story and the book share a couple basic plot points. The soccer coach for Lakewood Elementary is no longer able to coach the team and Ed Crosswire is brought in as a replacement. In both versions, none of the kids are very happy, as they liked the old coach and Ed's coaching abilities are rather questionable.

The similarities stop about right there. In the book, Ed is presented as an inept coach who knows nothing about soccer and is always ignoring the team while he tries to run his automotive business from the sidelines. The team members begin to feel like they don't care about them, although really he's just caught in a pickle because he has no understanding of basic soccer concepts, or how to coach a team.

The exact opposite happens in the television episode. In the TV version, Ed seems to be quite knowledgable of soccer, even having played in the past, and tries to run the team like a machine, putting them through overly demanding drills.

Overall, "Arthur and the Best Coach Ever" is an okay story and in my opinion, somewhat better than the television version. Still, the lack of synergy between the TV show and the book causes confusion among followers of the seires and I'm not entirely certain what exactly this particular book teaches kids about good sportsmanship. Also, some of the humor found in the other "Arthur" books is missing. Pass on this one, and try one of the other, better, "Arthur" books instead.