Don't Miss

• Powell's Books
  at Portland Farmers Market
• Indiespensable™:
  Into the Beautiful North
• Frommer's Great Walks: Save 30%
• Summer Vacation Education Sale
• Go Play Outside!

More at Powell's

• Featured Signed Editions
• Rare and Collectible Books
• eBooks | Audio | DVDs | Blu-ray

Synopses & Reviews

Book News Annotation:

Synopsis:

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!

Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

anonymous , February 25, 2009 (view all comments by anonymous )
Evidence-Based Exercise Info at its Best

When it comes to telling people how to train, I want to know that the advice I give is based on evidence, not what on other people say, and not on what I "think" is going to work. While you could dig around on various electronic databases, such as Medline to get such information, its nice to have all the latest excercise recommendations based on sound research at your fingertips. And if you're looking for such a book, well, look no further.

Readers who regularly read sports science research will see some familiar names on page vii, which contains the list of people who contributed to the book. To me, knowing that people like Kraemer, Faigenbaum, or Hatfield had a hand in this book puts it on solid ground.

And the book is thorough too. Covering just about every aspect of conditioning and training, from basic exercise physiology to how many sets of an exercise should I do, its just a plain fact that there's not much that has been left out. Of course all the major areas such as strength training, endurance training, and flexibility are there as well. Also notable are the great pictures of stretching and strengthening exercises as well as little numbers (2) to refer the reader to the study the info was taken from. Right on!

My criticisms of this book are picky and few. For example I did notice that on page 299 the book advocates holding a static stretch for 30 seconds to become more flexible. Experts in the field who keep up on the research may not agree with this. While the 30 seconds rule applies to a lot of muscle groups, it does not apply to all- like stretching the calf muscles to increase dorsiflexion (see "The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution" for a nice updated literature review on ankle stretching). In case you're wondering, 30s won't cut it to increase ankle ROM.

In conclusion, as a researcher and trainer, I was really impressed with the evidence-based information and the thoroughness of the text. I think it would be of most benefit to coaches, athletic trainers, personal trainers, or anyone who wants a good resource to guide their exercise prescriptions.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

report this comment

Product Details

ISBN:

9780736058032

Subtitle:

National Strength and Conditioning Association

Author:

Baechle, Thomas R. (edt)

Editor:

National Strength &. Conditioning Associ

Editor:

Baechle, Thomas R.

Editor:

Earle, Roger W.

Publisher:

Human Kinetics Publishers

Subject:

Physical fitness

Subject:

Exercise

Subject:

Bodybuilding & Weight Training

Subject:

Life Sciences - Human Anatomy & Physiology

Subject:

Physical education and training

Subject:

Athletic Performance - physiology

Copyright:

2008

Edition Description:

Third

Publication Date:

June 2008

Binding:

Hardcover

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

641

Dimensions:

11.30x8.90x1.55 in. 5.15 lbs.