Recent studies have shown that up to 85% of runners get injured every year, how natural is that? The most important question that running "barefoot" or "naturally" doesn't address is how we should run. Repetitive ground impact forces are at the root of most running injuries. A 30 minute jog can log more than 5,000 foot strikes; its because of this volume of movement that efficient

    A lanky kid from Plano, Texas, is raised by a feisty, single parent who sacrifices for her son, who becomes one of our country's greatest athletes. Given that background, it is understandable why Armstrong was able to channel his boundless energy toward athletic endeavors. By his senior year in high school, he was already a professional triathlete and was training with the U.S. Olympic cycling developmental team. In 1993, Armstrong secured a position in the ranks of world-class cyclists by winning the World Championship and a Tour de France stage, but in 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Armstrong entered an unknown battlefield and challenged it as if climbing through the Alps: aggressive yet tactical. He beat the cancer and proceeded to stun all the pundits by winning the 1999 Tour de France. In this memoir, Armstrong covers his early years swiftly with a blunt matter-of-factness, but the main focus is on his battle with cancer. Readers will respond to the inspirational recovery story, and they will appreciate the behind-the-scenes cycling information. After he won the Tour, his mother was quoted as saying that her son's whole life has been a fight against the odds; we see here that she was not exaggerating. Brenda Barrera

    

    Part escape, part self-discovery, part therapy, part fitness. Part simple childlike joy of running when you could be walking.Vassos Alexander shares the highs and lows of falling in love with running, from his first paltry efforts to reach the end of his street to completing ultra marathons and triathlons in the same weekend. Each of the 26.2 chapters also features a fascinating insight into how others first started – from Paula Radcliffe to Steve Cram, the Brownlees to Jenson Button, Nicky Campbell to Nell McAndrew. Also includes a foreword by Chris Evans.Funny, inspiring, honest - the perfect read for anyone with well-worn trainers by the door (or thinking of buying a pair...)

    Navy SEAL Mark Divine’s Kokoro Yoga is not your traditional yoga book. Coach Divine’s integrated training curriculum is an intense physical workout designed for both the nation’s elite special ops soldiers and any athlete with the heart and mind of a warrior.His yoga sequences are focused to adapt to all physical and mental capabilities, combining breathing, meditation, and visualization into both traditional poses as well as cross-training/combat-conditioning exercises. Coach Divine’s decades of experience with amateur and professional athletes, active and aspiring Navy SEALs, and wounded warriors uniquely qualifies him as an expert motivator and teacher.Kokoro Yoga develops a harmonious balance between mental and physical toughness, strength, and sense of purpose. Inside you will find short digestible sequences that will help any athlete hone their fitness routine to reach their fullest potential. With Kokoro Yoga the practitioner will:* get an unbeatable full-body workout through body-weight functional movements that can be done at home or on the on go;* increase flexibility while building long lean muscle mass;* enhance your workouts with deep muscle recovery;* improve physical and mental balance, focus, and control at all levels—including a special segment designed for those recovering from PTSD;* find emotional, intuitional, and Kokoro (heart) spiritual harmony to achieve peak performance.Coach Divine’s methods have been tested by the toughest warriors in the world. Use this book as a guide to experience the profound power of yoga as a developmental system that will allow you to break through any barriers holding you back.

    A lifetime’s worth of training knowledge, drawn from the world’s most extreme arenas. Lessons learned and best practices from military operators, tactical law enforcement, martial artists, and others that rely on their physical abilities to survive and thrive in very harsh and unforgiving environments. Where there’s more at stake than winning a medal, or getting a bruised ego. Bottom line, with these people, the training has to work. By implementing the strategies in this book, you will cut your learning curve by decades. You’re going to be able to take your conditioning to the next level and beyond, while avoiding costly amateurish mistakes that lead to injury and burn out. The path has been laid out and handed to you on a silver platter. If you’re an older athlete, you’re going to reclaim that confidence you once had in your physical abilities. You may have forgotten what that feels like. Prepare to be reminded. It’s great having a 600lb squat and 400lb bench press. However, as an operational athlete, if you can’t run, work, or thrive for long periods of time in a multitude of energy demanding environments, you are ineffective. Your big bench press is useless, your big squat is useless. Tactical Barbell proposes you work towards being a different kind of athlete. The kind that is not only extremely strong, but also highly conditioned. If you look carefully, you’ll see these people all around you. That guy on your Emergency Response Team with the 350lb bench press and a sub 9 minute 1.5 mile run. The old Marine Sergeant that can run 6 miles in under 40 minutes, deadlifts over 600lbs and does 30 dead-hang pull-ups. So how do you get there? It's not what you think. Popular 'bootcamp' style approaches that throw a lot of push-ups and running at you in a haphazard fashion don't work. Sure, you'll break a sweat and release some endorphins. You might even lose a pound or two. But take a good hard look at your progress. For all your effort, are you really that far ahead? To make real progress, you have to look to the approaches used by the pros. Train each attribute you're trying to improve in a progressive manner, using the most effective tools for that particular fitness domain.In TB2, you'll find the structured, three pronged approach to conditioning we take with all of our clients. It consists of Base Building, followed by a transition to a more specific continuation protocol. Periodic maintenance of lower-priority fitness domains complete our model.TBII is our manual for training tactical law enforcement candidates, soldiers and recreational athletes. You will be hard pressed to find a more thorough, and effective conditioning program. If you are a results-oriented individual looking for concrete, actionable programming based on cutting edge research, TB2 is for you.

    Everyone would like to age as heathfully as possible and now numerous studies confirm what many yoga preactitioners have known for a long time: yoga practice has a remarkable impact on physical and mental health--and spiritual well-being--as you grow older. Yoga for Healthy Aging is the most accessible and usable guide available on to how yoga can address concerns realted to strength, flexibility, balance, agility, cardiovascular health, brain health, and stress management, among other issues. The authors--both popular and respected yoga teachers (one of whom is a family physician) provide readers with a yoga toolbox for healthy aging that includes poses, breathing practices, meditation, and yoga philosophy. They then offer you a safe, real-world yoga program to suit your particular needs. These short yoga practices were developed in consultation with scientific and medical experts on aging, and allow you to focus on maintaining overall physical health and/or addressing target problem areas, such as digestion, cardiovascular health, or anxiety. The authors conclude with instructions for practicing several different forms of conscious relaxation and meditation, all of which will set you up for a lifetime of emotional and spiritual well-being. This book includes over 200 instructional photos.