The Haywire Heart: How too much exercise can kill you, and what you can do to protect your heart


Chris Case - 2017
    The Haywire Heart is the first book to examine heart conditions in athletes. Intended for anyone who competes in endurance sports like cycling, triathlon, running races of all distances, and cross-country skiing, The Haywire Heart presents the evidence that going too hard or too long can damage your heart forever. You’ll find what to watch out for, what to do about it, and how to protect your heart so you can enjoy the sports you love for years to come. The Haywire Heart shares the developing research into a group of conditions known as “athlete’s heart”, starting with a wide-ranging look at the warning signs, symptoms, and how to recognize your potential risk. Leading cardiac electrophysiologist and masters athlete Dr. John Mandrola explores the prevention and treatment of heart conditions in athletes like arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation and flutter, tachycardia, hypertrophy, and coronary artery disease. He reviews new research about exercise intensity and duration, recovery, inflammation and calcification, and the ways athletes inflict lasting harm. These heart problems are appearing with alarming frequency among masters athletes who are pushing their bodies harder than ever in the hope that exercise will keep them healthy and strong into their senior years. The book is complete with gripping case studies of elite and age-group athletes from journalist Chris Case—like the scary condition that nearly killed cyclist and coauthor Lennard Zinn—and includes a frank discussion of exercise addiction and the mental habits that prevent athletes from seeking medical help when they need it.Dr. Mandrola explains why many doctors misdiagnose heart conditions in athletes and offers an invaluable guide on how to talk with your doctor about your condition and its proven treatments. He covers known heart irritants, training and rest modifications, effective medicines, and safe supplements that can reduce the likelihood of heart damage from exercise. Heart conditions affect hardcore athletes as well as those who take up sports seeking better health and weight loss. The Haywire Heart is a groundbreaking and critically important guide to heart care for athletes. By protecting your heart now and watching for the warning signs, you can avoid crippling heart conditions and continue to exercise and compete for years to come.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Running


Bill Rodgers - 2003
    Easy-to-follow steps gradually build the reader's abilities. Includes expert tips on nutrition, reducing stress with exercise, avoiding and treating injuries, and entering and winning various competitions.

Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover


Bob Greene - 2005
    Kick-start your metabolism into high gear with Bob Greene's revolutionary new exercise and health program!

Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program


Bill Pierce - 2007
    Finally, runners at all levels can improve their race times while training less, with the revolutionary Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) program.Hailed by the Wall Street Journal and featured twice in six months in cover stories in Runner's World magazine, FIRST's unique training philosophy makes running easier and more accessible, limits overtraining and burnout, and substantially cuts the risk of injury, while producing faster race times.The key feature is the "3 plus 2" program, which each week consists of:-3 quality runs, including track repeats, the tempo run, and the long run, which are designed to work together to improve endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed-2 aerobic cross-training workouts, such as swimming, rowing, or pedaling a stationary bike, which are designed to improve endurance while helping to avoid burnoutWith detailed training plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon, plus tips for goal-setting, rest, recovery, injury rehab and prevention, strength training, and nutrition, this program will change the way runners think about and train for competitive races.Amby Burfoot, Runner's World executive editor and Boston Marathon winner, calls the FIRST training program "the most detailed, well-organized, and scientific training program for runners that I have ever seen."

Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind


Sakyong Mipham - 2012
      As a Tibetan lama and leader of Shambhala (an international community of 165 meditation centers), Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. He's been trained in horsemanship and martial arts but has a special love for running. Here he incorporates his spiritual practice with running, presenting basic meditation instruction and fundamental principles he has developed. Even though both activities can be complicated, the lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone - regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability - to benefit body and soul.

Gift of Injury: The Strength Athlete’s Guide to Recovering from Back Injury to Winning Again


Stuart McGill - 2018
    Anyone who trains will enhance their injury resilience and performance employing these principles proven over and over with athletes. In the highly competitive world of strength athletics, a back injury is seen by many as the ultimate career-ender. In truth, if handled properly, it is far from a death sentence. Follow the journey of international powerlifting champion Brian Carroll, who can attest to this first hand. This remarkable athlete went from 1100 lb squats and 800 lb deadlifts to unending pain and disability after a massive spinal compression injury. After a fortuitous meeting with leading back expert Professor Stuart McGill, he reset his training and his life to fight his way back to the top of the winner’s podium. Glean expertise from McGill and Carroll, both masters in their field, and learn how to orchestrate your own triumphant comeback. Whether you are a former champion yourself who has fallen on hard times, or someone starting a new foray into the world of strength training who wants to avoid injury and maximize training, the wisdom found within these pages is sure to take your resilience and lifts to the next level. Over 200 full color, rich illustrations demonstrate technique.

Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success


Brad Stulberg - 2017
    Whether someone is trying to qualify for the Olympics, break ground in mathematical theory or craft an artistic masterpiece, many of the practices that lead to great success are the same. In Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg, a former McKinsey and Company consultant and journalist who covers health and the science of human performance, and Steve Magness, a performance scientist and coach of Olympic athletes, team up to demystify these practices and demonstrate how everyone can achieve their best.The first book of its kind, Peak Performance combines the inspiring stories of top performers across a range of capabilities - from athletic, to intellectual, to artistic - with the latest scientific insights into the cognitive and neurochemical factors that drive performance in all domains. In doing so, Peak Performance uncovers new linkages that hold promise as performance enhancers but have been overlooked in our traditionally-siloed ways of thinking. The result is a life-changing book in which readers will learn how to enhance their performance by a myriad of ways including: optimally alternating between periods of intense work and rest; developing and harnessing the power of a self-transcending purpose; and priming the body and mind for enhanced productivity.In revealing the science of great performance and the stories of great performers across a wide range of capabilities, Peak Performance uncovers the secrets of success, and coaches readers on how to use them. If you want to take your game to the next level, whatever "your game" may be, Peak Performance will teach you how.

Men's Health Ultimate Dumbbell Guide: More Than 21,000 Moves Designed to Build Muscle, Increase Strength, and Burn Fat


Myatt Murphy - 2007
    In Men's Health Ultimate Dumbbell Guide, Myatt Murphy, a fitness expert and longtime contributor to Men's Health, shows readers how to use dumbbells to develop just about every part of their bodies.For anyone who believes that dumbbells can be used only for arms and shoulders, Myatt Murphy proves them wrong. Featuring 200 photographs, Men's Health Ultimate Dumbbell Exercises demonstrates how to perform a total body workout and get maximum results. There are exercises here—lunges, squats, dead lifts, curls, shrugs, kickbacks, presses, and more—that develop abs, arms, chest, legs, and shoulders, along with innovative new ways to get the most of this versatile piece of strength-training equipment.With instructions for creating literally thousands of dumbbell exercises for the novice to advanced lifter, Men's Health Ultimate Dumbbell Exercises will be an indispensable addition to any home gym.

Fitness After 40: How to Stay Strong at Any Age


Vonda J. Wright - 2009
    After we reach a certain age, our bodies change. No matter how fit we may have been at 20, we're very different people after 40. But growing older doesn't have to diminish our fitness level. The good news is that not only can we retain the vigor of our youth, we can actually perform as well, if not better, than ever. Dr. Vonda Wright is the creator of a unique medi-cal program specifically designed to target the fitness and performance needs of mature athletes. In Fitness After 40, she shows readers how to use flexibility, aerobic exercise, and strength training to maximize the benefits of their fitness regime. By following her proven program, anyone can learn to:understand their bodies and approach exercise and injury in a new way - make the most of their exercise routine during a busy week - hydrate and understand how to eat right - avoid injury to rotator cuffs, lower back, knees, and legs - maximize stretching, running, and weight trainingComplete with a nutrition plan and an exercise program for older athletes, Fitness After 40 will help everyone regain the energy of their youth and look and feel better than ever.

Fixing Your Feet: Prevention and Treatments for Athletes


John Vonhof - 2000
    Foot expert John Vonhof discredits the conventional wisdom of "no pain, no gain," teaching instead how the interplay of anatomy, biomechanics, and footwear can lead to happy or hurting feet. With a focus on individual and team care, this fifth edition covers everything that an active person needs for immediate and long-term foot care solutions. Vonhof's advice comes not only from his own experience but also from many foot experts and endurance athletes. He offers numerous solutions for each problem, as there is no one best solution — different treatments work for different feet. This comprehensive resource covers footwear basics, prevention, and treatments along with clear diagrams, photos, and charts that demonstrate techniques and solutions. If it can happen to a foot, it's covered in this book.

Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks


Randall J. Strossen - 1989
    John had no special genetic gifts and no interest in drugging up; plus, he had to keep the training routine and the accompanying diet very simple as well as extremely effective. Enter SUPER SQUATS, and six weeks later, the 150-pound, somewhat shaky version of John Doe had been replaced by a 180-pound fire breather who knew he could walk through walls, because he'd just done it. SUPER SQUATS is the definitive book on the classic 20-rep squat routine . . . it's been around for almost 75 years and it's the system that turns scarecrows into musclemen. Whether you're trying to outgrow your size small shirts or are hunting for a win at World's Strongest Man, here's the winning recipe when it comes to bulking up. 112 pp.

Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery


Christie Aschwanden - 2019
    She investigates claims about sports drinks, chocolate milk, and “recovery” beer; examines the latest recovery trends; and even tests some for herself, including cryotherapy, foam rolling, and Tom Brady–endorsed infrared pajamas. Good to Go seeks an answer to the question: Do any of these things actually help the body recover and achieve peak performance?

The 30 Day Abs Challenge (Workout Program)


Arnel Ricafranca - 2013
     The 30 Day Abs Challenge focuses on the fundamentals of power generation and core stability without the use of any equipment. These core based workouts strengthen your entire midline and core for an overall increase in any athletic performance. As a result this program will help you develop a nice set of abs. This book provides 30 days of abdominally focused workouts that can be performed by themselves or in conjunction to your daily workout routine for advance users.

First: What It Takes to Win


Rich Froning - 2013
    He's strong. And he's incredibly disciplined. But it takes more than physical strength to compete and win at an elite level. It takes incredible mental and spiritual toughness as well. And it is the precise balance of all three that makes Rich Froning a champion. In First, readers come alongside Rich as he trains for and competes in back-to-back-to-back CrossFit World Championships. Along the way, Rich shares invaluable training tips, motivational techniques, and spiritual insights that, in keeping with the CrossFit philosophy, will prepare you to respond to any real-life physical, mental and spiritual challenge.

The Greyskull LP


John Sheaffer - 2012
    Quite simply the most flexible, and user friendly system for anyone interested in building strength and muscle. This book explains in detail the principles of Johnny Pain's famed Greyskull LP method used in the construction of hundreds of beasts around the globe. Cut through the dogmatic B.S. that pollutes the internet, and produce the outcomes that you desire from your training efforts.A must have for anyone serious about getting strong.