Running with Lydiard


Arthur Lydiard - 2000
    Instructing runners in Finland, Mexico, Venezuela, Denmark, Japan, the USA and New Zealand, Lydiard has continued to refine his methods, and this manual contains information on exercise physiology, diet, injury prevention and cure, discussion of Lydiard's methods and revised training schedules.

Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing


Jerry Lynch - 1999
    Plodding for miles through inclement weather, rising before dawn to squeeze a daily run into a busy schedule, overcoming minor aches and lethargy that pose a threat to an active lifestyle, these are but a few of the familiar obstacles faced by millions of runners like you.Running Within addresses the mental and physical factors of importance to runners and offers positive, practical recommendations for infusing the body, mind, and spirit with new energy and passion for running. It also provides solid information on training and racing. It will help you perform better, have more fun, and experience a deeper connection with running.Written by top sport psychologist, best-selling author, and runner Jerry Lynch, along with physician and elite triathlete Warren Scott, this book presents prescriptions, tools, and strategies for runners to fulfill their potential. Included are:- goal-setting guidelines, - relaxation and visualization exercises, - affirmation-building tips along with 63 examples, - strategies for learning from setbacks, - ways to take better risks, - fatigue- and injury-coping strategies, - motivation boosters, and- prerace and race strategies.Running Within will push your performance and enthusiasm to new heights. See how much better running can be with the body, mind, and spirit in synch and primed for every run you take.

The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power Peak Performance


Daniel Lyon Jr. - 2005
    Many books on the subject show lithe female bodies stretched across their covers. Top Pilates instructor Daniel Lyon Jr. aims to break the preconception that Pilates only benefits and appeals to women. "This couldn't be further from the truth," he asserts. "Joseph Pilates was a cigar-smoking boxer, acrobat, and gymnast, and he developed his exercise program from that background for men first." Likewise, Lyon designed this book specifically with men in mind, as the number of male Pilates practitioners -- among them professional athletes, actors, businessmen, and other high-profile personalities -- has rocketed to about three million and continues to grow.For athletes, working stiffs, and men recovering from injuries, Lyon offers the first comprehensive exercise program of its kind. He walks you through forty "traditional mat" exercises and more than sixty "reformer on the mat" exercises -- each one brilliantly illustrated -- in an inspiring self-guided program that adapts to all experience levels and requires nothing more than floor space, an exercise mat, and the desire to look and feel your best. Using the Pilates method of engaging the strongest parts of the body, or the "powerhouse" (Joseph Pilates's term for the abdominals, hips, lower back muscles, and buttocks), and integrating all other body parts from this core, Lyon's program targets trouble spots for men and helps them achieve strong, lean, masculine physiques.The Complete Book of Pilates for Men will deliver quick and long-term results to any man who seeks optimal fitness and a competitive edge in all aspects of his life.

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection


A.J. Jacobs - 2012
    Jacobs tackles his most challenging experiment yet: a yearlong mission to radically improve every element of his body and mind—from his brain to his fingertips to his abs.From the bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All comes the true and truly hilarious story of one person’s quest to become the healthiest man in the world. Hospitalized with a freak case of tropical pneumonia, goaded by his wife telling him, “I don’t want to be a widow at forty-five,” and ashamed of a middle-aged body best described as “a python that swallowed a goat,” A.J. Jacobs felt compelled to change his ways and get healthy. And he didn’t want only to lose weight, or finish a triathlon, or lower his cholesterol. His ambitions were far greater: maximal health from head to toe. The task was epic. He consulted an army of experts— sleep consultants and sex clinicians, nutritionists and dermatologists. He subjected himself to dozens of different workouts—from Strollercize classes to Finger Fitness sessions, from bouldering with cavemen to a treadmill desk. And he took in a cartload of diets: raw foods, veganism, high protein, calorie restriction, extreme chewing, and dozens more. He bought gadgets and helmets, earphones and juicers. He poked and he pinched. He counted and he measured. The story of his transformation is not only brilliantly entertaining, but it just may be the healthiest book ever written. It will make you laugh until your sides split and endorphins flood your bloodstream. It will alter the contours of your brain, imprinting you with better habits of hygiene and diet. It will move you emotionally and get you moving physically in surprising ways. And it will give you occasion to reflect on the body’s many mysteries and the ultimate pursuit of health: a well-lived life.

The Athlete's Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss


Christopher Bergland - 2007
     The Athlete's Way program, focusing on cardio, strength, stretching, nutrition and sleep, uses neurobiology and behavioral models to enable you to think, train and behave like an athlete, making you more optimistic, resilient, and intense. You will want to get a glow on every day to increase your daily bliss quotient. Exercise will no longer be something to dread but something to enjoy and experience to the fullest. The Athlete's Way teaches you how to make exercise a source of joy and something you will want to engage in daily. Sweat will become a symbol of your striving for a standard of excellence and a solid work ethic that is synonymous with peak performance. The stamina, tenacity, and drive fortified through athletics--and this program--can be applied to any dream, obstacle, or goal you aspire to achieve. Christopher Bergland is a Manhattan-based world-class endurance athlete. He holds a Guinness World Record for treadmill running (153.76 miles in 24 hours) and has won the longest nonstop triathlon in the world three times. He completed The Triple Ironman, a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run (done consecutively) in a record breaking time of 38 hours and 46 minutes. He directs the triathlon program at Chelsea Piers and has been sponsored by Kiehl's since 1996. He has been featured in dozens of TV, magazine, and newspaper articles including CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, Fox, Men's Journal, ESPN magazine, and the L.A. Times.  He currently manages a specialty sporting goods shop in New York City called "JackRabbit Sports." Inspiring Lessons from a World-class Endurance Athlete"I love to sweat.  All told, I have run distance equal to four trips around the world on a treadmill and on the streets of Manhattan where I live.  I have biked to the moon and back, dueling it out with a red, blinking pacer light on a LifeCycle control panel or logging countless laps in Central Park.  I've even crossed the Atlantic a few times - in the pool - and I've swum in almost every ocean around the world competing in Ironman triathlons.  When I am running, biking, or swimming, happiness pours out of me.  I am not alone.  Everyone who exercises regularly experiences this bliss.  And it is available to you, too, anytime you break a sweat.  The Athlete's Way is an individual process but ultimately a universal experience.  We feel good when we sweat.  I have learned how to find Nirvana on the treadmill, and I am going to teach you my secrets."            --Christopher Bergland

Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding


Daniel E. Lieberman - 2021
    Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.

True to Form: How to Use Foundation Training for Sustained Pain Relief and Everyday Fitness


Eric Goodman - 2016
    Eric Goodman’s visionary approach to mindful movement corrects the complacent adaptations that lead to back and joint pain, and teaches us to harness the body’s natural movement patterns into daily activities to make us fit, healthy, and pain free.Our sedentary lifestyle has led to an epidemic of chronic pain. By adapting to posture and movement that have us out of balance—including sitting all day at a keyboard, tilting our heads forward to look at our phones—we consistently compromise our joints, give our organs less room to function, and weaken our muscles. How we hold and live in our bodies is fundamental to our overall health, and the good news is that we all hold the key to a healthier body.Dr. Goodman has spent years studying human physiology and movement. He has trained world-class athletes for better performance, and has healed people of all ages and occupations of lifelong debilitating pain. His theory of self-healing is now available to everyone. His practical program trains the posterior muscle chain—shoulders, back, butt, and legs—shifting the burden of support away from joints and putting it back where it belongs: into large muscle groups.Filled with helpful diagrams and sixty color photographs, True to Form shows readers how to successfully integrate these powerful movements into everyday life—from playing with the kids to washing dishes to long hours in the office—transforming ordinary physical actions into active and mindful movements that help to eliminate pain, up your game, or simply feel more energetic. True to Form shows you how to move better, breathe better, and get back to using your body the way nature intended.

High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way


Mike Mentzer - 2002
    Universe competitionThis one-of-a-kind book profiles the high-intensity training (HIT) techniques pioneered by the late Mike Mentzer, the legendary bodybuilder, leading trainer, and renowned bodybuilding consultant. His highly effective, proven approach enables bodybuilders to get results--and win competitions--by doing shorter, less frequent workouts each week. Extremely time-efficient, HIT sessions require roughly 40 minutes per week of training--as compared with the lengthy workout sessions many bodybuilders would expect to put in daily.In addition to sharing Mentzer's workout and training techniques, featured here is fascinating biographical information and striking photos of the world-class bodybuilder--taken by noted professional bodybuilding photographers--that will inspire and instruct serious bodybuilders and weight lifters everywhere.

Take Back Your Life: Find Hope And Freedom From Fibromyalgia Symptoms And Pain


Tami Stackelhouse - 2015
    In this book, you will learn how to Take Back Your Life using the techniques and strategies Tami has used to get well. More than just a lifestyle or self-management guide, this is a concise reference book woven with Tami’s own fibromyalgia story. This book is a page-by-page survival guide for the action-oriented fibromyalgia patient who wants to feel better as quickly as possible. It’s written for the patient overwhelmed with a new fibromyalgia diagnosis and for the fibro-veteran who is stuck and needing new ideas. It is also a great resource for the caring family members and support team of anyone suffering with fibromyalgia. In this book, Tami discusses what it means to have a fibromyalgia diagnosis, from the perspective of someone living with it daily. She will show you how to: • Stop the pain. • Increase your energy. • Improve your quality of sleep. • Work with your doctor. • Help yourself heal. • Bring more joy into your life.

Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff


Jim Johnson - 2007
    The rotator cuff, a group of four, flat tendons that connect to the critical muscles that stabilize your shoulder, can cause a lot more problems than you might think. Consider a few of these statistics from the published literature: .It's simply just a matter of time until the majority of shoulders get a rotator cuff tear. According to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, approximately 4% of people under forty years of age have a torn rotator cuff. After age sixty, however, 54% of people have one (Sher 1995). .Once the rotator cuff gets torn, it doesn't look good either. One study followed a group of patients with tears in their rotator cuffs and found that 80% of the them went on to either enlarge or turn into full thickness tears-in less than a two-year period (Yamanaka 1994). As you can tell, rotator cuff problems aren't just for elite athletes. Seriously consider investing just a few minutes a week doing the simple exercises in this book if you: .have been diagnosed with either a partial or full thickness rotator cuff tear (yes, many studies show that even full thickness tears can be helped with exercise!) .experience shoulder pain .do upper body weight lifting .have a job or play a sport where you do a lot of work with your arms above shoulder level .have been diagnosed with "impingement syndrome" .want a healthy and properly functioning rotator cuff So whether you already suffer from a rotator cuff problem, or simply want to prevent one, Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff will guide you step-by-step through an evidence-based program that can iron-plate your shoulders in just minutes a week. Jim Johnson, P.T., is a physical therapist who has spent over fifteen years treating both inpatients and outpatients with a wide range of pain and mobility problems. He has written many books based completely on published research and controlled trials including The Multifidus Back Pain Solution, Treat Your Own Knees, The No-Beach, No-Zone, No-Nonsense Weight Loss Plan: A Pocket Guide to What Works, and The Sixty-Second Motivator. His books have been translated into other languages and thousands of copies have been sold worldwide. Besides working full-time as a clinician in a large teaching hospital and writing books, Jim Johnson is a certified Clinical Instructor by the American Physical Therapy Association and enjoys teaching physical therapy students from all over the United States.

Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball


David Wells - 1975
    He stands as the only man to accomplish the feat half-drunk and severely hung-over after partying all night with the cast of Saturday Night Live.Blowing away the industry standard of sanitized memoirs and stifling retrospectives, his memoir throws baseball a hilariously nasty curve. There are no weepy/sleepy tales of substance abuse here, no pompous lectures on “playing hard” or “overcoming adversity,” and under no circumstances will readers find even one Vaseline-smeared, gauze-softened tale of some long-lost, fairy-tale boys of summer.Written with unfiltered authenticity, and truckloads of locker-room humor, Perfect I'm Not sets loose the single most outspoken and entertaining player in the game at the time, allowing him to take both casual baseball fans and hardcore fanatics where they’ve never been allowed before: deep inside the real world of life as a major leaguer.

The Muscle & Strength Pyramid - Training


Eric Helms - 2015
    Half-baked ideas based on cherry-picked scientific data that fail to take into account the big picture. We’ve cut through all that with this book.Crystal-clear clarity on the order of things that countWe’ve broken down the factors that go into making strength and hypertrophy-focused training programs into a clear order of importance.A full, detailed and unbiased look into the research...…to draw conclusions about the best methods for bodybuilders, strength athletes, and clear explanations of the overlapping elements. Learn why certain misconceptions pervade the training world, and never be fooled by another cleverly-written magazine article again.Highly detailed example training programsBuilding on all the theory and recommendations in the book, in the last section we have six programs for novice, intermediate and advanced-level bodybuilders and strength-focussed athletes. You can simply pick one and run it as they have been written, but the idea is that you tailor them using the principles you’ve learned in the rest of the book. Full progression examples included also.

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.

Change Your Brain, Change Your Body: Use Your Brain to Get and Keep the Body You Have Always Wanted


Daniel G. Amen - 2010
    Based on the latest medical research, as well as on Dr. Amen’s two decades of clinical practice at the re­nowned Amen Clinics, where Dr. Amen and his as­sociates pioneered the use of the most advanced brain imaging technology, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body shows you how to take the very best care of your brain.With fifteen practical, easy-to-implement solutions involving nutritious foods, natural supplements and vitamins, positive-thinking habits, and, when neces­sary, highly targeted medications, Dr. Amen shows you how to:* Reach and maintain your ideal weight* Soothe and smooth your skin at any age * Reduce the stress that can impair your immune system* Sharpen your memory* Increase willpower and eliminate the crav­ings that keep you from achieving your exercise and diet goals* Enhance sexual desire and performance* Lower your blood pressure without medication* Avoid depression and elevate the enjoyment you take in life’s pleasures.Whether you’re just coming to realize that it’s time to get your body into shape, or are already fit and want to take it to the next level, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body is all you need to start putting the power of the brain-body connection to work for you today.

Solitary Fitness


Charles Bronson - 2002
    Now, in this no-nonsense guide to getting fit and staying fit, he reveals just how he's done it. Forget fancy gyms, expensive running shoes and designer outfits, what you need are the facts on what really works and the motivation to get on with the job. From his cell at Wakefield Prison, Charlie has complied this perfect guide to show you the best way to burn those calories, tone your abs and build your stamina giving you the know-how you need to be at the peak of mental and physical form. Without the use of fancy gym equipment, steroids, steaks, supplements, or pills you can pack on pounds of muscle, lose weight fast, and gain superhuman strength.