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The author is a weight-lifter first and foremost and doesn't seem to have any particular insight into running. First off, this book has about a 16 point font and is very short. It looks like my 6th grade book reports where I was trying to fill as many pages as possible. He just lists basic exercises and training programs.The programs are very specific, and there is little advice on how you would tailor your own if you don't plan on lifting weights according to his strict schedule. Skip this book, get a good book on basic strength training instead.
Seriously, there is no other running-specific advice anywhere else, meaning around 85% of the book.- The explanations to the exercises are pretty basic, similar to what you'll find printed in most decent gym machines. First, you must be aware of the fact that this book is part of a series of about 30 books called "Weight training for.", including diverse activities such as rugby, bowling and cheerleading, and which are very similar one another. Genius.The book is structured as follows:- A running-specific introduction- Generic advice about gym workouts: basic stuff like the necessity of warming up and cooling down and making sure you don't lift more weight than you can- Tons of (generic) exercises- Two pseudo-scientific articles (one about technique and another about nutrition). All the rest of the book is totally generic, addressed to runners, racquetball players and golfers alike. You are left wondering whether the author even knows that there are several kinds of runners.- Most annoyingly, the text is full of ads inviting the reader to join the author's (paid) website. These were the only remotely useful bits of the book, and they were written by other specialists.From the above, it doesn't sound so bad.
Only 20% (12 out of 60) of the exercises are for legs. The author had the wonderful idea of writing basically one book and selling 30. No value added there.- Even worse, not even the selection of the exercises seemed to be really thought for runners. You could even thing this book was worthwhile. This is why it is not:- The only running-specific advice is contained in the introduction (and the two articles), which is just 9 pages long (with huge font and big tables).). I'm totally for a balanced work-out and training the core muscles, but you'd think runners would want to focus just a little bit more that 20% on the legs, right.- There is no distinction between sprinters, hurdlers, marathoners, ultramarathoners, etc., which you'd assume would require "slightly" different training routines.
Which I will not.I truly do not know what the other reviewers based their reviews on, but IMHO this book (and the whole series) is pretty much a waste of your hard-earned money.
All of the books in this series are nearly the same which can be a bit annoying. However, I view any weight-training programs offered as just a start rather than as the end all of what to do.
I was disappointed in this book. I know these drills, weights, but as a distance coach, this didn't help at all. I was hoping to find out more on the difference in weight training between distance runners/sprinters. There was very little useful information on this topic. It made me think of how to train my pole vaulters/long jumpers a little more, but no distinction is made for sprinters, middle distance, or long distance. That's what I was hoping for when I bought this book.
As a competitive runner I found this book to be extremely valuable to formulate a program that has giveing me that the edge I needed to increase my speed and muscle endurance. I recommend it to any serious runner wanting to improve their performance.
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