Looking for feedback on 2 books

[gobbla]

The Athletic Body in Balance

and

functional training for sports

anyone have these? oppinions?

[RacerBill]

Athletic Body in Balance contains some of the movement tests that Bill Hartman showed us at this year's Summit. I seem to recall Bill posting at some point that the first half of the book is pretty good, and the second half is "not as exciting." I liked the mobility and core training coverage, but the last few sections are more about sport-specific training that seems geared toward college coaches (e.g. there is a chart showing maximum lifts each football team position ought to achieve). So if you want my honest opinion, if you get the DVD of the Summit when it's available (YO! JP!! You listening?), then you'll have the most useful portions of the book.

Sorry, I haven't seen the other book.

[Tony Gentilcore]

Functional Training for Sport is a great read. I love Mike Boyle's stuff. Don't necessarily agree with the whole "suck in the TA" stuff he advocates in it (although I know he has kinda leaned away from that since this particular book was published), but other than that, there is a lot of great info there.

[Esteban]

Some web sites you may want to investigate before arriving at a decision:

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Athletic Body In Balance:

The book presents an abridged, 5-movement version of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), which is a 7-movement mobility assessment created by the author, and presented here:

http://www.functionalmovement.com/

The book is published by Human Kinetics, and is offered in various forms (book, VHS tape, DVD):

http://www.humankinetics.com/product...archType=title

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Functional Training for Sports:

You might already know that the author (Mike Boyle) has another book, titled "Designing Strength Training Programs and Facilities Book", which seems to be more up-to-date and complete book (I haven't seen it myself):

http://www.performbetter.com/detail....tegoryID_E_259

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Hope this helps.

[gobbla]

thx so far guys. I really appreciate you fellas taking time to make meaningful posts and helping me out.

the first book I was hoping to be able to be used as an assessment tool. everywhere I look and see tells you to "do what you need to do to improve your problems first", "work on the weakist link". but I've really been struggling to find resources that really help do that.

after being gimped for half a damn year with knee pain, doing a program from bill and bryan has be in better shape than I've been in ages. one can only assume that whatever it does...I needed . I have Magnificent Mobility...and it's a great product...but...I don't really have the knowledge to really apply it as I probibly ought to. As a rule...everything sucks I've come to admit, but it's "normal" to me. Looking for something to tell me that "this sucks more than that so focus on it first"!

Just thought the boyle book might be interesting. I had thought that I'd heard mention of it before and we have a bunch of studs on here that know what's worth reading and what isn't

[John Izzo]

2 great books! If you ever have a chance to listen to Gray Cook speak---do it! He is a phenomenal lecturer and very wise! Mike Boyle is great also and his book is great for people learning about functional training. Since I last spoke with him, he has leaned away from alot of his original work as he has learned alot in the last couple of years since the book has been published.

[Tony Gentilcore]

Can't say enough about Boyle. Both his books are great and would be a great investment. He focuses a lot of single leg strength (which most people need, particularily athletes).

One book that I am currently reading which is really, and I mean REALLY impressing me is Vertical Jump Development Bible by Kelly Baggett. Sooooooo much more in there other than just how to increase your vertical jump.

[Chris C]

I purchased Gray Cook's book a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it for the most part. What really interested me was mobility and stability testing and also core training. I got kind of turned off on some of the exercises in the "core progressions" section cause they reminded me of trainers in the gym doing these "functional" exercises and whatnot. I could be wrong though. Input anyone?

[Chris C]

I have read some of Mike Boyle's book at the bookstore and really liked it. I know he has eliminated some exercises that emphasize lumbar mobility since the book has been released. I've read some of his articles and he really does know his stuff. That will be one of my next book purchases.