Book: Strength Training by Human Kinetics (NSCA)

[chaddukes]

I just bought this book from Barnes and Nobles. I'm interested in knowing what people think about this book. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Kinetics...2051354&sr=8-6

I didn't want to buy anything that is just someones point of view of lifting, or thier specific training program. I wanted to get something that would provide a good base of knowledge. I'm the kind of person that needs the whole picture to really be able to understand a subject.

My only hesitation (and this is what I'm curious about) is that I hear people say that as a part of thrying to get certified they had to learn a bunch of information which they then quickly tried to forget. I guess that certain information provided isn't either very up to date, or doesn't jive with peoples personal training experience.

So, what do you think of this book as a starting point? Is this good information? Are there any points which you don't find to be worthwhile, or are outdated?

[ninja]

You do realize that the NSCA's book is "just someone's point of view of lifting" right?

[chaddukes]

Well, at least its a group of people!

Actually, what I was referring to was the depth of the material and the bias. That this book is going into the science of strength training without trying to sell anything (I'm sure that the NSCA still has it's bias). And it gets down to a fairly detailed level.

Any opinion on the book?

[ninja]

Originally Posted by chaddukes

Well, at least its a group of people!

Actually, what I was referring to was the depth of the material and the bias. That this book is going into the science of strength training without trying to sell anything (I'm sure that the NSCA still has it's bias). And it gets down to a fairly detailed level.

Any opinion on the book?

Well, they're going to try to sell the things that they deem to be the most important so that if readers decide to become a personal trainer they take the NSCA/CSCS test. So yeah, they're trying to sell you something too. And honestly, from the dozens of books that I have read, I really haven't gotten the feel of being "sold to," unless I am reading the wrong books.

So yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is just because it's the NSCA, don't go into the book treating them any differently than you would someone else.

(I'm reading the textbook right now, so I don't think/know how much overlap there is between the two.)

[chaddukes]

What is the title of the text book? I'd actually like to see if I can get ahold of that.

What would you reccommend for someone trying to get a better grasp on the basics of kinetics, physiology, program design, etc? I'm not trying to pass any kind of certification, but I'm kind of a nerd and I want to know more about a subject that I've never studied.

[LisaS]

if you want to learn physiology - getting a physiology text would be the best bet - if you don't have a background in biology it might be rough at first but at least you would be getting the basic science down.

Other than that, most of the strength training books have at least an overview of muscle structure and function and basic cellular metabolism.