Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm a certified personal trainer and a large part of programming for all of my clients is based of functional fitness. I also
utilize agility based training for most of them as well. By making appropriate modifications most anyone can get tremendous benefits from
a more athletic based approach to fitness. This type of training works the body in all the planes of motion and stimulates
the neuromuscular system more thoroughly than just the typical sagittal plane cardio-machine and machine based resistance training approach.
I bought this along with another book on agility to aquire more tools for my "toolbox".
On the positive side, I feel that the author was extremely thorough and covers a lot of ground, both in explaining the background information and by including a large variety of exercises.
On the less-positive side, there are quite a few times where I felt the presentation could have been laid out more clearly throughout the text. I've re-read
several parts, several times and I'm still a bit unclear of "exactly" what he meant, especially in the execution of the more complex exercises.
This book would greatly benefit from a companion dvd or at least online accompanying online video because there are some subtleties that are almost impossible to explain with words and photographs alone. This is particularly apparent in the "Sprint Training" section of the book and is a huge oversight in my opinion which I hope they will correct in the future.
I'm not saying they have to show "every" exercise, but those that are the most complex in nature. In fact, the other book I purchased at the same time "Training for Speed, Agility and Quickness" (Human Kinetics) includes a dvd to cover the most complex drills and usefull tests included in the book. This makes a huge difference in terms of the the superior effectiveness of that book as a teaching tool.
All that being said, James Radcliffe did do a great job of putting together a compendium of exercises and a system for using it specific to a wide variety of sports. He should be highly commended for his efforts. In fact, if they just had that accompanying footage it would be almost perfect (and surely I'd have given it 5 stars!) :)
I don't like having to criticize this book at all because the positives are heads and tails above the negatives, but I felt I should be honest in my assessment of all aspects of the book.
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Functional Training for Athletes at All Levels: Workouts for Agility, Speed and PowerFUNCTIONAL TRAINING IS THE FASTEST, MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO GET AHEAD OF THE COMPETITIONPush your muscle development and athletic abilities to incredible new heights with Functional Training for Athletes of All Levels.Functional training conditions your body to respond to the strenuous demands of athletic competition.This method goes far beyond standard isolation movements, done sitting down, that simply increase muscular bulk.Functional training coordinates you muscles to work together to produce explosive power, tightrope-walker balance and cat-like agility.
With over 100 exercises-illustrated with step-by-step photos-and 20 sport-specific workouts, Functional Training for Athletes at All Levels will help you acquire the athletic movement skills necessary to maximize your performance in any sport.Develop a rock-solid core for supreme stabilityStrengthen your trunk for explosive powerSharpen fast-twitch muscles for lightning-quick responsesCoordinate your muscles for full body controlEnhance your stabilizers for quick, agile movementFunctional Training for Athletes at All Levels customized sport-specific workouts for:•Baseball•Basketball•Bicycling•Football•Golf•Gymnastics•Hockey•Lacrosse•Rugby•Skiing•Soccer•Softball•Swimming•Tennis•Track & Field•Volleyball•Wrestling
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