Customer Reviews

Science of Sports Training: How to Plan and Control Training for Peak Performance

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book contains a wealth of knowlege extracted from scientific research journals and, at times, feels more like a survey article than a traditional book. This results in a very densely packed tome of data on all aspects of training. However, this type of book may not be suitable for all readers. To put it bluntly, you are meant to study this book and not passively read it. And when I say study, I mean be prepared to take notes and scribble down your thoughts. This isn't a book that you're going to lie down with and read in bed. Those familiar with Kurz knows that he does not mollycoddle the lazy and those that don't bother to think things through and this book certainly continues that tradition. You are expected to put in some kind of effort in developing your training method. This is actually quite reasonable: Kurz simply cannot be expected to draft up example workouts for every type of athlete.

The key to appreciating this book is to realize what it is meant to do and what it is not. This book provides a wealth of data that you can use to develop your training regimen. It is not meant as a "by-the-numbers" description of exactly what to do and when. For example, other authors may tell you to do such and such. Kurz will report on exactly how level of performance improvement resulted from doing that in a controlled study and cite the appropriate research article. It is up to you to determine whether this level of performance is sufficient to justify incorporating the specific training methodology in question within your regimen. Kurz' intention seems to be to provide the reader with the necessary data to make informed decisions regarding training. What you do with that information is up to you.

This is a no-nonsense book. Other sports training books feature lots of photographs of attractive male and female athletes in superb physical condition performing the exercises. Those pictures have been replaced with graphs displaying cold, hard data in Kurz' book. Kurz does not waste time trying to motivate the reader.

If you are serious about your training and want to be responsible for crafting your own training regimen then this book will be a goldmine for you. The depth and breath of knowledge contained within its pages is astonishing. If, however, you want to be fed example workouts and explicitly told what to do, then you will be confused and frustrated with this book. I can easily see an exasperated reader sceaming "Get to the damn point, Man!" when reading this book. It comes down to whether you want to be your own coach or not. I've found it to be a wonderful resource and would definitely recommend it for advanced athletes and those who are serious about their training. However, for the begining athlete, this may not be the best choice for a first book on subject of scientific training.

I'm not sure what Frank Jones (reviewer above) has against Tomas Kurz, but I found this book to be a great source of information for many different areas of training. Mr. Jones also (unfairly, in my opinion) gives a horrible review to Mr. Kurz's other book, "Stretching Scientifically."

This book is not well written for people who have no knowledge of exercising or the human body, I will agree with Mr. Jones on this point. But if you have a basic understanding of the different areas Kurz covers, you will be able to follow his reasoning, and take a vast amount of knowledge away from the book.

Keep in mind that, the training methods Kurz outlines are not unproven. Eastern european countries used these training methods for years, and consistently produced some of the world's best athletes. The scientific method was used to prove the information contained in this book, and Kurz provides sources for all his findings.

This may not be the most comprehensive book in terms of covering athletic training, but its a great start.

From all the negative comments I have read, I had to reply. This is a must have book for anyone who wants to understand about sports training. This book gives you a general guide that can help you in any sport. This book is not a bunch of BULL. It is "RATIONAL SPORTS TRAINING" from Eastern Europe. It gives scientific descriptions to help you understand how each type of training would work. This book is not about specific sports training or how to train in a specific manner. Its about understanding methods of training to reach peak performance with as much minimal effort as possible(also note SCIENCE of Sports Training).
Some believe this book to be trivial or a bunch of bull. Well, I guess these people believe that all the scientific experiments done in this book is a bunch of bull. These experiments are done to show specific results that vary from recent to past. So, some of these experiments still remain valid. Experiments were done by REAL scientist.
Another reason for one to not like this book is if they can't exactly read. Most of the book is not really difficult to understand, unless you have basic reading school. You must think about it to understand it. It does get technical from time to time. This lack of understanding of the text by people who don't understand, as the reviewers Matt and Matt above has said, don't think about what they read. At first, I didn't understand the text of some topics. After thinking and looking back at the book, I have a greater understanding of sports training. One reviewer note taking showers with different temperatures as trivial. Kurz notes that one should shower after a workout as part of rest. One should change temperature, so as to "invigorate" the body. If you want to see the validity of this statement, try it at home sometimes. Workout like weightlifting,etc. and try it. If you are not invigorated then I guess rational sports training is nonsense(changing temperatures, to clarify myself, means showering from warm to cold to warm to cold,etc.).
Though i have commented on a lot of positive aspects, the book does have some negative aspects in my opinion. This book is comprehensive, but some topics could be expanded upon like nutrition. The book maybe sort of complex in that you may lose your way. This means that you might remember a topic, but not quite clearly understand, and it is kind of hard to find it in the book.
Some notes Thomas Kurz as unprofessional. I guess tough love is unprofessional for some people. Read some questions asked to Thomas Kurz. They are pretty stupid. I mean its in the damn book. If I asked a stupid question, then I must be doing something wrong in my training. Being scolded would note the inefficiency of my training. I guess some people can't handle a little bit of a direct answer; My dad is worse than Thomas Kurz!
I have learned a great deal about this book. Without it, I would seriously be hurting myself. There is info that can change the way you train for the sake of safety and possible improvements. If your serious about training this is a must have, but if you are a person who is not serious, then don't waste your time to write a incoherent, unlogical review of this book!

After reading some of the more negative reviews encouraged me to write - A lot of this book has to be read in context, and it isn't a textbook on how to get better at playing a certain sport and it isn't a textbook on the mechanics of the body. These can be found in most local library's many times over.

What it covers is the planning and control of training for peak performance, i.e. it tells you finer points that are often missed, for example how to cope with jet lag isn't going to be a problem if you don't travel, but for major athletes travelling is a part of the course which isn't touched in most books.

To agree with another review - this book does need to be studied, not flicked through and pick out 'facts' or to criticise because of sections being pulled out of context.

Also as an aside, Kurz's manner might be a little abrupt, but I bet he gets a lot of questions (I have asked a few and had them answered in a constructive way). He probably gets a lot of drivel in these questions and probably puts sarcastic answers to make writers think before they ask stupid questions.

This book is not without merit. I bought mine because I was interested in the training methods of the Westside Barbell Club, a group of powerlifters who have among them several world records and a whole bunch of guys benching over 600 pounds. This was one of the books from which they borrowed principles. (...) Periodization is a commonly accepted training concept and the book does cover periodization in a general sense and does give some sound reasons for using it. And Westside does use a form of periodization which it calls it "conjugated periodization" so there is some connection. Also, the book cites some training practices such as maximal efforts over a period of weeks, that will lead to plateaus or a cessation of progress. Again, Westside routines are designed to avoid the these practices. Maximum effort workouts are done at least once a week throughout the year, but the maximum effort movements are changed frequently. The ploy of rotating exercises for maximum efforts is not in the book though.

This book does have some gems, but sadly little in the way of actual training programs. Occasionally, an actual example slips in as an anectdote, such as the jumper who did 250 leg curls with ankle weights each day. That's all we hear about the jumper's training. We know there must have been more, but we never hear what or how much or what the sequence of the drills was. To take the jumper's training and analyze it and tell what was right or wrong with it based on what is stated elsewhere in the book would have been most helpful and more in keeping with the book's title.

The principles and facts are basically sound, but the reader is left to his/her own devices as to how to apply them. Trying to make use of them without a considerable amount of other knowledge would be difficult. I would not recommend buying this book without a return policy, especially given the somewhat (to me) misleading title . I like my copy. It is certainly not what I was expecting when I ordered it. But,it does make me think a little more analytically about my own training. It's probably helped some too.

This book is just awesome! It isn't a book you just plop down in a chair and read, but one you absorb a chapter or topic at a time. Re-read it as necesary and then when you think you grasp or remember most of the information move on to another. It is organized so that you can look up specific subjects that you are interested in without reading the whole book through, by the way. There's more information within its pages than you can shake an Olympic bar at and much of it you will be hard up finding anywhere else...much less all of it in one book. Don't think of Science of Sports Training as your guide to weight training or a specific sport. It's a compilation of all the finer things for those that already know their sport well, that can only come from a very experienced coach. You could say it's geared toward those with a mindset of being a "student of sport", not just a practitioner of some recreational fun. Mr. Kurz has alot of knowledge to convey to the West if they just give him a mind ready to absorb what he offers, I personally really appreciate the effort he put forth into giving us this book, as there are few like it at all esp. from Eastern European coaches. If you appreciated "Science and Practice of Strength Training" by Zatsiorsky, you should definiately pick this one up too.

This is a reference book on sports training. Kurtz discusses principles of training for various goals, such as strength, endurance, technical and combination of those. All relevant topics are covered: assessment of trainees, warmup, periodization, training cycles and many other subjects. The book is very comprehensive and is extensively referenced. It is also easy to read.

I understand the frustration of some of the reviewers, because the book does not have the actual recipes for training. However, after reading it recipes are just not needed: one can design training programs according to the goals with the long term view.

Mr. Kurz does go into a little too much depth sometimes, making it a little boring in spurts, but it more than makes up for it with the great information. I think it is a must-read for serious athletes.

After reading some of the author's material I contacted him with a question. His reply was very unprofessional and he further posted it to an e-mail list serve among a number of other questions he received in which he puts down the individuals asking the questions, using such terms as "stupid" and "lacking in common sense". This attitude calls into question his integrity as a trainer and coach, and the objectivity of the material in the book.

This book I read whilst studying at college- I have a Msc in Sports and have been actively involved in track and field for years. This book however is trying too hard to be taken seriously as a major player in the Sports Science world. It flits from one subject to the other and goes into too much detail on trivial subjects which makes it hard to follow--My Lecturer used the book as a source of amusement -- I mean "a shower is taken after every workout" is hardly what you would expect to find when looking for meaningful subject matter!!!