Mel Siff's Supertraining

[Martin Bonn]

Hey guys i m looking to buy Mel Siff's Supertraining, and i ve found a couple of places that sell it in the US, however, the shipping would cost something like $80-100...a bit too much for me!
Does anybody know how to get this book in the EU?
or is it actually worth to pay the shipping on it and buy it anyways?

thanks for your help!

[Donald Lee]

Let me save you the pain and the money.

Verkhoshansky is taking his author rights and coming out with an updated edition with up to 100 pages of new information.

Also, Supertraining could be more boring than reading an encylopedia. Lyle McDonald says all its good for is use as a doorstop. Supertraining is a very advanced and exhaustive book that serves more as a reference than anything.

If this is your first foray into exercise science, I'd start somewhere else. If you'd like any suggestions, just write what type of information you're interested in.

[Gavin Harrison]

I'd agree with what Donald's said, Supertraining is almost unreadable. It can be useful, to look up a section that sounds useful and read it, you might find a few tidbits of interesting and potentially useful information. Science and Practice of Strength Training is far more approachable of a book if you're interested in strength training, and I'm assuming you are, since you probably heard of Supertraining through powerlifting (Louie Simmons?)...

[Martin Bonn]

i quite like the science to be honest (i did biochem as my first degree, now medicine)!
i ve read The science and Practice of strength training and louie simmons WSB book of methods, i was looking for a more in depth book...and lots of people think supertraining is the one to go for. so you guys don t think there is a point in buying the book?
i m generally interested in exercise physiology particularly with respect to strength training, biomechanics, and programming (for o lifting). any books you guys would recommend other than supertraining?

[Donald Lee]

You must be doing rotations, or else you wouldn't have all this time.

Exercise Physiology:

Physiology of Sport and Exercise by Wilmore, Costill, and Kenney

Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance by McArdle, Katch, and Katch

Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications by Brooks, Fahey, and Baldwin

I'd start with one of the first two before going onto the third book. Plus, the third book is going to come out with a new edition.

This is what Fahey had to say about these books and their authors:

While the basic information in these books stays the same between editions,
authors add new developments each time. The changes in our field have been
astounding. If you can afford it, buy the new edition.

As a sidelight, many of the textbook authors are professionally related. Jack
Wilmore was one of my professors at Berkeley, Bill McArdle was George Brooks'
undergraduate mentor at Queens College in New York, Vic Katch was my office mate
at Berkeley, and Frank Katch (also a Berkeley guy) is a golfing buddy and
colleague on several projects. All of us have been friends since the 1960s. The
major differences between the texts are the target audience and the interests
and expertise of the authors. George Brooks is one of the premier exercise
biochemists in the world, so his book emphasizes biochemistry. Wilmore and
Costill are more practically oriented and interested in public health, which is
reflected in their text. McArdle and the Katch brothers have an excellent
background in nutrition and general physiology, so their book is a good choice
for most undergraduate courses.

The leading textbooks feed off each other. Publishers evaluate their competitors
and include missing information in the next edition. However, George Brooks is
brilliant and has an incredible grasp of exercise biochemistry. The nuances he
adds to our textbook are difficult to duplicate.

Tom Fahey
Cal State University, Chico

[Donald Lee]

I was going to try to organize books by topics, but it's too hard to do, so I'll just list a few books.

Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training by Bompa
(The first edition Theory and Methodology of Training was the book that introduced periodization to America.)

Block Periodization by Issurin

Principles and Basics of Advanced Athletic Training by Issurin

Strength and Power in Sport by Komi

Biomechanics in Sport: Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention by Vladimir Zatsiorsky

Transfer of Training in Sport by Anatoliy Bondarchuk

Programming and Organization by Verkhoshansky

Fundamentals of Special Strength Training in Sport by Verkhoshansky
(Purchase the previous two on Elite FTS under Russian manuals...these are hard to read and understand as they're written in "Russki gibberish"

Special Strength Training: A Practical Manual for Coaches by Verkhoshansky
(wait for new edition)

The Stress of Life by Selye
(classic)

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Sapolsky
(a book all about stress)

For weightlifting, Tommy Kono's and Arthur Dreschler's books are good.

Also, look here:

http://www.flexcart.com/members/elit...lt.asp?cid=222

Sorry everything's so disorganized. Ask me any questions you might have, although I have not read most of these books yet. I have most of them though.

[Gavin Harrison]

Don't think it's not worth it, but don't expect to sit down and read it cover to cover.. it's very dense and thick. It's like a textbook. If you're into that kind of thing, cool, you might get something useful out of it, a lot of people don't though. Also, I hope this search for scientific knowledge doesn't paralyze your own training. Also, Dinosaur Training is an excellent book...

[Martin Bonn]

wow, thanks Donald, that s quite some list there! i ll do some research on those books and decide which ones to buy...only have a limited budget! and stuff is hard to come by in the UK!
oh, and i am on rotation! well actually i ve got another week before i go back! haha, so loads of time! i just really like to know all the science behind what i do...a bit geeky i know, but i can t help it! i m not a big fan of just blindly following a methodology!

Gavin, you are right in some respects there: i do sometimes get to paralysis by analysis.....but i ve got a coach now (ex commonwealth champion) so i ll just do what he tells me for a while!!

Here's a list of books i ve got atm...i started with the basics and then brached out a bit:

Starting Strength - Mark Rippetoe (not necessarily good for O lifting but by following what he suggested i made real progress for the first time and i shall be forever grateful for it!)

Practical Programming for strength - Mark Rippetoe

The science and practice of strength training - zatsiorsky and kraemer

weightlifting, olympic style - Kono

Olympic weightlifting - greg everett

Explosive lifting for sports - newton

The westside barbell book of methods - Louie simmons

An introduction to olympic style weightlifting - cissik

and then i have the usual suspects in biochemistry and medical physiology... i ve read up on exercise physiology when i had time and read the original research when i had the papers.

thanks for all your help btw guys! it nice to hear people's opinion about these books!

[Martin Bonn]

just checked my uni's lib catalogue:
they actually hold loads of these titles so i ll have a good look around....and i won t even spend a single penny! awesome!