Book Review: NSCA - Developing Endurance

Written By Runnergirl Training

Human Kinetics provided me the book Developing Endurance for free from a Twitter contest. The following is my book review.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has authored a fantastic book for designing endurance programs. 

The book provides a brief discussion of exercise physiology. Various endurance tests are explained and training heart rate and rate perceived exertion (RPE) tables are provided. There is an exploration of several training conditions including environment, health status, and more.

It does an excellent job covering nutrition and hydration principles. Basic weight lifting techniques are discussed and include the pictures for each featured lift. Running and triathlon training programs are provided. 

Several aspects needed to build endurance training programs are described. To begin, gain background information regarding history of injuries, training status, the amount of time that can be invested into training, and seasons/periodization of training for the sport. Also to be included are rest days, recovery workouts, and components of mental and nutritional training.

The mesocycle and microcycles of the training year are broken down into segments and discussed. It does a thorough job of describing the incorporation of races into the training cycles. Specific facets of training (aerobic, strength, and flexibility, etc) and tapering for races are examined. 

This is an excellent book that uses research based rationales to design endurance training programs. It is practical and easy to implement into training programs.

It is sold at Human Kinetics. 

NSCA Texas State Clinic

Written By Runnergirl Training

This Saturday, I attended the NSCA Texas State Clinic at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

I have attended many NSCA events over the past 10 years. I really enjoyed this clinic! Great speakers, helpful and practical information, and opportunities to meet fellow colleagues.

The clinic began with weight lifting and track drills demos.

The Back Squat: Baylor Football Coaching Staff

The Bench Press: Baylor Football Coaching Staff

The Back Squat with Chains: Baylor Football Coaching Staff

Track Drills: Baylor Associate Track Coach Michael Ford

There were informative speakers from several schools both at the high school and college level. They spoke on various aspects of strength and conditioning programs for their level of athletes.

Lecture: UNT Director of Football Performance Frank Wintrich

This was a great experience! I would like to see a few tweaks for the next NSCA Texas State Clinic such as a vegan meal option, on site signage (there were no signs on the exterior of the facilities), and guest wifi.

Great job Baylor Athletic Performance staff! Their website is here & twitter is here!