Useful Fitness Resources

Here are the books, dvds, ebooks that I have found most useful. I have broken it down into categories, it's not comprehensive and I will add to it as and when.

Books

Feed Your Head


Strength, Conditioning & Fitness

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness by Mel Siff. When I first read this about 4 or 5 years ago it changed the way I thought about everything in fitness, question everything anyone ever told you about fitness. Chances are you aren't going to read the more famous Supertraining unless you've got a couple of years spare. This book should be more well known.

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Another one of those books you wish you'd read when you first started training as a young buck. If any young kid asks you how to get big and train - give them this, they will ignore you and keep doing 8 different types of curl but at least you tried.

Practical Programming by Rippetoe & Kilgore. Doesn't just give you a list of programs, but gives you the tools to think for yourself and create your own. It assumes you know what exercises to do, so don't expect it tell you how to do a row or chin up, if that's what you need then try...

Maximum Strength by Eric Cressey. Takes you through a 16 week program, explains how to do your warm up, exercises explanations, tells you exactly what to do each week of the training program. Good if you like to know eaxctly what to do each workout, but then you can take the template & modify it, once you get a feel for it.

Strong Enough by Mark Rippetoe. Okay, the last Rippetoe book I'm going to mention. Amusing short essays on various aspects of lifting & fitness.

Infinite Intensity by Ross Enamait. Once you've read this you're going to find yourself in your garden/ garage or park hitting a tyre with a sledgehammer, doing burpees and constructing your own sand bag. All without the help of a crossfit affiliate or military fitness expert.

Advances in Functional Training by Mike Boyle. Great book. You'll be able to start applying the concepts & ideas in this book straight away to your own training or that of your clients.

Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik. Another no frills approach to training. Do the basics well. Again this book assumes you already know how to deadlift, power clean etc. Good motivational quotes & passages and simple programs.

Back Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy

Lower Back Disorders by Stuart McGill. The techniques and theories in this forms the basis of the chronic lower back rehabiliation course I set up. McGill is the master of evidence based exercise for lower back pain.

Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance by Stuart McGill. More great back info.

Diagnosis & Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes by Shirley Sahrmann. A reference book you're probably not going to read from cover to cover. Influential book. Chances are that you're not a physical therapist, but good to have some background.


Running Books

Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald. No it's not about meditation or positive visualisation. It's about pushing your running threshold higher by using certain training techniques.

The Runner's Body by Ross Tucker & Jonathan Dugas. Running info backed up by science, the same guys who do the science of sport blog.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. When this book first came out I thought it would only appeal to the ultra running community. Little did I know, it made ultra running mainstream,  it probably resulted in podiatrists doublng their income from barefoot running injuries and made the owners of  the vibram five fingers company millionaires. Still, this is one of my favourite books of all time and very inspirational.

DVDs

Quality DVDs


Secrets of the Hip and Knee - Gray Cook and Bret Jones

Secrets of Primitive Patterns - Gray Cook and Lee Burton

Starting Strength - Mark Rippetoe

The Ultimate Back: Assessment and Therapeutic Exercise - Stuart McGill

The Ultimate Back: Enhancing Performance - Stuart McGill

Assess and Correct - Cressey, Hartman, Robertson

ebooks

Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 ebook. The best strength training ebook and program. But also worth it for the way Wendler writes, makes you wanna go and lift some weights.

Maximum Muscle: The Science of Intelligent Physique Training by Matthew Perryman. I really like this. It takes all the info from Supertraining, Zatsiorsky, Rippetoe and about million other sources and condenses them down into one book. It helps you navigate through all the misinformation that's out there and get to what's actually proven to work.

The Truth About Unstable Surface Training by Eric Cressey. Find out why standing on that wobble board or bosu may not be the best thing to do. And learn when unstable surface training is worthwhile.

Bret Contreras glute ebook. More info on glutes that you ever thought was possible.