The Athletic Trainer's Guide to Strength and Endurance Training.

The Athletic Trainer's Guide to Strength and Endurance Training Wiksten D, Peters C. Thorofare, NJ 08086, Slack Inc, 2000, paperback, 288 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-55642-431-0, $24.

This guidebook is designed as a quick reference for certified athletic trainers who provide advice on nutrition or strength and conditioning to athletes and other groups (eg, women, elderly people, people with diabetes).

The book contains 6 sections. The first section contains introductory chapters titled "Historical Perspectives of Related Professional Organizations" and "Safety and Legal Issues." The second section, "Strength Training," contains 5 chapters ("Principles of Human Muscle Performance," "Techniques of Strength Training," "Strength Training Prescription," "Plyometrics," and "Special Populations"), which are brief and provide entry-level knowledge. The section "Endurance Training" contains 5 brief chapters ("Principles of Cardiorespiratory Performance," "Techniques of Endurance Training," "Endurance Training Prescription," "Techniques of Speed Training," and "Special Populations") that also provide a basic level of information. Chapter 11, "Techniques of Speed Training," would be enhanced by the inclusion of photographs and figures that could be provided to consumers who are unfamiliar with these techniques.

Section 4, "Nutritional Aids for Sports Performance," contains 2 chapters ("Basic Dietary Requirements for Athletes" and "Current Knowledge of Supplements for Strength or Endurance") that provide very basic information over the course of 15 pages. Given the proliferation of reported ergogenic supplements and their widespread use among athletes, the 6-page chapter on supplements lacks thoroughness. Section 5 discusses injury prevention and management and includes 2 chapters ("Flexibility Training" and "Special Concerns"). The chapter on flexibility training contains information regarding injury prevention techniques for various diagnoses. Some commonly encountered sports conditions (rotator cuff tendinitis/impingement, patellofemoral syndrome, and jumper's knee) were omitted, whereas less common sports-related diagnoses (frozen shoulder syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome) were included.

Section 6 contains 2 chapters ("Supplemental Routines and Descriptions" and "Sport-Specific Programs") that comprise almost one half of the book. Chapter 17 describes abdominal routines, back stabilization routines, hip routines, the ladder routine, and lower-extremity plyometrics. Chapter 18 contains sport-specific programs for more than 15 sports, including in-season and off-season routines and position-specific training guidance. This is the most extensive chapter in the book and would be beneficial to the health care professional working with athletes in various sports. The book closes with an appendix that describes weight-lifting techniques, including a couple of techniques that have been reported in the literature as causing or propagating musculoskeletal injuries.

The lack of comprehensive figures in the chapters that cover techniques for speed training, flexibility training, ladder routine, and lower-extremity plyometrics may reduce the book's usefulness to professionals who are unfamiliar with strength and conditioning instruction. Given the book's coverage of high-volume weight-lifting programs, plyometrics, and Olympic lifting, a chapter or an appendix should have included weight-lifting precautions (eg, specifics on various techniques, modifications or avoidance of certain lifts). The alphabetical bibliography is useful for health care professionals seeking additional information. Because the book does not use a numbered bibliography, however, it is difficult to identify the specific reference for authors with multiple listings.

The intended purpose of providing a review text has been met; however, the fact that the content is limited should be emphasized. The book does not provide all the tools necessary to implement comprehensive strength and conditioning programs, advise special populations, or offer widespread nutritional advice. Although intended primarily for athletic trainers, this book would also be useful for physical therapists, personal trainers, and strength and conditioning specialists who provide sport-specific strength and conditioning guidance. Because the majority of the chapters contain basic information, the most useful information will be the sport-specific strength and conditioning programs in chapter 18.

Michael Rosenthal PT, MPT, SCS, ATC
Naval Hospital
Jacksonville, Fla

LT Rosenthal is Head of the Physical and Occupational Therapy Department.