Maximum Interval Training by John Cissik

by John Cissik

Excellent Book

Unknown Binding

First published May 26, 2015

About the author

John Cissik is the president and owner of Human Performance Services, LLC (HPS), which helps athletics professionals solve their strength and conditioning needs. He coaches youth baseball, basketball, and Special Olympics sports and runs fitness classes for children with special needs. He has written 10 books and more than 70 articles on strength and speed training that have been featured in Muscle & Fitness, Iron Man, and track and field and coaching publications. He is also the author of Human Kinetics’ Speed for Sports Performance DVD series. Cissik specializes in education, strength training for baseball, basketball, track and field, and speed and agility training. He has worked with athletes from high school to Olympic levels. In addition to his role at HPS, he is the director of fitness and recreation at Texas Woman’s University. John is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer and by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist. He has held level I and level II certifications from USA Track and Field and was certified with the former U.S. Weightlifting Federation.

Reviews

[Cindy Heaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*
It has taken me a long time to get this review up. I felt this book was very complicated for someone who is working out at home to stay in shape. There is a LOT of information in this book, much of it someone like myself has no use for. This book is very much geared for someone who makes fitness their life and profession. The title is a bit misleading, though on the cover in red letters under the cover are the words "High-intensity training for elite performance". That should probably be included in the title.

As far as the content goes there is a ton of information to go through. Many examples of training using different equipment (body weight, medicine balls, sprinting, ropes, suspension, kettlebells, sandbags, stability balls, sandbags, and even some boxing) and how to do foundational and advanced exercises with them. Where this book got a bit over my goals was where it got into program design and all the testing protocols. It seemed overly complicated, but if you are, in fact, training an athlete this is the stuff you need to know.

There are sample workout programs set up for American Football Players, Women's Soccer training, weeks to improve a specific lift, power-training, speed-training, precompetition and competition, endurance for marathons, quickness and agility training, tactical training (law enforcement, firefighter, military) and then total-body conditioning. And lots of preparation period training and macrocycles for the programs.

I am sure I can use some of this information in my own workouts, but it's much more than I would really need. Certainly geared for personal trainers and professionals.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written book. If you are looking to do more interval training or just starting out, then this book is very useful. I found this book very helpful and easy to follow. I have been doing interval training for a while but I am always on the hunt to find more ways to take my exercise to the next level. There are lots and lots of exercises featured in this book. So you are getting your money's worth. Don't worry if you are just beginning with interval training as this book will take you step by step with pictures on how to do the exercise (correctly). There is even a work out guide to follow so that after you have mastered the novice moves you can keep progressing with the advanced moves. You will refer to this book over and over again until you have become a master and then you might want to consider gifting it to a friend or purchase them a copy.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book did an excellent job of providing information to get a great workout. Along with reading about how to do an exercise, there were photos that showed how to do the exercise also. I would recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to up their game when it comes to exercising.

***I received this book through LibraryThing's Member Giveaway. The opinion is solely my own"