by M.D., Tim Noakesi,by Matt Fitzgerald Brain Training For Runners: A Revolutionary New Training System to Improve Endurance, Speed, Health, and Results(text only)1st (First) edition [Paperback]2007

by Tim Noakesi by Matt Fitzgerald by M.D.

Excellent Book

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Fitness, Health, Psychology, Science

Paperback

First published September 4, 2007

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should mention that while reading this book, and gently applying the exercises in it, I twice beat my 5K PR from 7 years ago. I feel like those exercises made me a faster runner.

Cross Training is not just doing other sports. There are muscle specific exercises that enhance speed, endurance, and reduce chance of injury. It is based on recent advances in sports physiology. To me, these are sound principles. It even has a forward written by Tim Noakes, MD where he endorses it.

Some parts I liked:
p 59: Race specific key workouts
p 102: Core conditioning workouts
p 103: Cross training exercises
P 153: Weekly workout template
p 176: Stretches to prevent injuries
p 203: Part 2: Training plans for various distances

I bought a copy after reading it.

[Roberto Rigolin F Lopes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I'm very very deliberative during long runs. Last one I started with full confidence knowing that I ate and slept well. During the first 5 min, I checked form and started pushing Earth using my hamstrings, you probably noticed shorter days recently. After 30 min, I was warmed up and found a pace where I became running. You read it right: I became running. That is the best feeling out there and I managed to switch from flow to tough reality every one kilometer or so. Reaching 2 hours felt like having a superpower, pain was welcomed cheerfully; I even managed to smile knowing that the little pain was just my lazy brain pushing homeostasis. When I reached 3 hours the pain started asking: who you gonna call? I increased my pace and shouted: GHOSTBUSTERS!

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book of training advice and plans plus a lot of good talk about the science behind running. Some may have criticized Fitzgerald for trying to "run past what is conceivable" - but if you read the book closely that is not what he's saying. It's true, running is mental, and many runners mentally block themselves. Running is going to hurt - and often runners don't push themselves as far as they could, or they push themselves too far. Fitzgerald examines both sides of the issue clearly and asks for a happy medium.

I also liked the fact that the training plans in this book are longer than the usual 16 weeks that you allot for a half marathon or marathon. As someone who has suffered from injuries, this longer amount of time, plus a focus on good form and gait training as part of the process of running, is important to me.

I will say that Fitzgerald is a fan of minimalist running shoes, which are definitely not for all of us. I am also unsure if some of his gait training exercises take into account women's bodies, which have different strides and needs. Most of the examples that he gives in the book are male runners, (including himself multiple times) with the exception being he claims that female runners can use the techniques, and a quote from a female runner saying that it is nice to be in the zone. This book was published in 2007, so I was surprised there wasn't a section addressing women's running.

Currently going to be using this book to train for the Richmond Half Marathon in 2017, in hopes of setting a PR. Hoping that it works.

[Sandi]

Amazing! This was my bible for about a year and the knowledge gained never gets old. I recommend that if you get this book, get sticky tabs so you can quickly access the most meaningful passages. (I'm not kidding about it being my bible). In psyching myself up prior to the marathon of my hour PR, I would recite the passages over, and over again so as to commit the knowledge to memory so I could access it when the race got tough in the later miles. After so many positive outcomes, I can't help but attribute some of that success to this book.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with cutting edge training plans, and insight into what is actually happening during intense/event specific training. The brain needs gradual conditioning to race pace and race distance to avoid sending signals to the muscles to shut down and protect the organs. Also, the maximum number of muscle fibers should be brought into action. When brain senses problems, it starts shutting down the fibers, important to get them activated early in the training cycle.

I've not read cover to cover, and should. There are areas I've re-read and will continue to use as a training companion.

One thing about his pace based training method that gives me an issue is how to maintain the pace objectives during training if weather is hot, humid or windy. Perhaps I should re-read for the answer.

[Roy Madrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best handbook on running I've ever read. Not much into why things work because, well, nobody fully understands that at the moment or at the time of publication. Nonetheless provides a new and fresh perspective and the importance of the brain body connection and how efficient running makes a world of difference.

[Sebastian Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to my friends I recently discovered the magic of running, the magic of being in the zone while running, the magic of having that conversation with one of your inner personalities (a pretty histrionic one telling you to stop, making excuses to not continue)

A yoga trainer one day told me to smile while I was doing a difficult position and it really helped... the past week running I used that same strategy and everything changed. The trees said hi to me, they were giving me five fillings me with energy.

After reading this now I think it was IL-6 boosting in my bloodstream since I was kind of fasting while running and being on deep ketosis (2 mmol/dL) for more than 2 weeks.

I'm getting the five fingers shoes, I have a personalized running training plan taking care of injuries and using science to improve 1% at a time as atomic habits recommend.

All this to say: this is a 5 stars book that just changed my life.. is fun, well written, I read it so fast, was hard to stop reading and making notes. I even started a conceptual map (cmap-tools) and will share soon.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I marked this finished. I have no idea why Goodreads agrees that I finished it, but did not keep the date I finished - so I will be making up a date since I don't recall the right one. (While trying to fix it, I accidentally deleted the start date, so that's invented, too.)

Review. Most of his advice is good. In a very few places, he gives the opposite advice from Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, who wrote a barefoot running book. In those instances, I will follow Ken Bob's advice.

The book is very thick, but don't let that scare you. Only the first half of the book is the reading portion. The second half consists of very detailed training plans. One each for 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon.

[Claudia Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several books by Matt and I'm impressed at how he manages to find different information to share in each one of his books without being repetitive. I'm not particularly crazy over the training plans, but I enjoyed all the brain-training theory the book consisted of. Learned new things.

[Jess Dollar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good choice for athletes and coaches that want to learn more about the Central Governor Theory. Fitzgerald sums it up pretty well. It's very important to at least understand that there is more to fatigue than just be tired. Certainly if you believe that lactic acid comes first and then fatigue, you can learn a lot about yourself and how your brain works through this book.
As a coach, I know that most people don't want to think about their brain; they want to swim, bike, and run. I see a LOT of thinking mistakes in athletes and it's very frustrating. I see athletes that want to train too hard and minimize the importance of diet and sleep. I see a lot of athletes that talk negatively about themselves all the time. I see a lot of athletes that don't think that their thinking has anything to do with when they slow down in a race or a workout.
Being a good athlete is about pushing and manipulating your thinking more than your muscles. A physically gifted person won't get anywhere without the mental tools to embrace pain.

The most useful parts of this book for an every-day athlete:
running drills and how to use them
quick and simple strengthening routines
discussion of how to mentally handle pain

The training plans that make up half this book look pretty intense but I am sure would be a change of pace for most runners looking to try a different approach to training. I think everyone can benefit from learning to push through intense workouts as a way of breaking through mental barriers.

[Melanie]

I didn't get to finish this but it was very interesting. I like the way Fitzgerald combines physiology and psychology. I used to fear something bad would happen to me if I ran too far for my body, like my legs would just give out and I'd fall. I learned that even when we have "hit the wall" we still have about an hour's worth of energy available to our muscles. Our brain causes us to feel we've ran out of energy in order to PREVENT muscle death from lack of energy. Knowing this, I was able to become more confident and push myself further. Finally, this book helped me to understand what pain (or discomfort, rather) I could safely ignore and which to listen to in order to prevent injury. This is a fairly high level read but if you're interested in the human body at all, you'll enjoy this.

[Katy W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was awesome! You might be deceived with a title "brain training," this book is not so much about how to stay positive and train your mind in that aspect. It is about the training needed to fight fatigue, and how the brain is correlated with muscle fatigue. Similar to Endure, but I found there was heavier science and physiology in the first part of this book. Second part has great training plans that I would be tempted to try for any race distance, plus a lot of stability exercises.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes running seem so logical...

[Marie-Michèle Larivée · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most amazing book I’ve red about running and how to keep running against you will. I ran my marathon (almost) without pain du to this book!

[Ronald Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tapping the source!!

I am a big fan of Matt Fitzgerald and can highly recommend his latest book about using a Brain-centered training system. I specifically chose the title above for my review from a famous surfing novel with the same name, because by using Matt’s tips, you will indeed, tap into not only your own power source (brain), but will also inspire you to dig deeper into your body feedback to make huge, lasting neural connections between your brain and muscle fibers.

[Federico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The training method described in this book starts from a theory stating that fatigue is not the result of glycogen depletion, but a mechanism used by the brain to prevent muscles’ overuse: based on this, the brain can be trained to delay the moment fatigue kicks in by letting it experience feedback similar to the one it would get during our target race. Since stride is everything in running, it provides a set of cues to focus on stride improvements while running, as well as some cross-training exercises to improve stability, flexibility, and power

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on running. although Fitzgerald tends to over use the term 'brain science', I found this book to have interesting training plans that incorporate more than just running. good technique work and interesting speed work. one crtique- his intermediate 5k plan has more mileage per week than the intermediate 10k plan. that doesn't seem logical.

[John Kilman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can feel a little dry at times but the information is excellent. It gets 5 stars because implementing just a couple of tips from this book helped me drop my time by 27 seconds per mile on a 5 mile run at the same heart rate and on the same course! Just reading the section proprioceptive cues would be helpful to any runner.

[Moi · Rating 3 out of 5]

matt fitzgerald is a pretty reliable, nonextreme resource for serious amateur runners who don't have/can't afford to hire a good coach. this book details a number of exercises and training plans for runners hoping to break through the exhaustion threshhold.

[Ryan Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read with good tips on running form, developing resistance to fatigue, and training. But more than half the book is devoted to training plan examples, which could be helpful but could also be seen as filler content.

[Mike Niebrzydowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point, I am familiar with a lot of this, but I thought the proprioceptive cues were helpful. The exercises/dynamic stretches will be helpful too. I think his approach is a good one. The brain is powerful!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am looking forward to trying out some of these training plans. I only skimmed the plans. May have more to write once I actually follow one. I did like a lot of the other things (exercises, stretches, etc) in the book.

[Suukii · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book immensely helpful and followed the intermediate marathon plan. Although his thinking has now moved on, I think the logic of this approach is a realistic one for a club runner.

[Trung Nguyen Dang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much new insights to learn. Not much about brain train training but just normal training

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mental aspect of enduring suffering was really only one chapter of this huge book.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely use some the techniques in this book.

[Rhonda Gammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

[PH Laugier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

[Debbie Massry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good book, complete with strength exercises, training plans and more. But not enough on the mind and brain when running.

[Joaquín G Alé · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not comparable with other Matt Fitzgerald books. The most attracting thing is the title of the book.