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Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science Is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes--and What We Can Learn from Them
The world of high-performance athletics is changing forever. Not so long ago, you could compete at the top level with hard work and a good coach, but today, it's impossible to separate the achievements of athletes from the scientists who support them.
In Faster, Higher, Stronger, veteran journalist Mark McClusky brings readers behind the scenes with a new generation of athletes, coaches, and scientists whose accomplishments are changing our understanding of human physical achievement and completely redefining the limits of the human body. At the exciting new frontier of sports, science, and technology, the book explores:
* The role that genes and training play
* How to find hidden champions and fasttrack greatness
* The truth about the 10,000 hours rule
* New research on breaking through fatigue
* Revolutions in data and nutrition
* And how we can apply the lessons about focus, dedication, and sheer ingenuity in our own lives.
Brimming with cutting-edge science and gripping anecdotes, Faster, Higher, Stronger is a fascinating, exhilarating look at how far we can push the boundaries of our bodies and minds.
In Faster, Higher, Stronger, veteran journalist Mark McClusky brings readers behind the scenes with a new generation of athletes, coaches, and scientists whose accomplishments are changing our understanding of human physical achievement and completely redefining the limits of the human body. At the exciting new frontier of sports, science, and technology, the book explores:
* The role that genes and training play
* How to find hidden champions and fasttrack greatness
* The truth about the 10,000 hours rule
* New research on breaking through fatigue
* Revolutions in data and nutrition
* And how we can apply the lessons about focus, dedication, and sheer ingenuity in our own lives.
Brimming with cutting-edge science and gripping anecdotes, Faster, Higher, Stronger is a fascinating, exhilarating look at how far we can push the boundaries of our bodies and minds.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 22, 2015
55 people are currently reading
1265 people want to read
About the author
Mark McClusky
4 books12 followersMark McClusky is the author of Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science Is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes--and What We Can Learn from Them.
He is also the editor of WIRED.com. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and two daughters.
He is also the editor of WIRED.com. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
January 5, 2016
I enjoy reading about the science of sports, and this book really hit the spot! It is fun, well-written, and truly up to date on the latest research. My only gripe is with the subtitle, “How sports science is creating a new generation of superathletes—and what we can learn from them.” While the first part of the subtitle is accurate, the second part “and what we can learn from them” is not really appropriate for this book. I did not learn much from this book that would be at all helpful for average athletes, and even less helpful for the average Joe.
Athletes nowadays are truly coming to the upper edge of human abilities. Only a few sports have room for significant improvements in performance. So, much of the improvements that scientists are search for are incremental; tiny, subtle variations in training, technique, and equipment that add a hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there, and all-in-all may add up to enough improvement to win a race.
And, quite a few aspects of sports training were quite surprising to me. The mechanism of lactic acid accumulating in the muscles, leading to fatigue is a myth. Lactic acid is not a cause of fatigue, but is actually used as a fuel for energy! Instead, fatigue is not a physical state, but is actually an emotion felt by the brain. This really floored me, and I urge interested readers to read the evidence in the book for better understanding.
I learned lots of interesting things. For example, the book points out that it is quite difficult for world-class athletes to get enough sleep. And, the best superathletes are those who did not train from an early age in one particular sport; the best ones are those who tried out a variety of sports, before settling down into one specialization. Of all the food supplements for improved performance, the one that is best is simply caffeine!
I have just one more gripe about the book. Sometimes the language style is a bit too conversational. For example, use of the word, “well”, and the phrase, “you know” is off-putting to me, in a nonfiction book. Other than that, the book was very enjoyable; highly recommended!
Athletes nowadays are truly coming to the upper edge of human abilities. Only a few sports have room for significant improvements in performance. So, much of the improvements that scientists are search for are incremental; tiny, subtle variations in training, technique, and equipment that add a hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there, and all-in-all may add up to enough improvement to win a race.
And, quite a few aspects of sports training were quite surprising to me. The mechanism of lactic acid accumulating in the muscles, leading to fatigue is a myth. Lactic acid is not a cause of fatigue, but is actually used as a fuel for energy! Instead, fatigue is not a physical state, but is actually an emotion felt by the brain. This really floored me, and I urge interested readers to read the evidence in the book for better understanding.
I learned lots of interesting things. For example, the book points out that it is quite difficult for world-class athletes to get enough sleep. And, the best superathletes are those who did not train from an early age in one particular sport; the best ones are those who tried out a variety of sports, before settling down into one specialization. Of all the food supplements for improved performance, the one that is best is simply caffeine!
I have just one more gripe about the book. Sometimes the language style is a bit too conversational. For example, use of the word, “well”, and the phrase, “you know” is off-putting to me, in a nonfiction book. Other than that, the book was very enjoyable; highly recommended!
March 26, 2017
A well written review of the current state of the science of human performance. Written by a professional writer who was a former competitive bicycle racer, it feels quite informed about what sports scientists (mostly Olympic and professional) are working on now and which former ideas have been overthrown. As another former amateur bicycle racer and high school track and distance runner I can remember all the fads, all the superstitions and various theories about how to be faster and stronger described in this book (everything from anaerobic threshold training to baking soda). Today, I am working on improving my strength, cycling and also my chess game. The things I am being told to do in strength and endurance training fit the story of in the book. Remarkably, I found McClusky's treatment of the so-called "10,000 hour rule" spot on for all of these activities. After reading both Ericsson's academic work on the subject (the first paper describing "deliberate practice" was published in 1993): The Road to Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games, The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance and his more popular book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, I was sure that Gladwell's treatment of Ericsson's original work was simplistic (and Ericsson said so himself in Peak). Ericsson on backtracks on the actual number of hours given the arbitrary endpoint they placed on "expert", however he does seem to suggest that it applies across almost all activities from science to music to sports and games. In skill-based sports the role of deliberate practice will probably be very apparent and not statistically insignificant, but in sports where physiology and body morphology matter much more, deliberate practice may basically be irrelevant. Somehow people don't like to hear about limits, but if you are not exceptionally tall you will not be good at volleyball or basketball no matter how much deliberate practice you get. If you are over 6 feet tall, you will not make any Olympic gymnastics team. Since height is one of the more obvious things that are genetically controlled, this seems trivially obvious.
But McClusky points out something else you don't hear much about: that adaptation to work (exercise or deliberate practice) is at least partially genetically determined. What that means to me is that your baseline for a sport has a large genetic component, and that the amount of work that will allow you to improve also has a genetic component. To me that has been missing from the "excellence" discussion.
Nobody wants to say it, but unless a you already start with a good baseline for whatever you want to do, and unless you respond well to the work, you will not reach world class. In chess, unlike many other sports, the baseline genetics have been proven not to include gender by the Polgar sisters. What is less clear, is if they (and other elite chess players) possess a genetic advantage in their tolerance and response to work. Chess, like music, may be dominated by skill, for which deliberate practice plays a bigger role. The opposite appears to be true for cycling and skeleton. In cycling there are people who reached the Olympic level with less than 1000 hours of training, and the skeleton seems to depend solely on your 30m sprint speed (and essentially being insane enough to do it in the first place which is also probably genetically determined). Other examples given include rowing (look at Team GB: you need to be very tall, learn a few skills, and be very fit).
I like the practical advice for weekend warriors, and the overview of sports doping too, but the best aspect of the book was addressing what has been missing: there such as thing as talent and it's probably genetically and epigenetically determined. Deliberate practice is necessary, but not sufficient for world class performance.
But McClusky points out something else you don't hear much about: that adaptation to work (exercise or deliberate practice) is at least partially genetically determined. What that means to me is that your baseline for a sport has a large genetic component, and that the amount of work that will allow you to improve also has a genetic component. To me that has been missing from the "excellence" discussion.
Nobody wants to say it, but unless a you already start with a good baseline for whatever you want to do, and unless you respond well to the work, you will not reach world class. In chess, unlike many other sports, the baseline genetics have been proven not to include gender by the Polgar sisters. What is less clear, is if they (and other elite chess players) possess a genetic advantage in their tolerance and response to work. Chess, like music, may be dominated by skill, for which deliberate practice plays a bigger role. The opposite appears to be true for cycling and skeleton. In cycling there are people who reached the Olympic level with less than 1000 hours of training, and the skeleton seems to depend solely on your 30m sprint speed (and essentially being insane enough to do it in the first place which is also probably genetically determined). Other examples given include rowing (look at Team GB: you need to be very tall, learn a few skills, and be very fit).
I like the practical advice for weekend warriors, and the overview of sports doping too, but the best aspect of the book was addressing what has been missing: there such as thing as talent and it's probably genetically and epigenetically determined. Deliberate practice is necessary, but not sufficient for world class performance.
January 3, 2024
This book got me on creatine
August 7, 2015
McClusky’s book tells us how advances in sports science and technology are producing a new class of elite athlete. More usefully, it discusses which practices of high-level athletes can reasonably be emulated by amateurs. One may think that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. In this case, not so much. If shaving a hundredth of a second off your time isn’t going to affect your life’s course, there are many activities of elite athletes that simply aren’t worth the cost (in whatever terms.) For example, the loss of friendships due to rampant flatulence resulting from consuming large quantities of baking soda isn’t worth it if you just want a little bit stronger Sunday cycling ride. (Baking soda [sodium bicarbonate] counteracts blood and muscle acidification during exercise and makes it possible to keep moving strongly when fatigued would normally degrade performance. Incidentally, this practice has been shown to be effective only for events that last between one and seven minutes.) On the other hand, some of the lessons of sports science are relatively low cost and high benefit, and might be just what one is looking for to improve one’s performance. (e.g. Replacing a pre-workout stretching routine with one of rolling out the muscles.)
Faster, Higher, Stronger consists of twelve chapters, each addressing a different aspect of the application of science and technology to sport, including: training methods, genetics, nutrition, recruitment, practice, performance enhancing substances (legal and illegal), elevation training, and the limits of performance.
One question that has always been of great interest is how much of a top athlete comes from his or her genes? In other words, can anyone can do it--given a willingness to work like a maniac of course. As with many other questions about heredity, it was once thought that there would be a precise answer to this question in the wake of the decoding of the human genome. However, the success of the human genome project showed only that the situation was vastly more complex than we’d imagined. It turns out that having certain genes isn’t the end of the story because there are many factors that influence which genes are expressed. Attempts have been made to put numbers to the influence of genetics. For example, one scientist is quoted as claiming that 50% of oxygen processing capability (i.e. VO2 max) is heritable. This translates to the fact that, while the average Joe has a reasonable chance of engaging in athletics at some level, only a 0.1 to 0.3 % can summit the pinnacle of elite level athletics.
In many ways, science has encouraged coaches, trainers, and recruiters to think outside the box—and to look beyond the traditionally engrained approaches. One fascinating story was that of how the British national rowing team held tryouts based only on height, with experience with the sport being not required. They ended up with a champion rower who’d first entered a boat only four years before. This is part of the evidence that controverts the once popular 10,000 hour rule that was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell--though Anders Ericsson is more properly considered the father of the idea. It turns out that 10,000 hours of practice aren’t required for most activities if one goes about it right.
McClusky spends a considerable amount of space on the questions of what athletes should and shouldn’t consume. In emulating elite athletes many amateurs are working at cross purposes. This is readily seen with the issue of sports drinks. If you’re guzzling down a Gatorade or snacking on Cliff Bars after your run, you may only be ensuring that you continue to gain weight despite working out. On the other hand, you may decide that chocolate milk or beet juice are good choices for you.
I’d recommend this book for those interested in the heights of human performance.
Faster, Higher, Stronger consists of twelve chapters, each addressing a different aspect of the application of science and technology to sport, including: training methods, genetics, nutrition, recruitment, practice, performance enhancing substances (legal and illegal), elevation training, and the limits of performance.
One question that has always been of great interest is how much of a top athlete comes from his or her genes? In other words, can anyone can do it--given a willingness to work like a maniac of course. As with many other questions about heredity, it was once thought that there would be a precise answer to this question in the wake of the decoding of the human genome. However, the success of the human genome project showed only that the situation was vastly more complex than we’d imagined. It turns out that having certain genes isn’t the end of the story because there are many factors that influence which genes are expressed. Attempts have been made to put numbers to the influence of genetics. For example, one scientist is quoted as claiming that 50% of oxygen processing capability (i.e. VO2 max) is heritable. This translates to the fact that, while the average Joe has a reasonable chance of engaging in athletics at some level, only a 0.1 to 0.3 % can summit the pinnacle of elite level athletics.
In many ways, science has encouraged coaches, trainers, and recruiters to think outside the box—and to look beyond the traditionally engrained approaches. One fascinating story was that of how the British national rowing team held tryouts based only on height, with experience with the sport being not required. They ended up with a champion rower who’d first entered a boat only four years before. This is part of the evidence that controverts the once popular 10,000 hour rule that was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell--though Anders Ericsson is more properly considered the father of the idea. It turns out that 10,000 hours of practice aren’t required for most activities if one goes about it right.
McClusky spends a considerable amount of space on the questions of what athletes should and shouldn’t consume. In emulating elite athletes many amateurs are working at cross purposes. This is readily seen with the issue of sports drinks. If you’re guzzling down a Gatorade or snacking on Cliff Bars after your run, you may only be ensuring that you continue to gain weight despite working out. On the other hand, you may decide that chocolate milk or beet juice are good choices for you.
I’d recommend this book for those interested in the heights of human performance.
Read
December 30, 2014I haven't willingly sat through a televised professional sports broadcast in over a decade but I managed to cruise through this book and found it enjoyable. Maybe that's because the book is fast-paced and engaging. Or maybe it's because I'm just a huge dork.
When I picked this up I was mostly focused on the "what we can learn from them" part of the subtitle, but I didn't pick up a lot of actionable advice for my own training--it's a bit more cutting-edge science and million-dollar labs than practical advice for the recreational athlete.
When I picked this up I was mostly focused on the "what we can learn from them" part of the subtitle, but I didn't pick up a lot of actionable advice for my own training--it's a bit more cutting-edge science and million-dollar labs than practical advice for the recreational athlete.
June 20, 2021
Bending and blowing past limits
A fascinating read for any athlete, or individual curious about the limits of human performance. This book has a number of very practical things that anyone can do to improve recovery and performance in any sport. There’s also good exploration of the fundamental limits of human performance, and discussion about if they exist at all!
A fascinating read for any athlete, or individual curious about the limits of human performance. This book has a number of very practical things that anyone can do to improve recovery and performance in any sport. There’s also good exploration of the fundamental limits of human performance, and discussion about if they exist at all!
May 10, 2015
Fun book, I enjoyed many of the front running theories on fatigue, and the psychology of performance enhancing drugs related to the athlete with a workable explanation for the argument against them.
August 8, 2023
Online tipping, internett tipping
I dag ser vi at antallet nettjenester øker. Denne trenden gjelder også for tipping. Internett er fullt av mange nettbyråer. Vi gir en guide på denne siden som vil gjøre det enklere for deg å finne sportsbettingsider spesielt utviklet for norske spillere. Noen eksisterende pantelånere har utvidet virksomheten og brukt Internett for å nå et mye større marked, men samtidig har det dukket opp helt nettbaserte pantelånere – og du finner ikke en filial av en slik panteautomat.
Å satse på nett er enkelt og har mange fordeler i forhold til å satse i lokale butikker:
Du kan satse direkte hjemmefra. Du har all tid praktisk til å lese om de forskjellige kampene og oddsene, bruke mange publiserte statistikker og plassere innsatsen din når du er klar.
Du kan satse når som helst – 24 timer i døgnet og 365 dager i året. Du kan satse når du vil, uavhengig av tid på dagen. Alt du trenger å gjøre er å gå online, overføre penger til spillekontoen din og plassere innsatsen din. Selv i julen eller i høytider.
Det er ingen gebyr for online betting. Lokale butikker tar en såkalt provisjon for hvert spill. Dette er gebyret du betaler for å kommunisere med deg live; du betaler i utgangspunktet driftskostnadene til den lokale butikken. Gebyrer er vanligvis faste beløp eller en prosentandel av innsatsbeløpet. Alt dette forsvinner når du spiller online.
Du kan også benytte deg av ulike bonuser. Det er stor konkurranse innen online betting og online betting byråer ønsker logisk nok å tiltrekke seg så mange kunder som mulig. En av måtene å gjøre dette på er gjennom de økonomiske bonusene som spillere mottar umiddelbart etter registrering – vanligvis etter første innskudd får spillere en 100 % bonus på beløpet for første innskudd. Spillere kan selvfølgelig ikke ta ut innskuddene sine umiddelbart. Du må bruke bonusen for noen få spill først, men å registrere deg er bare begynnelsen; online bookmakere tilbyr også mange andre lojalitetsbonuser.
Spillet ditt har bedre odds enn den lokale butikken. Online bookies har vanligvis bedre odds enn lokale butikker. Dette er på grunn av størrelsen deres – takket være deres spilltrafikk har de råd til å tilby mer attraktive odds og dermed bedre fortjeneste enn lokale butikker.
LIVE betting.
Live-betting representerer en revolusjon innen betting. LIVE-betting betyr at du kan spille på utfallet av en kamp som spilles for øyeblikket. Selvfølgelig endres oddsen for hvert mål, hvert minutt. Det er veldig gøy og nesten alle pantelånere tilbyr det. Når du tipper på nett, kan du komfortabelt sitte med favorittlaget ditt, se en fotball- eller hockeykamp og spille på resultatene med mobiltelefonen, enten du bruker Android eller IOS. Kan du tenke deg mer moro enn det?
Akkurat som det finnes ulike forbrukerbeskyttelsesbyråer i den virkelige verden, har online betting også offentlige organisasjoner som sørger for at individuelle bookmakere tilbyr høy kvalitet og pålitelige tjenester. Det er derfor kun lisensierte pantelånere av høy kvalitet publiseres på denne siden. Vi besøker også regelmessig pantelåners nettsider, sjekker informasjonen der og anbefaler så kun de beste og fullstendig pålitelige pantelånerbutikkene.
I dag ser vi at antallet nettjenester øker. Denne trenden gjelder også for tipping. Internett er fullt av mange nettbyråer. Vi gir en guide på denne siden som vil gjøre det enklere for deg å finne sportsbettingsider spesielt utviklet for norske spillere. Noen eksisterende pantelånere har utvidet virksomheten og brukt Internett for å nå et mye større marked, men samtidig har det dukket opp helt nettbaserte pantelånere – og du finner ikke en filial av en slik panteautomat.
Å satse på nett er enkelt og har mange fordeler i forhold til å satse i lokale butikker:
Du kan satse direkte hjemmefra. Du har all tid praktisk til å lese om de forskjellige kampene og oddsene, bruke mange publiserte statistikker og plassere innsatsen din når du er klar.
Du kan satse når som helst – 24 timer i døgnet og 365 dager i året. Du kan satse når du vil, uavhengig av tid på dagen. Alt du trenger å gjøre er å gå online, overføre penger til spillekontoen din og plassere innsatsen din. Selv i julen eller i høytider.
Det er ingen gebyr for online betting. Lokale butikker tar en såkalt provisjon for hvert spill. Dette er gebyret du betaler for å kommunisere med deg live; du betaler i utgangspunktet driftskostnadene til den lokale butikken. Gebyrer er vanligvis faste beløp eller en prosentandel av innsatsbeløpet. Alt dette forsvinner når du spiller online.
Du kan også benytte deg av ulike bonuser. Det er stor konkurranse innen online betting og online betting byråer ønsker logisk nok å tiltrekke seg så mange kunder som mulig. En av måtene å gjøre dette på er gjennom de økonomiske bonusene som spillere mottar umiddelbart etter registrering – vanligvis etter første innskudd får spillere en 100 % bonus på beløpet for første innskudd. Spillere kan selvfølgelig ikke ta ut innskuddene sine umiddelbart. Du må bruke bonusen for noen få spill først, men å registrere deg er bare begynnelsen; online bookmakere tilbyr også mange andre lojalitetsbonuser.
Spillet ditt har bedre odds enn den lokale butikken. Online bookies har vanligvis bedre odds enn lokale butikker. Dette er på grunn av størrelsen deres – takket være deres spilltrafikk har de råd til å tilby mer attraktive odds og dermed bedre fortjeneste enn lokale butikker.
LIVE betting.
Live-betting representerer en revolusjon innen betting. LIVE-betting betyr at du kan spille på utfallet av en kamp som spilles for øyeblikket. Selvfølgelig endres oddsen for hvert mål, hvert minutt. Det er veldig gøy og nesten alle pantelånere tilbyr det. Når du tipper på nett, kan du komfortabelt sitte med favorittlaget ditt, se en fotball- eller hockeykamp og spille på resultatene med mobiltelefonen, enten du bruker Android eller IOS. Kan du tenke deg mer moro enn det?
Akkurat som det finnes ulike forbrukerbeskyttelsesbyråer i den virkelige verden, har online betting også offentlige organisasjoner som sørger for at individuelle bookmakere tilbyr høy kvalitet og pålitelige tjenester. Det er derfor kun lisensierte pantelånere av høy kvalitet publiseres på denne siden. Vi besøker også regelmessig pantelåners nettsider, sjekker informasjonen der og anbefaler så kun de beste og fullstendig pålitelige pantelånerbutikkene.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2017
Title & Author: Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes and What We Can Learn from Them by Mark McClusky
Publisher & Year: PLUME; 2014
REVIEW:
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.” – M. McClusky
This book is absolutely incredible and just plain fun to read. To give a brief description of this book does not do the book or anyone that wants to read it justice. Although, I would caution a potential reader that prior knowledge of different sports performance tech and the latest ergogenic aids would be helpful, but by no means does the book go into excruciating detail that anyone could not follow. Faster, Higher, Stronger is certainly a book about “sports science” but that should not scare off anyone that does not like to get too ‘techy’ with their own program. I read this book simply because I am a sports fan, but I also happen to be interested in the inner workings that sports science gives when talking about our favorite sports.
Each chapter examines a different sports science theme, and with titles such as, “Gold Medal Genetics”, “What Getting Tired Means”, and “Learning to Be the Best”; McClusky does a great job at covering a lot of topics with clarity and thoroughness. I particularly liked the fact that this book was written recently, because the sports science field is, like most fields, ever changing. What you can expect from this book is a clear picture of what sports science looks like today and how even the smallest of marginal gains are being examined and utilized by the best of the best in sports.
Publisher & Year: PLUME; 2014
REVIEW:
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.” – M. McClusky
This book is absolutely incredible and just plain fun to read. To give a brief description of this book does not do the book or anyone that wants to read it justice. Although, I would caution a potential reader that prior knowledge of different sports performance tech and the latest ergogenic aids would be helpful, but by no means does the book go into excruciating detail that anyone could not follow. Faster, Higher, Stronger is certainly a book about “sports science” but that should not scare off anyone that does not like to get too ‘techy’ with their own program. I read this book simply because I am a sports fan, but I also happen to be interested in the inner workings that sports science gives when talking about our favorite sports.
Each chapter examines a different sports science theme, and with titles such as, “Gold Medal Genetics”, “What Getting Tired Means”, and “Learning to Be the Best”; McClusky does a great job at covering a lot of topics with clarity and thoroughness. I particularly liked the fact that this book was written recently, because the sports science field is, like most fields, ever changing. What you can expect from this book is a clear picture of what sports science looks like today and how even the smallest of marginal gains are being examined and utilized by the best of the best in sports.
April 9, 2018
I really like this book. It examined how sports science changes the limits of what we can do. Some important things discussed here were:
Getting more or extra sleep might be the easiest way to enhance your performance!
Maybe your performance is being limited by your mind and not your body!
Sports view measurement systems for sports, to record what happens in 3D for complex multi-player sports, have changed our ability to analyze sports.
Coverage of golf and driving improvement over time.
Discussion on basketball and "invisible blocks" statistics. How to measure great defense.
Discussion about what performance enhancement should and shouldn't be legal. Why top athletes might agree to die in five years if they could go undefeated for those five years.
Excellence in the Olympics, and why Usain Bolt doesn't do the long jump even though he might set a world record.
Why some records from Eastern German athletes still haven't fallen so many years later.
I liked this book a lot!.
Getting more or extra sleep might be the easiest way to enhance your performance!
Maybe your performance is being limited by your mind and not your body!
Sports view measurement systems for sports, to record what happens in 3D for complex multi-player sports, have changed our ability to analyze sports.
Coverage of golf and driving improvement over time.
Discussion on basketball and "invisible blocks" statistics. How to measure great defense.
Discussion about what performance enhancement should and shouldn't be legal. Why top athletes might agree to die in five years if they could go undefeated for those five years.
Excellence in the Olympics, and why Usain Bolt doesn't do the long jump even though he might set a world record.
Why some records from Eastern German athletes still haven't fallen so many years later.
I liked this book a lot!.
April 7, 2024
What is the limit of human potential? Are we limited by our physiology or our psychology? This book was written in 2014 and we were saying that a 2 hour 14 min marathon was max for humans, but 10 years later we are running sub 2 hour marathons. Was this brain, brawn, or changes in tech (super shoes)? Is the impossible just an artificial barrier we need to overcome?
This book makes me extra excited for the 2024 Olympics and watching the best be their best.
Would love to see a sequel with updated sports science in the age of data.
This book makes me extra excited for the 2024 Olympics and watching the best be their best.
Would love to see a sequel with updated sports science in the age of data.
August 21, 2017
This is an excellent book on what goes behind the scenes in creating elite athletes. Book gives detailed insights into training, sports science etc., The author touches on aspects such as should an athlete be groomed at an early age in single sport to become a world class sportsperson or can one take up a sport at a later age and still become a world champ. I will recommend this book for any sports enthusiast.
August 22, 2017
Me? Read? Nonfiction? This was a very interesting read. I was wondering what crazy things the elite athletes I love have to go through to be the top of their field. Now I can picture them chugging sodium bicarb in an ice bath while they review data from their game 😂 I loved the charts and graphs to help visualize the results of some of these sports science studies. And how some of the Olympians answered ads in the paper to start their training!
November 24, 2019
For being so packed with information, I’m surprised I actually made it through this book because I tend to lose interest quickly when that happens. However, this one maintained pace, and a great balance of easy reading and scientific fact. It’s also super approachable if you want to try any of these things as a recreational athlete. My favorite part was just how often he surprised me with well-established facts being debunked. We know so little about the human body and its workings or limits.
February 15, 2020
Much to like in the way of sports anecdotes, but I have to wonder at the level of drug use and what it means for the future of the whole human race to allow athletes to guide such use. Just because we can guage the effects of substances that we put into our bodies based on what they appear to do to physical prowess says nothing about whether we ought to. I was particularly struck by the numbers of athletes who professed they would use a given drug in the short term even if it meant death.
October 8, 2023
Fantastic. This book, if viewed as a way of thinking, is applicable across all domains. Well researched and articulated. The accumulation of marginal gains has been my approach in all fields from my HS football days to my college decathlon competitions and now in my current profession. Highly recommended!
February 18, 2017
Quick and easy read with great insights about athletes and sports in general. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in sports and our ability as human beings to break the boundaries which have been set
October 6, 2018
Enlightening! We enjoy the world of big time sports, but few know it from the inside. The training, the science, stakes and risks, plus a daring and somewhat daunting glimpse into the future of sport, this book is a great read.
September 20, 2024
I’m in awe of elite athletes and how they got to be the way they are. This was a good look at the science behind an athlete. Very interesting book. It was written 10 years ago, I wonder how much the science has changed in those ten years?
December 10, 2017
Good book with abundant good data on genetics and sports. It dedicated much attention to specific stories that didn't seem to bring value to the narrative.
February 5, 2018
This is a great book if youre into sports medicine and have some sort background in sports
July 15, 2019
While I was hoping for more practical ideas to improve my kids' athletic performance, McClusky's book is consistently fascinating, with a ton of research presented in an accessible and engaging way.
October 28, 2019
Really enjoyed the bit size stories covering different angles of sports performance. Managed to take a few things away that I can put into my own training.
October 1, 2020
more like a 3.5, as it's filled with interesting facts and ideas, but sometimes the writing style is tiring and you just have to give reading it.
June 8, 2021
A book with abundant data and myth busters. Loved the chapters which decipher the hype behind lactate acid formation and fatigue.
January 29, 2022
Fascinating read, and a few tips for us amateur athletes too.
September 13, 2022
An interesting read on how athletes are advancing, from training techniques to nutrition. How have athletes progressed, and what does the future hold for elite sportspeople.
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September 13, 2022
In-depth understanding of how/ why elite athletes perform the way they do. Contradicting the 10,ooo hour rule :)
December 23, 2022
Kind of disjointed but nevertheless very interesting.
January 3, 2023
lots already out of date about it
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