Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That Is Revolutionizing Sports

by Marc Bubbs

An integrated and personalized approach to health, nutrition, training, recovery, and mindset

Perfect for personal trainers, sports science students, fans of high level fitness (crossfit, marathon training, iron man, team sports) and gym heads!

There is a new revolution happening in sports as more and more athletes are basing their success on this game-changing health, nutrition, training, recovery, and mindset. Unfortunately, the evidence-based techniques that the expert PhDs, academic institutions, and professional performance staffs follow can be in stark contrast to what many athletes actually practice. When combined with the noise of social media, old-school traditions, and bro-science, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Peak is a groundbreaking book exploring the fundamentals of high performance (not the fads), the importance of consistency (not extreme effort), and the value of patience (not rapid transformation). Dr. Marc Bubbs makes deep science easy to understand, and with information from leading experts who are influencing the top performers in sports on how to achieve world-class success, he lays out the record-breaking feats of athleticism and strategies that are rooted in this personalized approach.

Dr. Bubbs's performance protocol is for the elite athlete, active individual, strength coach, nutritionist, or practitioner who wants to expand their potential





Connecting the importance of sleep, digestion, the athlete microbiome, and blood glucose control metrics

Creating personalized deep nutrition strategies for building muscle, burning fat, or "making weight" for competition

Rethinking nutrition specifically for team sports

Learning how elite endurance athletes fuel, including training techniques to boost performance

Applying the new science of recovery that enhances performance

Emphasizing the tremendous role of emotional intelligence and mindset in overcoming roadblocks and achieving athletic success (the next frontier in performance)

Analyzing the qualities of elite leaders and how to develop them authentically

Dr. Bubbs expertly brings together the worlds of health, nutrition, and exercise and synthesizes the salient science into actionable guidance. Regardless if you're trying to improve your physique, propel your endurance, or improve your team's record, looking at performance through this lens is absolutely critical for lasting success.

Genres: Fitness, Nonfiction, Science, Health, Sports, Audiobook, Self Help

363 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2019

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't the intended audience for this book but it still had a lot of useful information. I learned a lot about health and fitness and how to properly train. I especially appreciated the chapters on mental health, emotional intelligence, and self-compassion. I didn't expect a book about achieving optimal physical performance to spend so much time talking about the mental and emotional strength required for success. anyone in any coaching or elite training program should definitely read this book. It isn't really written for the layperson who is interesting in improving their time spent in the gym but that doesn't mean they won't have a take away from this book. There were times I zoned out and skimmed but there was still so much relevant information to digest that I think this book earned 4 stars and recommendations to anyone really interested in sports and performance.

[Algirdas Purkenas · Rating 4 out of 5]

. Good stories and insights, but nothing ground braking. Inspiration -> Motivation -> discipline -> habits. Only at the habits stage can you ensure sustainable work ethics and coming back to it again and again. Don't go for the marginal gains until you get the main pillars right - eat, sleep, recovery, train smart

[Rebecca Handa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first audiobook! Very enlightening and I learned a lot!

[Melissa Boufounos · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist reading this, I appreciated the blend of a holistic approach with science based evidence.

The book was described as a resource for coaches and athletes, but I personally feel most coaches and athletes who don’t already have a fundamental understanding of nutrition will have a hard time reading this.

The first few chapters were quite technical and I had a hard time getting into it.

I found a lot of info was repeated throughout the book in chapter after chapter, and while the info certainly was relevant to the chapter, I don’t think it needed to be repeated in each chapter it was relevant to.

Overall a fantastic read and I am happy to be part of this industry with the direction its heading.

[Ravi Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just truly enjoy health and fitness books because they mostly feel so wholesome, including this one. Took off one star because at times it was too chemistry-y for me, but I am sure even that aspect will be useful for coaches and professional athletes. All the same, a great compilation.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caters to my approach to athletics. I have one strong takeaway and I learned quite a bit. I found this interesting and engaging. Carbohydrate rinse here I come!

[Dom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not fun to read, highly technical, discordant writing without citing sources. Written by men for men; only cites male althletes and male-dominated sports. Not worth finishing.

[Sportfogaolda24 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Online sportfogadás: Átfogó útmutató

Az online sportfogadás a sportok és események széles skáláját kínálja, amelyekre fogadni lehet, különféle preferenciák és érdeklődési körök kielégítésére. Ha még nem ismeri az online sportfogadást, és azon gondolkodik, hogy milyen sportokra fogadhat, ez az útmutató bemutatja a népszerű sportágakat, és képet ad a fogadási lehetőségekről. Tekintse meg itt azokat az irányelveket, amelyek segítenek kiválasztani az online fogadóirodát 2024-ben!

1. Labdarúgás (futball)

A foci vagy a futball az egyik legnépszerűbb sport, amelyre online fogadhatnak világszerte. Az olyan nagy ligák, mint az angol Premier League (EPL), a La Liga, a Serie A, a Bundesliga és a Bajnokok Ligája jelentős fogadásokat vonzanak. Fogadjon a mérkőzés győzteseire, a gólszerzőkre, a szögletekre és egyebekre.

2. Kosárlabda

A kosárlabda gyors fogadásokat kínál, különösen az NBA-szezonban. Fogadjon az NBA, az Euroliga vagy a nemzetközi versenyekre, például az olimpiai játékokra. Az általános fogadások közé tartoznak a mérkőzések eredményei, az összesített pontok, a játékos kellékei és a negyed/félidő pontszámok.

3. Tenisz

A tenisz ideális az egyéni mérkőzésekre való fogadáshoz, a nagy versenyek, mint a Wimbledon, a US Open, a French Open és az Australian Open vonzzák a figyelmet. Fogadjon a meccsek győzteseire, szett pontszámokra, játékösszegekre vagy akár játékeseményekre, például ászokra vagy kettős hibákra.

4. Amerikai futball (NFL)

Az amerikai futball, különösen az NFL rendkívül népszerű az online fogadások terén. Fogadjon NFL-játékokra, Super Bowl határidős ügyletekre, játékos bemutatkozó kellékekre és egyebekre. A lehetőségek között szerepel a mérkőzés győztesei, a pontkülönbség, az összesített pontok és a játékos statisztikák.

5. Lóversenyek

A lóverseny továbbra is a klasszikus fogadási lehetőség, és olyan jelentős események, mint a Kentucky Derby, a Grand National és a Breeders' Cup világszerte érdeklődést váltanak ki. Fogadjon futamgyőztesekre, helyszín/műsoreredményekre, pontos/trifecta fogadásokra és egyebekre.

6. Jégkorong

A jégkorong izgalmas fogadási lehetőségeket kínál, különösen az NHL-szezonok és nemzetközi versenyek idején. Fogadjon a meccsgyőztesekre, a gól felett/alatt, a perióduseredményekre és a játékosok teljesítményére.

7. Golf

Az olyan golfversenyek, mint a Masters, a US Open, a British Open és a PGA Tour, számos fogadási piacot kínálnak. Fogadjon a verseny győzteseire, az egyéni fordulók eredményeire, a legjobb játékosokra és a játékos mérkőzésekre.

8. Elektronikus sportok

Az Esport-fogadások népszerűsége nőtt, lehetővé téve a professzionális videojáték-versenyeken való fogadást. Fogadj olyan népszerű játékokra, mint a League of Legends (LoL), a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), a Dota 2 és az Overwatch. A lehetőségek között szerepel a mérkőzés győztesei, a térkép pontszámai, az összes ölés és a játékos statisztikák.

9. Ökölvívás és MMA

A küzdősportok, például a boksz és a vegyes harcművészetek (MMA) izgalmas fogadási lehetőségeket kínálnak. Fogadj a küzdelmek győzteseire, a köreredményekre, a győzelem módszerére és a harci kellékekre.

10. Motorsport

A motorsport fogadás olyan eseményekre terjed ki, mint a Forma-1 (F1), a NASCAR és a MotoGP. Fogadjon a futamgyőztesekre, a dobogós helyezésekre, a leggyorsabb köridőkre és a versenyzők egymás elleni mérkőzéseire.

Online sportfogadási tippek

Kutatás és elemzés: Fogadás előtt ismerje meg a sportot, a csapatokat és a játékosokat.
Kezelje bankrollját: Állítsa be a költségvetést, és tartsa be a felelős fogadási gyakorlatokat.
Oddsok összehasonlítása: Vásároljon a legjobb oddsok között a fogadási oldalakon, hogy maximalizálja megtérülését.
Kövesse a sporthíreket: Maradjon naprakész a legújabb fejleményekről, hogy megalapozott fogadási döntéseket hozhasson.

Az online sportfogadás a sportágak és események széles skáláját kínálja minden fogadó érdeklődésének. Akár a hagyományos sportokat részesíti előnyben, mint a futball és a kosárlabda, akár a feltörekvő piacokat, mint az eSport, az online sportfogadás mindenki számára tartogat valamit. Fedezze fel a különböző sportágakat, végezzen kutatásokat, és élvezze a felelős online fogadás izgalmát. Sok szerencsét!

[Jana Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alright, marking this on my "running-books" shelf is pretty much an affront to the entire idea behind the book...

This is not a running book.

This is a book for the "expert generalist" who is seeking a holistic way to improve her performance - in her sport (whichever that may be) and generally in life.

As... well, only a healthy athlete can perform well - and even reach their peak performance for that matter.

So. This is the background we are working with.

From then on, the book takes you through the three fundamental layers (Sleep, Microbiom and Blood Sugar) you should have in check (according to the book) before you even think about improving on anything like your sports (specific) nutrition, recovery, mindset ... all that

And: BOOM!!!! Excellent work here!

Again, I heard most of the things before, but it is such a good compendium! And I love the "stories" - from all kinds of sports and life - which spice it up a bit, and make you go "oh, yes, I remember!!!!!"

For anyone who is a fan of Alex Hutchinson Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance or Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery This is pretty much what you want to think about... really good journalism and assessment of the research - just more for the practitioner - with real life instructions that are actually quite easy to understand and apply.

Loving the Food First Approach and need to work on my sleep...

One thing I would love to see is Marc Bubbs to meet with Stacy Sims - that would be awesome...

Anyhow, highly recommend for every athlete, coach or other "expert generalist" out there going for peak...

[Daniel Gonzales · Rating 2 out of 5]

I FINALLY finished reading this book after quite a while. The book was a lot more technical than I thought it was. It is a wealth of information for coaches and athletes looking to upgrade their performance and knowledge. I enjoyed reading some of the science behind nutrition and sports performance; however, I bit off more than I could chew with this book. I acknowledged that I could have put the book down at any point and started another one; however, I was committed to the cause and did not want to quit.

The best part of the book for me was the last chapter which discussed mindset and had a lot of great information. In this chapter, I enjoyed reading about a coach or elite player's mentality to operate at a high level. Science showed it was developing compounding habits that turn into automaticity. Also, there was some excellent information on how coaches can approach their athletes on an emotional level, which can apply to everyday life.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Bought this book years ago and read a little over half of it. I saw it in my Kindle library and decided to start over and read it again. It is filled with lots of practical advice and debunks some common myths. This book covers everything on athletic performance from sleep to coaching. It provides a general overview of everything performance related in sports — it reminded me of my high school exercise physiology class.

The author did a good job explaining the technical science behind things and then breaking down what the science means. The conclusions were wishy-washy at times, but inconclusive and contradictory medical studies are more to blame for that than the author. Some of the advice is hard to implement without seeking out a professional for help, but this book will give you some background information to allow you to get the most out of professional services if you seek them.

[Brad Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book, as someone who is looking to better themselves as an athlete and a person I took a lot from this book. The downside being it is very content heavy. It requires the reader to carefully dissect the material and the fact that I have a science degree greatly helped me reading through this book. It reads like a metanalysis of all recent sports science advances (which essentially is what the book is, a deep dive into the recent studies in the field).
Despite being what I would consider an advanced read, I took a great deal from this book. I would highly recommend reading this book twice to get more out of it. As an athlete who has struggled with concussions I found the concussion section especially useful and I've implemented some strategies I took from this book. Highly recommend for the athlete who loves good sports science!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some would like to think that health and fitness are the same thing. Unfortunately, this is not true. There are numerous cases of athletes who have performed at a high level during their careers at the cost of good health.

Dr. Marc Bubb's book PEAK is the first technical book I have read that allowed the two qualities to coexist in the same chapter. I do not know why this has taken so long.

Inside the pages of this book the latest training, nutrition, and recovery practices are shared for individual as well as team sports. In particular, I was most interested in carbohydrate periodization as an endurance training practice and team halftime nutrition for team sports.

While I do recommend this I will agree that it might be a bit technical for most readers.

[Griff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many useful takeaways, and I loved knowing there was little subjectivity and instead a focus on peer-reviewed research in various fields related to health and wellness.

Narration by the author was excellent, but the audiobook format compounded the fact that Peak has little by way of narrative. Stream of consciousness study results combined with subject matter expert quotations became a little numbing to listen to, but this flow was nicely broken up with real life examples from notable professional athletes.

Overall an interesting and informative read - I'd recommend a visual copy over the audiobook for comprehension, but the audiobook was great if you don't mind missing out on some charts, sources, and extra content.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super impressed with the thoughtfulness that went into the planning and writing of this book. HOnestly I didn't really know what to expect from Dr. Bubbs, who trained as a naturopath (I have no clinical experience with naturopaths at all).

But this book is amazing, not only for athletes, but for anyone who wants to live life with as much vitality as possible. It goes through the current scientific knowledge on the keystone foundations of sleep, nutrition, physical training, recovery, and brain health.

This is a great handbook for "just living life"!

[James A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peak is a very interesting read with a number of topics that are useful for health and fitness practitioners to read and learn about. However, the book can be quite un-engaging to read with large blocks of text and at times a very textbook feel to the content delivery. For a learned professional this poses little issues but Peak may be more difficult to read for the layman or non-university educated reader. Overall, the content is of a good high quality but could benefit with better design and readability.

[Duduzile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phenomenal book about improving athlete performance by incorporating and integrating sleep, health, training, recovery and mental strength into their lives. The book is well researched and the terminology can be overwhelming for a non-expert in any of the five pillars mentioned above. However, a brilliant read for athletes - elite or recreational- and a must read for coaches. As a recreational athlete, I found the book valuable with great insights that I can adopt to my routine to not only improve my performance but to continue with these activities up to old age.

[Bradley Eylander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who works out daily or is competing I would put this as a required read.
The author focuses on athletes and goes over studies relating to performance. He hits a lot of topics such as the gut, sleep, and nutrition. The most I took from this book is the diet aspect of working out and how important it is and how different we are person-to-person. It inspired me to try vitamin and micro-nutrient supplements.
This is a book I'll be revisiting.

[Benjamin Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes a holistic approach to the question of how can an athlete achieve excellence in his/her respective sport.

It dives into all kinds of aspects, like nutrition, immunity, recovery, emotional intelligence, etc. All backed up by numerous studies. The book's main target audience are elite athletes and coaches, but I think all recreational athletes can get valuable information from this book. I know I did.

[Samito · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main take away from this book is that if you want to be better at sports you need to 1. get a good night of sleep (7-9 quality hours), 2. eat well, 3. manage stress. After that, everything is just getting you marginal gains. You are wasting your energy doing the latest and greatest in training and recovery if you are missing the foundations. The details of this book don't matter for 99% of people who can't get these things down.

[John Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted to give this a lower review because at times it dived into so much detail it was painful. However, right about the time to give up, it would have a precious nugget of information. Valuable information for those that want details. For those of us not into that much depth, the higher level themes are very good but getting to them is a challenge.

[Levi Wiseman]

Very well put together book -- focus is on elite athletes more than recreational, it gets a little heady and overly-specific for the recreational. As a trainer and coach though it is a must-read. (he does switch around the meaning of football at times which is quite annoying-american football vs futbol)

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tome contains a wealth of information, but it's application is up to you the reader. If there's something that can be tweaked to increase your performance athletically or intellectually, it'll be catalogued within these pages. However, Bubbs doesn't give you the exact formula because it's so complicated, but this is where you'll begin to find answers.

[Shannon Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the read, it's a good jumping off point for those interesting in a holistic understanding of sports science.

As a basic recreational athlete it's changed how I think about most aspects of my training and recovery. I look forward to digging into each part in more detail with the references he provided.

[Alaina Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many takeaways from this gem. All the fundamentals were covered and were nothing new to me given my profession as a trainer and Nutritionist, but I can appreciate that these would be super helpful reminders for your average recreational athlete. Lots of important info from a practitioner stand point though, that I'm already implementing. Great read!

[Pedro000072 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book!!, It has so much scientific high quality information collected from several areas ( recent Info). It is interesting because you easily can skip reading at least 6 books if you read this one. Reading it could help to everybody not only athletes or sport people. It is really worthy if you are looking for improve your health!!

[Babeth (Aria) Vink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read with some wonderful insights. Like most other books about exercise and sports, it was very male-centered, however, and I would have liked to read more about women too. Let’s hope women soon get included more in the world of sports and performance. It’s time we catch up on sports science when it comes to women.

[Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched and well-written. An excellent synthesis of the latest scientific studies in nutrition, recovery, and training. With a bonus chapter devoted to mindfulness meditation and emotional intelligence to aid in overall wellness of the athlete.

[Jon Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though geared towards athletic coaches, this book succinctly summarizes the literature on sleep, nutrition, exercise and psychology, offering valuable knowledge to any reader. Some sections can be quite dense with scientific terminology but the underlying concepts are quite graspable.

[Jüri-Mikk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dare to say it’s a compulsory read for anyone wanting to understand the science of high sports performance, and possibly to gain an edge over the competition. I’m surprised he didn’t cover massage in the recovery section, but otherwise a very interesting book.