"The Speed Encyclopedia is a comprehensive training strategy designed primarily for serious team sport athletes looking to maximize their speed and athletic potential. This unique "no-nonsense" approach will openly challenge conventional wisdom on the topic and leave absolutely no stone left uncovered, in an honest attempt to discover and disclose the scientific truth for how to make you or your athletes faster. Inside you will witness many years worth of research that is highly controversial, yet highly objective. This system has been successfully utilized by athletes all over the country of all sport types from the youth to professional ranks. If you are looking for a proven program that will deliver "fast" results in both the short and long-term, than I can assure you this book is for you!"

Presents a history of each track and field event and provides facts on prominent athletes, performance records, and national, international, and Olympic competitions

Spanning the wide world of sports, this volume is packed with every conceivable fact that anyone would possibly want to know about nearly 300 sports, including history and practice worldwide.

This is an inspirational track and field book, unlike anything that has been written on the topic. It challenges those who believe that genetic makeup is the only significant contributing factor to becoming an elite track and field athlete, and goes beyond technique to explore the critical importance of mindset. It offers evidence-based tools to help build sustainable and performance-enhancing training philosophies, with a capacity to support athletes from all parts of the genetic spectrum on their journey to the top. The book is a unique story of one athlete's journey in the decathlon from humble beginnings in rural Latvia, through the US college experience on the plains of Kansas, and most recently training with Olympians in Prague, in the heart of Europe. The book documents the physical and mental challenges encountered, the struggles to overcome them, and the training and coaching lessons learned along the way. The book contains personal stories, observations, collected training wisdom and scientific evidence in an easy-to-read format. It offers practical lessons that are often overlooked in track and field training, but which are crucial both for athletes' development and elite performances. The author is an international decathlete from Latvia, who has trained under Olympic-level coaches, as well as with numerous Olympic athletes and Olympic medalists. The book is structured into three sections:1) Training Lessons2) Recovery and Performance Lessons3) Mindset LessonsThe first section offers fifteen critical training philosophy and methodology-related lessons. The second section provides nine lessons from recovery and performance angles. And the third section describes seven sports psychology lessons that can be applied effectively in track and field. All three sections of the book work together to provide an answer to the same question: how can track and field athletes challenge their assumed genetic potential? The core theory focuses on the concept of the "cumulative training effect", and the book guides the reader through the different elements of training, recovery and mindset that can offer a significant contribution towards a cumulative training effect. The book is aimed primarily at athletes and coaches involved in the sprint, hurdle and field disciplines of track and field. It is relevant for athletes at all stages of their development, from middle and high school, through college, and onto professional and ultimately high-performance athletes. However, the life experiences and struggles of the author will appeal to anyone involved in track and field, and sport more generally, including sports fans, the families and friends of those in competitive sport, and anyone who enjoys an inspirational tale of triumph over adversity.

This "is the first ever complete guide for middle and distance runners ages 6 to 18 and their coaches and parents. It shows the proven formula of Mick Grant, which produced National Champions several years in a row from a group of ordinary local kids, near Mick's home in Northeast Massachusetts, who asked him to be their coach. The book lays out in detail how youth and teen athletes and their coaches or parents can take them to successively higher levels, year after year, after year, following the proven success of Mick's training program. What differentiates this program and this book from other programs and books is that it is a unique blend of building endurance and improving basic speed throughout the year, so that the athlete is much better next year than they are this year. The program uses a FUN FIRST approach, making sure the athlete is enjoying what they are doing, and staying healthy to allow consistent training. It is the first such book to cover every topic imaginable for the youth and teen middle/distance runner, jammed packed with over 225 pages of vital information. This book is a must read for all youth runners age 6 to 18, and anyone helping youth runners starting on the way to a life long enjoyment of running, and a successful running career, including youth runners, parents of youth runners, youth runner club coaches, and high school coaches. While this book is geared to youth runners, it is a valuable resource to all middle and distance runners and coaches, regardless of age or level, because the same basic principles apply to all middle and distances runners."--Page 4 of cover.

Sports and leisure activities serve as a mirror, allowing us to examine the attitudes and values of everyday people. This new reference explores the development and influence of sports in American culture, as well as how sports icons, commercial enterprises, organizations, sporting events, and even fan culture have changed from decade to decade and from era to era, from the foot races of colonial times to the extreme sports of today. Each chapter focuses on key aspects of sports in American culture, including such topics as ethnicity, gender, and economics. Enhanced with numerous sidebars on the movers and shakers, key sporting trends, as well as the controversies that threatened to tear the sports world apart, this insightful reference is ideal for high school and college students who are interested in tracing the evolution of sports and American culture throughout the nation's history. Features include a timeline of important events, numerous photographs, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for further