They say athletes suffer two deaths—the one at the end of their lives, and the one at the end of their collegiate or professional sports lives. For an athlete to go from an athletic career to retirement can be a difficult transition. Luckily, Lauren Link, RD, CSSD, has already dealt with this life change and with The Healthy Post-College Athlete, any former athlete can learn how to go from the discipline of weightlifting sessions and conditioning for a game or race, to maintaining a healthy lifestyle without those familiar goals. The book is targeted at those who are juggling a switch away from the intense, competitive, and routine-oriented life of an athlete, and shows how to apply the lessons learned from that time to life as a normal human. Also included in the book are excerpts from Link’s own blog that she started to document her transition from her collegiate athletic lifestyle, along with lists and case studies to help contextualize the challenge in leaving the focus and discipline of an athletic life. Link covers such ground as: • Modifying your diet based on “normal human” calorie expenditure, with meal planning and grocery shopping • Designing a routine and workout to stay fit and healthy • Easy-to-prepare recipes that will help facilitate a healthy lifestyle • Forming an identity outside of your sport Whether you’re a professional athlete or just a person trying to be healthier, this book will show you a path to living a better and healthier life. With a humorous and self-effacing tone, Link will show you how to transition in The Healthy Post-College Athlete. “My experience working with Skyhorse is always a positive collaboration. The editors are first-rate professionals, and my books receive top-shelf treatment. I truly appreciate our working relationship and hope it continues for years to come.” –David Fischer, author

Most athletes have devoted a lifetime to their sport, but few are prepared for end of their competitive career. This easy-to-follow guide addresses the common problems and questions athletes face after retirement. Board Certified Sports Dietitian Lauren Link takes you through the process as if you're sitting across from her in her office.

There is no more important area of the body for an athlete than the core, the region of our body from our chest to our knees. The core is our engine, our hub of activity. Strength there makes life easier for shoulders and knees. It produces speed and explosiveness. Endurance and grit. The core is so important. So why has it remained such a medical mystery? This book will explain that. Introducing the Core: Demystifying the Body of an Athlete traces the arc of the journey from injury to restoration of power to the return to normal life. Dr. William Meyers is the nation’s foremost authority on core health. Along with over 40 world-renowned expert contributors, Dr. Meyers explains how the core functions through stories from his work in locker rooms, the operating room, and the playing fields of elite athletes, giving readers a thorough understanding of the core’s widespread influence on athleticism and the human anatomy. The book: Dissects the events that led Dr. Meyers and his team of experts to their new appreciation of this anatomy Brings multiple world-renowned arthroscopists into the overall core picture, providing their perspectives on how the core works, with the pubic bone as “the sun” of the body’s universe Offers insight into the many causes of pelvic pain, demonstrating why the term “sports hernia,” should be banished forever Emphasizes the fact that a wide spectrum of professionals treat the core -- from traditional surgeons to alternative therapists Brings it all together and proposes a new future, and perhaps a new medical specialty, that is the core “Strength, power, and endurance all flow from the core. This book, and the work Bill Meyers has done in the field, will bring good core health to the forefront and help everyone—elite athletes and others.” —Michael William Krzyzewski “Even in baseball, injury patterns in the shoulder and elbow are related to core imbalance. This book has been needed for a long time... Bill has helped the idea of core strength become more popular, and this book could be what is needed to get it more attention.” —James Rheuben Andrews, MD “To understand the core, you must put on new eyes.” —Marshawn Lynch

The New York Times bestseller – with a new afterword about early specialization in youth sports – from the author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training? In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success and the so-called 10,000-hour rule, David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving it. Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.

The Brave Athlete solves the 13 most common mental conundrums athletes face in their everyday training and in races. You don’t have one brainyou have three; your ancient Chimp brain that keeps you alive, your modern Professor brain that navigates the civilized world, and your Computer brain that accesses your memories and runs your habits (good and bad). They fight for control all the time and that’s when bad things happen; you get crazy nervous before a race, you choke under pressure, you quit when the going gets tough, you make dumb mistakes, you worry about how you look. What if you could stop the thoughts and feelings you don’t want? What if you could feel confident, suffer like a hero, and handle any stress? You can. The Brave Athlete from Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson will help you take control of your brain so you can train harder, race faster, and better enjoy your sport. Dr. Marshall is a sport psychology expert who trains the brains of elite professional athletes. Paterson is a three-time world champion triathlete and coach. Together, they offer this innovative, brain training guide that is the first to draw from both clinical science and real-world experience with athletes. That means you won’t find outdated “positive self-talk” or visualization gimmicks here. No, the set of cutting-edge mental skills revealed in The Brave Athlete actually work because they challenge the source of the thoughts and feelings you don’t want. The Brave Athlete is packed with practical, evidence-based solutions to the most common mental challenges athletes face. Which of these sound like you? Why do I have thoughts and feelings I don’t want? I wish I felt more like an athlete. I don’t think I can. I don’t achieve my goals. Other athletes seem tougher, happier, and more badass than me. I feel fat. I don’t cope well with injury. People are worried about how much I exercise. I don’t like leaving my comfort zone. When the going gets tough, the tough leave me behind. I need to harden the f*ck up. I keep screwing up. I don’t handle pressure well. With The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion, you can solve these problems to become mentally strong and make your brain your most powerful asset.

A legendary NBA player shares his remarkable story, infused with hard-earned wisdom about the journey to self-mastery from a life at the highest level of professional sports Chris Bosh, NBA Hall of Famer, eleven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the league’s Global Ambassador, had his playing days cut short at their prime by a freak medical condition. His extraordinary career ended “in a doctor’s office in the middle of the afternoon.” Forced to reckon with moving forward, he found himself looking back over the course he'd taken, to the pinnacle of the NBA and beyond. Reflecting on all he had learned from a long list of basketball legends, from LeBron and Kobe to Pat Riley and Coach K, he saw that his important lessons weren’t about basketball so much as the inner game of success—right attitude, right commitment, right flow within a team. Now he shares that journey, giving us a view from the inside of what greatness feels like and what it takes. Letters to a Young Athlete offers a proven path for taming your inner voice and making it your ally, through the challenges of failure and success alike.

The Transition is a student-athlete's guide to life after sports. As athletes make the move from sports into the real world, they often experience feelings of loss, depression, anxiety and an inability to find their next passion. This book lays out the different emotions that will be brought forth through the tales of various famous, highly successful athletes that have all had similar stories. By the end of this book, readers will not only feel a sense of community, but will have an understanding of how to transition successfully by learning how to find mentors, internships, careers and new identities.