Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention
Along with clear and thorough explanations of how running influences the body, and how the body influences your running, this book answers many of the common questions that athletes have: Do runners need to stretch? What is the best way to run? What causes injuries? Which shoes are best for running? Is running barefoot beneficial?
The mobility and stability tests will assess your form, and the corrective exercises, along with step-by-step photos, will improve your core and overall performance, so that you can train and run with confidence, knowing how to avoid injuries!
Reviews (207)
I Treasure This Book
An ART chiro who treated my IT band problems prior to my Olympic-distance triathlon last fall recommended "Ready to Run." I checked it out the library and I liked it enough to buy it. While looking for it online, I came across Anatomy for Runners. I'm very glad I bought it, and I wish I'd read it first. Lots of science, but still very readable. It's far less preachy than Ready to Run. I can't stop gushing about this book. I've recommended it to everyone, including non-runners. I ran my first half marathon this past weekend. While I still have plantar fasciitis in both feet, and a bunion in one big toe, they rarely hurt anymore. I've eliminated a lot of foot pain by strengthening my feet and lower legs. I've also managed to keep my IT band woes in check. Ready to Run is also helpful, but I strongly recommend reading this book first. It may be all you need.
Best injury prevention book for Runners
This may be the best book ever written for amateur Runners who are self coached. I bought the book 2 years ago and I've read something out of it every single day. Jay's second book Running rewired puts everything together in a more coherent end-user format. I still refer back to both books on just about a daily basis. if you are ready to get rid of your niggly running injuries or prevent injuries in the future this is one of the two books that you should buy.
Excellent Book (but slightly suspicious of the physical printing job)
This book has great information for runners, and I like periodic hints of the author's sense of humor. It's definitely dense reading for me since I don't have much of a bio/anatomy background but I'm able to understand the key takeaways. The first 2/3 or so of the book is more expository, laying down the principles of how to use your body efficiently when running, and the remainder of the book contains assessments and exercises. My only complaint is I'm suspicious that the physical book shipped by Amazon is either a counterfeit or sloppily printed using some just-in-time algorithm. The binding and paper seem atypical and many of the pictures are printed off the edge of the page. All the information appears to be there, but it leaves me with a sour taste.
Contains some good tips, but each tip is wrapped with poor ...
Contains some good tips, but each tip is wrapped with poor analogies ("like warming up a car engine") and condescending almost angry tone ("Why would you think that elongating your muscles would help your running?"). So you have to wade through a challenging tone to get to what amounts to basically non specific recommendations expressed in poor analogies. Some science please? Some research please?
Good coverage of the basics but frustrating to read
The entire tone of this book feels like an entitled person telling you what you're doing wrong. It seems like it's intended for a person with absolutely no running experience and a complete lack of understanding of biomechanics, and with a condescending tone. Most of the ideas that he's trying to get across are common knowledge in the running community, so I don't see why this tone was necessary. If you are fairly new to running and body maintenance, then this book will likely help quite a bit, and even if you're a seasoned runner there are a couple of good tips here and there to add to your bank of knowledge. The other thing is that this book is riddled with grammatical errors. It's pretty easy to tell what the author intended to say, but it amazes me that someone with such a condescending tone makes so many mistakes themselves.
Great read
The author is very clever and makes reading the book. I know that sounds crazy but it really is fun to read. And if provides tons of great examples and analogies so you can immediately apply the info to real life. There is also an entire back section of exercises and self tests. I recommend for any avid runner or running coach!
Good info w/ typos
The information presented and outlined in this book is of good quality and sensible. I will definitely be incorporating some of the testing and phase 1 exercises. However, that said; some pieces of information were without definition such as the 180 rpm. Whats an rpm as it relates to two legs striking the ground? Is it the cadence of right heel-strike to right heel-strike or right-left? There were also misused grammatical errors that had then tendency of skipping any reading fluidity off-track.
Highly technical, highly effective - Understand why you get injured - understand why particular exercises help you heal
Although it uses some technical language it is concise, to-the-point, interesting, extremely well written and well-organized. Some books and advice for runners are too vague and don't highlight fine points that can make a big difference (ie, what precise steps you can take to make sure you use your glutes and don't arch your back). Others give highly specific advice but often jump too quickly to false conclusions - they fail to point out where their solutions may not apply to all types of runners and all bodies. This book skillfully steers a course between both these mistakes. For instance, what's the ideal cadence for you? Anatomy for Runners tells you why some people say it's 180 (and briefly why) then goes further to explain why your own ideal cadence depends on both your running goals and your body. The most efficient cadence, the best cadence for a top athlete to win a highly competitive race, and the best cadence for a recreational runner who places top priority on enjoying runs for decades to come may all be quite different. Due to the particulars of your body, your own best cadence may be 10 or 20 higher or lower than other people with the same goal and fitness/speed. He manages to convey this complexity and still do it clearly and concisely. That's a great writer who really knows his stuff. By contrast I also bought the book "The Running Injury Recovery Program" at the same time as this one and was very disappointed in the "program." It felt like reading the same vague generalizations repeated over and over in a circular fashion and ultimately left you feeling like what you really need is to get an appointment with the author at his clinic. It left me thinking he might be the best clinician in the world, and an engaging writer, but not so good at explaining the complexity of what he knows in specific terms (other than specific exercises/stretches), and it wasn't a particularly helpful book for me. I just want to get better. Do I honestly need to read a chapter on the structural and biological and functional differences between bone, tendons, ligaments and muscle. Maybe not. But do you know why eccentric exercises are highly effective to help your body heal after mobilization and soft tissue work? Do you know why exercises with resistance help tendons heal while lots of light reps do not? Do you know there are two totally different reasons to stretch that must be done in quite different ways to be effective, one done before running and the other type is best done when muscles are warmed up? Do you know when each type may benefit runners, and when stretching could be worse than not stretching? Do you know the reason many runners THINK they are stretching in fact only works when stretches are done for at least 3min for at least 4-5 days a week for at least 6-8 weeks? (and why you may not need it anyway) Do you know whether drills and running will help you build more muscle mass for that big race five weeks from now? Do you know whether drills and running will train your mind and nervous system to mobilize more of the muscle fibers you already have for that big race five weeks from now? Wow. Maybe understanding a little about these things can make you do the exact same exercise differently with far faster and better results. Maybe understanding "why" will motivate you to do those exercises more regularly and give you more confidence you're doing them right so they'll really help. Reality check: do you have a cookbook body made with standardized mass-produced parts? No? Then don't expect a simple cookbook injury recovery book. That's why Anatomy for Runners stands head-and-shoulders above most other books on this topic. (remember: "to every complex problem there's a simple solution ... and it's wrong") You want a simple cookbook answer that might or might not fit your circumstances, go elsewhere. If your body or injury happens to match the author's particular cookbook and the "simple" book works for you that's absolutely fantastic. But ... if it doesn't, you really haven't learned much about why. Second important lesson: people's bodies are not made of identical unchanging parts like cars or toaster ovens that can wear out but never get better. We are made up of complex ever-changing living parts that respond and change day-to-day and week-to-week according to each stimulus we apply to them. People get this where it comes to developing more strength in muscles, but understanding usually stops there. When people overdo it or get injured for other reasons they tend to go to extremes of pushing too hard or else too much rest. More is not always better. Mobility is also good up to a point, but a gymnast needs more than a runner. Too much mobility in a joint can also be bad, and a "sloppy" joint may not be as controlled. You want a book that helps you figure out the complexities of your own body, then roll up your sleeves and be prepared to do a little work on your own instead of placing all the responsibility on someone else's shoulders (either an author or a medical professional who has between 10min to 60min, tops, to pay attention to your symptoms and come up with solutions). The author on simplistic one-size-fits-all solutions: "It's fine to have opinions on many things. And since no two humans are exactly the same, it's even fine to adjust how you interpret advice if it works for you. However, it's not OK to spread the same old mantra that more miles are always better. It's not OK to think that rest will fix all your problems. It's not OK to think that more running will fix all your problems. It's not OK to think that every person on earth should run the same. Specific interventions improve your parts. New skills help those parts work as a system. More skills help the body deal with different paces, terrain, shoes, and competitive environments. The impetus here is on you." There are plenty of things I knew about myself and my running for years, but I didn't necessarily know why. This book was full of "aha" moments for me. Some things about your body are inherited and can't be changed. Others may be the result of patterns and bad habits which can be overcome. Still others may be the result of tightness which can be overcome with soft tissue work and mobilization. This book helps you figure out which things you can change with some work and which you can't, and what you can try. I bought this on Kindle when it first came out because there was a possible long delay in shipping out the paperback. It's such a good book I'm going to buy it in paperback now too. I liked reading it on the Kindle paperwhite because it's so quick and easy to look up a handful of terms I didn't know, and I highlighted key parts all over (which I don't like to do in my books). Now that I'm focused on doing more of the tests and exercises I'd like to also have the paperback (and I can loan it to friends). Some of the best things in life don't come easy. If you want to be spoon fed some quick and easy solutions to every complex problem, you'll probably be disappointed with this book. You probably have to read it more than once. You'll have to do the work. If you're willing to work on learning the technical aspects of how your body works as a runner and then really follow through learning specific exercises, skills and running adaptations focused specifically on your personal goals, I'm convinced you will not find a better book on the subject.
Runners Need to Read!
I have read many running books trying to learn to how to become faster and stay injury free, but this book was a step up in understanding tissues and the loads we carry while running. This book also helps identify your personal strengths and weaknesses so you can work on very targeted areas. There is a lot of great information and form tips to be sure exercises are performed properly. Highly recommend this book to all runners and anyone involved in high impact sports as well.
I recommend the print version over the Kindle version for a ...
If you're an injury-prone runner, you need to get this book.The author explains the mechanics of how your body moves when running, and why you may have chronic injury. There are extensive chapters on anatomy, physics, diagnosis and exercises to improve what's not "right" in your body. I recommend the print version over the Kindle version for a more "hands-on" reference guide when working thru the diagnosis and exercise chapters, that you can flip back & forth thru, and bookmark as necessary. Excellent reference tool- i highly recommend it.
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