Athletic Body in Balance

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An Excellant Movement Analysis Screen - Rated
The title does not truly describe what the book is trying to achieve. The book is primarily concerned with maximising performance and reducing the risk of injury through a battery of 'functional movement tests.'

The tests are clearly described and illustrated to portray to the reader what the purpose of the test is. The systematic procedure of testing and how to record the results is followed by protocols to improve any dysfunction hilighted through the tests.

The book is broken down into chapters relating to each fundamental area covered, the first two being mobility and stability. The further chapters go on to discuss ways of improving these factors with progressions following in the later chapters. The last few chapters were a little disappointing. The exercises for speed, agility and the plyometric training was not cutting edge and could be found in other titles with a more comprehensive range. For a novice to these areas, these chapters are adequate.

This book is ideal for any trainer looking to improve testing skills beyond the normal testing of cardiovascular and respiratory function. It is also idea for therapists looking for a quick way to assess the fundamental movements of the body.

Other titles which are worth looking at are High Performance Sports Conditioning edited by Bill Foran. The book is contributed to by many well respected conditioning specialists and therapist including the author of this book, Grey Cook. The book goes into more detail about the screening mentioned in this title.

Titles that maybe of interest for the speed and agility chapters are by Alan Pearson. The books are aimed at different sports but the background is similar. The titles are part of the SAQ range.

Tudor Bompa and Donald Chu have good titles concerning plyometric training to add further knowledge to the last chapters of this book.

If you can get hold of Paul Chek's Movement That Matters book, this will give you a good understanding of functional movements and what is a functional movement. Chek's seminar courses are also very interesting within this area.

Overall the book if used primarily for the screening is very interesting and is thoroughly recommended. The test is good with excellent pictures of the movements. The reader is left with a good base level to build on.