Theory and Methodology of Training

This is a very thorough book about periodization. I don't recommend it to someone with elementary knowledge of exercise science but for the intermediate to advanced, this book is very good.

This is by far the best book I have read thus far on the subject of setting up a long term training plan and how to adjust it according to adaptive response. The book is full of study references on everything from training ages to dominate energy systems in various sports. Every strength and conditioning professional had better have this in your library!!!!!

Say you were suddenly forced by gunpoint to set up a nationwide athletics program in a foreign country. I mean a NATIONWIDE program, from local recreational leagues to top-level amateur and professional teams, to talent identification in preschools, to peaking for the Olympics. Say that the gunmen put you on a plane, which would land in about 12 hours, and they asked you what one book you could bring with you to prepare. Without any hesitation whatsoever, you should immediately select this book, PERIODIZATION by Tudor Bompa. The amazing thing about this book is it's thouroughness and it's refusal to make any assumptions. It was written in the tone of someone who has been trained as a formal scientist (note the PhD after the author's name!) For example, the first 142 pages are in the section called "Training Theory" -- defining and discussing why athletes need to train. Seems like a no brainer, right? Athletes need to train, obviously! But although it is incredibly basic and fundamental, it is also full of hardcore ephiphanies and ghestalts. He really nails it on the head and puts it in language that you and I couldn't. This book is perfect for someone with a kinesiology background and with a lot of patience and persistence. Deep as it may be, I felt some small portions were a little thin -- such as the Five Intensity Values for training the energy systems (a huge topic but only a few pages of description for all the 5 values), and a description of how to read the Peaking Indices at the bottom of the annual plans (is it a derivative of the curves?). Overall, if you are interested in coaching on a worldwide level, you should seriously consider getting and reading this book. Or, if you want to tighten up on what is really going on with training, you should pick this up as well. 5 STARS!!!! (I'd also like to add that Tudor Bompa offers a certification if you want to become a "periodizaton/planning specialist" which I'd highly recommend. I just finished it and it was a lot of work but really got me to plunge deep into the book. Also, I have heard that the next edition will come out sometime in 2008 so keep an eye out for that too.)

This book is a major source of the Classic Periodization and it's approach leads to be viewed as a very good bridge to the evolution of new paths such as non-linear Periodization

15 years ago I was a high performance kayaker. I did not understand all those complicated workouts then ... Recently (3 years ago) I started kayaking seriously again and won age group competitions at all levels accross North America. Periodization is what produces results. It is based on science which combined with expertise and experience will yield results. I have been watching the development teams and now involved in workout design. This book provides a clear description of the general issues and lets you peek into the specifics. Of course, you cannot just coach by reading a book. But if you are a coach or an athlete with serious experince, this book is going to make a lot of sense to you.