STRENGTH SENSEI BOOKSHELF

Strength Ball Training

The complete guide to using Swiss balls and medicine balls

To be clear, there is no such thing as a strength ball. Rather, Strength Ball Training is about using medicine balls and Swiss balls for physical and athletic fitness. Although the title may be confusing, Strength Ball Training is a well-organized, practical book that can be a valuable resource for those who want to help their athletes get in shape and stay injury-free.

Now in its third edition and presented in an interactive format, Strength Ball Training is a popular resource written by Lorne Goldenberg and Peter Twist. Both have extensive experience designing and supervising the strength and conditioning programs of numerous athletes, especially at the professional level. They have also been active on the lecture circuits and are prolific writers: Goldenberg has been published in scientific journals and mainstream magazines: Twist has written 10 books and over 400 articles on sport-specific conditioning.

Just as Charles Poliquin developed his Structural Balance program to determine weaknesses in an athlete’s physical preparation, Goldenberg and Twist present an extensive assessment program to help coaches determine what areas an athlete needs to focus on. These tests are relatively simple to administer, and the average scores are provided to show how athletes rate.

One of their assessments, known as the Biering-Sorenson test, measures muscular endurance in the muscles of the posterior chain. The athlete performs a back extension, holding the top position for as long as possible, or if they experience pain. Men have an average score of 160 seconds and women 173 seconds.

The bulk of the book is devoted to describing the purpose and function of exercises using medicine balls and strength balls. Chapters are dedicated to the following areas:

· Core Stabilization

· Core Rotation

· Legs and Hips

· Chest

· Shoulders and Upper Back

· Abdominals, Lower Back, and Glutes

· Biceps, Triceps, and Forearms

· Whole Body

· Flexibility

To make the book easier to navigate, the authors provide a chart dividing all the exercises into categories, providing the type of equipment needed and the page where it is described. The third edition of this book also gives you links to 53 video clips of the exercises being performed. This feature is especially valuable as many of the exercises are dynamic and are difficult to understand by photos or a text description.

Medicine balls and Swiss balls have value for athletes at all levels, and Strength Ball Trainingis an extensive resource to show you how to fit these training tools into your athletic or physical fitness program.

[You can purchase the third edition Strength Ball Training by Lorne Goldenberg and Peter Twist through Humankinetics.com.)