useful addition to already available
books on women's athletics, and I
would recommend it be added to your
own book shelves. (In this Issue of
NSA you will find one article taken
from the Sportswomen Towards 2000
volume, namely Predictions of
Records and Elite Performances by
Ken Dyer).
Jürgen Schiffer
BEYOND TRAINING. HOW
ATHLETES ENHANCE
PERFORMANCE LEGALLY AND
ILLEGALLY
Melvin H. Williams
Champaign (Illinois): Leisure
Press, 1989, 215 pp.
Melvin H, Williams. PbiD
BEYOND
TRAINING
Haw Athietes Enhance
h ^ Performance
— .Legally and illegally
k
At present, probably no other sport
is associated with doping to the same
extent as athletics. It would be rather
120 difficult to find a top-level athlete who
has not been suspected of taking
drugs in order to improve his or her
performance. A consequence of this
negative Image of athletics Is that the
general public immediately smells
doping if a world record is broken. But
It Is not only athletics which Is susceptible lo doping. Even fitness
sports are increasingly infiltrated by
drugs. In a recent issue of a national
German news magazine it was
reported that in the USA there are between 500.000 and 1,000,000
teenagers regularly taking anabolic
steroids!
Beyond Training could not, then,
have arrived at a better time. The
author can look back upon more than
20 years experience of research into
ergogenic aids. In 1983 he edited the
book Ergogenic Aids In Sport (also
published by Human Kinetics Publishers), which has become one of the
leading publications on this subject.
Beyond Training has been written
with the Intent of meeting the need of
all athletes involved in sport - not only
the elite athletes, but also the everyday athlete who wants to do his or her
best in athletic competition. In the introductory chapter entitled "How to
use this book" the author writes:
"The purpose of this book is to provide an overall review and analysis of
the available scientific evidence relative to the effectiveness of a wide variety of special aids to human athletic
performance. The focus is on some of
the most common ergogenic aids that
athletes have tried throughout the
years. The book is designed to be a
reference source lo help the athlete
make an Informed decision regarding
the use of ergogenic aids as a means
of Improving sports performance".
The book is split into seven chap-
ters. The first two chapters provide a
theoretical background for the use of
ergogenic aids by athletes. Chapter 1
gives the reader a broad overview of
ergogenic aids in sport. Chapter 2 focuses on human energy, which is the
key to athletic performance and the
means by which ergogenic aids might
help the athlele. The remaining five
chapters f o c u s on five general
categories of ergogenic aids. Chapter
3 covers nutritional ergogenic aids,
such as carbohydrate loading; Chapter 4 deals with pharmacological ergogenic aids, such as stimulants and
depressants; Chapter 5 analyzes the
research with physiological ergogenic aids, such as blood doping; Chapter 6 focuses on psychological energizers and Iranquilizers; and Chapter
7 discusses mechanical and biomechanical ergogenic aids, such as
sportswear and sports equipment.
In the last five chapters the discussion of each special aid has three
parts. First, the theoretical basis for
the use of the aid is indicated. (In
other words, how the aid is supposed
lo modify energy utilization in order to
Improve performance.) Second, a
s u m m a r y of the key s c i e n t i f i c
research findings is presented. Finally, a general recommendation is
offered.
It remains to be said that all chapters are provided with a detailed list of
selected readings — split into books
and reviews — for those who want to
delve deeper into certain aspects of
this book's topic.
All in all, Beyond Training is a very
well thoughl out book which affords
the reader a refreshingly lucid review
of the present state of play in an extremely topical area of sport science.
Fairly complex sport-medicine infor-
mation is rendered quite digestible. In
my opinion the chief merits of Beyond
Training are that it clearly shows that
there Is only a very small gap between legal and Illegal ways of enhancing athletic performance and
that it gives a clear, scientifically supported statement on which side
should be preferred.
This book would certainly prove a
very useful addition to every athlete's
and coach's library.
Jürgen SchlHer
SPORTS TRAINING PRINCIPLES.
SECOND EDITION
Frank W. Dick
London: A & C Black, 1989, 282 pp.
TRAINING j \
PRINCIPLES I
d
According to NSA Advisory Editorial Board member and BAAB Director
of Coaching Frank Dick, coaching is
mainly an art, the coach being comparable lo an artist. The two essenlial
attributes a coach should have are
creative flair and lechnical mastery of
the Instruments and materials used,
121