Donald A. Chu

The book is more interesting to a serious amateur or professional athlete or trainer than to the casual fitness buff. The irony is that while the target of the book is the serious athlete who probably devotes hours to sport every day, many of the exercises themselves are quick, simple and effective - perfect for fitness. Bottom line: I'd recommend the book highly for professionals; for fitness buffs, I'd still highly recommend the book but warn that you should expect to pick and choose show more heavily to find things of interest. show less

Pliometrics teaches the fundamentals of exercise with a goal of improving speed, specifically the ability to reverse from a contraction to expansion effort. The book provides excellent details, breaking exercises into categories for youth, female, and athletes in different sports.

Pliometrics is not aimed at the casual athlete, it presumes a little more than just basic physiology. It is aimed more at a trainer or coach than athlete, but an athlete will find it very useful.

The book includes show more a lot of references to magazines and medical journals that provide a lot more details into various aspects of pliometric training. show less

Plyometrics, written by Doctors Donald Chu and Gregory Myer, is a very comprehensive guide to the science of muscular strength and power and exercise programs designed to help athletes obtain optimal performance.

The book is divided into three key sections : Knowledge, which covers muscular actions and the science of plyometrics; Considerations, which outlines training for young athletes, female athletes and rehabilitation; and Applications, which covers assessments, training programs, show more essential exercises and conditioning programs, and sport-specific training programs.

There material is provided with ample footnotes and references, and many photographs illustrating proper plyometric exercise techniques. Although the material is written at a very high reading level and very specialized to sports medicine and physical therapy, I found the material interesting, insightful and useful. Highly recommended to athletes wishing to better understand and improve their performance and reduce the risk of injury. show less

Plyometrics by Donald Chu and Gregory Myer is the only book on plyometrics that I will need to own.

Plyometrics is 200+ pages of information on the dynamic strength and explosive power benefits of this exercise.

The book is divided into three main sections; Knowledge, Considerations, and Applications.

I was most impressed by the 100's of pictures describing and detailing how to perform plyometric exercises as part of a program (application section). The exercises covered a wide variety of show more different sports and training uses.

The book even includes comprehensive training programs specialized for Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, and several other sports.

Whether you are a physical trainer, coach, or an individual looking to gain strength and power, this is the book for you.

I highly recommend Plyometrics by Chu and Myer. show less