Title/Author:
“Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age” by Jeff
Bercovici
Tags:
Sports, training, records
Publish date:
May 1, 2018
Length:
288 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
Sports fans will
marvel when an athlete can still perform at an elite level at an age where many
of his or her contemporaries have either retired from the sport or are performing
at a lower level. Examples of these
types of athletes abound in every sport, from football (Tom Brady) to hockey
(Chris Chelios, Jaromir Jagr) to soccer (Carli Lloyd). Reasons and explanations are varied, but most
of them are covered in this book by Jeff Bercovici.
The book starts off
with the author’s experiences and at times, it can almost read like a kinesiology
text book with explanations of what the athlete’s body is experiencing while
competing or training. Later the book
talks about various types of training, how older athletes will “train smarter,
not harder” and other breakthroughs that keep athletes going at peak performance. Efficiency is an important topic in the book
as no matter how much or exactly what types of exercises and drills are
performed, nearly every example provided emphasizes efficiency
Just about every type
of sport is covered in the book, whether it is a trainer from that sport or elite
athletes. Soccer, tennis (Roger
Federer), basketball (the author marvels at the low injury rates of the San
Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns), running (Meb Keflezighi) and football (many
stars) are just a few of the sports highlighted by Bercovici for their training
and fitness.
Athletes have their
own chicken-and-egg problem stated in the book: “Do they stay healthy because
they are so fit, or are they so fit because they stay healthy enough to train
so hard?” While the question isn’t
really answered, the stories shared in attempting to answer make for very good
reading, although a very good working knowledge of kinesiology is helpful.
I wish to thank
Houghton Mifflin for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for
an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying
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