This is a really nice book. It provides a concise summary of relevant research, clear descriptions/instructions for a wide variety of core exercises with excellent illustrations, and workouts tailored to the needs to athletes in a variety of popular sports, including: Baseball/Softball, Basketball, Football, Golf, Ice Hockey, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track & Field, Volleyball and Wrestling. Though it is written by and for sport conditioning professionals and athletes, I had no difficulty understanding and using the book to improve my own core fitness level, even though I am just an active "ordinary person" who engages in activities such as cycling, walking, figure skating and dance on a regular basis. I wish the book specifically covered a few additional sports, such as cycling and figure skating. Still, the first two sections of the book that discuss fundamentals and describe specific exercises gave me sufficient knowledge to adapt the workouts for other sports to suit my needs. ( )

I think this book is geared more towards someone working in sports or training than a person who is just looking for a quick guide on how to exercise. The book frequently references actual studies. The later half of book has exercise programs designed for specific sports by authors in each sport. I found these the most useful part of the book but wish the editor had made the authors all follow a more standardize format for presenting the programs.

Received this book from Human Kinetics through LibraryThing. This is a great resource book for personal trainers, coaches, kinesiology students, and serious athletes. Provides many core exercises, along with sport-specific core-workouts. ( )

I liked this book - it is easy to follow and the pictures are helpful. I like the way it is organized - for the generalist as well as someone focused on a particular sport. There is information for the person like me who just wanted some general information and some new core exercises. But there is also information and exercises if you are focused on a particular sport, like basketball or soccer, etc. If you are already an expert on exercise, this isn't the book for you. But if you are interested in ways to build your core to help in a particular sport or just in general, I think you will like this book. ( )

Human Kinetics does it again!
This is a great book on the core, one of the two best of about eight I have read. The knowledge about the core muscles and relevant science and studies is laid as a base layer, then list of exercises/activities for assessment and training are provided. Finally, they do what is the best part of this and most Human Kinetics books - a sport specific plan - including for the different parts of the sporting season.
I have been coaching soccer for many years, and leading offseason goalkeeper training. These core exercises have been great - and both the boys and girls are feeling the improvement. It helped that I had willing athletes and a supply of medicine balls of the varying weights to do these. Note - I was given this book in exchange to provide a review, I feel almost guilty for how much I have been using it that it was free. ( )