I have both books. I liked the first one for the charts (some of which had blatant errors however). The second one…I can’t really remember one practical thing from it. “Sports form…sportsmen…the development of sports form…physical preparation…”. A different translator probably wouldn’t hurt.
Mortac - that doesn’t sound good. I seem to be getting one of two reviews on these publications - either it was “fantastic” or it was “ho hum”. I assume that those people who have experience with Charlie’s approach figure that the Transfer of Training books provide “nothing new”. Am I correct.
Let me put it this way. Have these books changed the way you conduct your coaching?
I started reading Transfer of Training 1, but quit… it’s unreadable. Issurin on the other hand is straight to the point and very clear IMO. Both of his books are awesome. And, yes, they have changed some of my training philosophy. Highly recommended.
These books, the new one specifically, have not changed anything in terms of coaching for me. They have only validated them from a different point of view.
They are very much in sink with Charlie’s views. Even though there is definitely a poor translation, Bondarchuk is a master. I thought the book had some decent explanations of some good concepts. If only they were better translated.
Issurin on the other hand I believe writes his books in english himself. They are great reads as well.
I really did like the charts in the first book (correlations for ‘testing marks’ and the different events in track&field). Other than that, I vote ‘ho hum’.
Apart from the poor translation, the correlations among general exercise and competition events could be condensed in one table instead of one hundred. I still believe that Bondarchuk is a top coach, but as far as statistics, he is far away from reasonable knowledge.
How would it all fit into one table?
I read the first volume and enjoyed going through some of the correlations. Like everyone else has mentioned though, it’s mainly a book of correlations with some text. Bondarchuks priciples are very interesting though, you can’t argue with someone who has consistently produced gold medalists.
There are some translated articles by B. Can someone send them to my mail or something? Thanks
Also, Lyle can you please explain those three periodization methods you mentioned?
They were meant to be examples. He had given about 20 variants in Vol 1 that were totally unexplained by the text. In Vol 2, there were some charts that showed what it meant and it almost made sense.
There are numerous methods of setting up a training year - e.g. stage, complex, complex variation etc… Basically all this means is what category of exercises do you use together and when do you change the exercises.
For those who want to know CF’s method is a Complex Variation Method because you do all types of exercises all the time but vary the exercises used throughout the training period.
A complex method is when you use exercises from all categories all of the time but never change the exercises at any point throughout the preparation period.
Stage training is when you change to a different category of exercises each time you change exercises throughout the preparation period.
E.g. Hypertrophy > Max Strength > Speed Strength > Sprint Work
BTW exercises describes any activity done in training which includes types of running like Tempo or SE etc…
I hope this begins to make sense… but unless i was to write a book it would be impossible to explain it all.
Thanks TopCat. Why not writing an article? I have also ‘classified’ types of periodization to blocked (stage), complex-parallel (concurrent), emphasis (complex variation) in this article.
I think Dr B is coming out with some stuff that is translated better very soon anyway. At the moment I’m really busy with preparing for the outdoor season so am struggling to find time to write anything. No doubt I will get something done after the end of this Olympic cycle!!!
Duxx, your article looks very in-depth and well written. Do you have any other articles that you have written that your are willing to share? Thanks.
You can find most of them at EliteFTS site and James Smith’s site, although they are older. The one I posted is the latest (although almost 2 years old if I remember correctly).
But are better books Dr Bondarchuk or Issurin?Why???
Davids, I am sick of your trolling and asking the same questions over and over again. I am usually tolerable person for such B.S. and want to help most of the time, but this is over the line. What do you expect to your question? Read the damn thread… use the search function… order the books… read them… stop asking the same (stupid and non-productive) questions over and over and over again. Damn!
thanx…