12 Strength and Conditioning Books for Elite Athletes and Their Coaches

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a coach, an experienced athlete, or just starting strength training—this book has to be on your bookshelf. Reason? It’s worth it. Proof? The authors have trained national, continental, and world champions; their trainees consisted of over a thousand elite athletes,

As follows from the title, strength training anatomy is like an X-ray for each and every exercise. In a nutshell, it’s a book of over 600 skillfully drawn illustrations of a human body performing weight training movements. It’s divided into seven sections—from arms to buttocks—and doesn’t waste pap

It’s time to shift gears. This book is strictly for strength and conditioning coaches. Precisely, for those of them who know that creating a workout routine is actually the easiest part. The real challenge is to make athletes buy into it and believe in you as their coach. To inspire people to beco

Since we shifted gears, let’s stay there for a while. How do you become a coach? Where do you start? What obstacles might you meet? What awaits you along this road? Most importantly, what principles guide successful coaching careers? This book is a place where 32 professional strength and conditi

Veering back to exercising. More precisely, to functional training. This is a unique book. Not because it’s written by Michael Boyle, whose gym was named one of America’s 10 best gyms by Men’s Health magazine. Also, not because it’s a tried-and-true strength and conditioning training masterpiece.

Look, another textbook-ish piece of paper. Or is it? Let’s check it out. First, it’s now in its 4th edition. This should mean something, shouldn’t it? Second, it’s edited by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), which is self-explanatory. Third, 4.6 stars over hundreds of re

Cutting right to the chase: This is a decent book about strength and conditioning training. It was edited by the director of postgraduate programs at the London Sport Institute, and it’s a useful resource for strength and conditioning practitioners. Truth be told, there’s nothing more to say. This

In business, they say, cash is king. In a gym, the periodization is, no doubt, the kingest of all kings. The emperor, the mikado, the tsar. Forget about the “no pain, no gain” philosophy—strength and conditioning have advanced tremendously since Ronnie deadlifted his 800 lbs barbell. Now it’s not o

This book is here to bridge a common gap between exercise science and practice. It covers all facets of physical preparation, from strength, agility, and power training to metabolic conditioning and injury prevention. Its content is heavily research-based, thought-provoking, and also very current.

“Most physical training systems are designed for the domesticated human animal” — this is what the author says, offering you the radically opposite approach. Cultivating strength for a sense of accomplishment or pride? Forget about that. Paul Wade will show you how to train as if your entire specie

Did you know there’s a difference between exercise and training that is crucial for your understanding of how to build a strength and conditioning supertraining program? If not, Practical Programming is what you might have been searching for. It addresses the topic of building workout routines with

The last but not least, a book whose vivid cover is illustrated with a man turning over a massive tire. This is no coincidence—there are plenty of tire, keg, and even stone training instructions that aren’t really covered in detail anywhere else. It combines old-school simplistic methods of strengt