In hopes of maximizing my gains and minimizing my efforts, I've been searching for training resources on teh internets and on amazon. In particular, I'm looking for training information geared at women that discusses how to train around cramps and other sugar and spice questions.
Results thus far have been disappointing. Do a search for 'women athlete' and you get a bunch of pictures of women in bikinis and 'The 15 Sexiest Female Athletes to Watch'. Barf. Refining the search to something more specific, like 'women athlete training', yields less objectifying results, but equally frustrating anti-women-athlete information like 'Female Athletes Compromise Their Fertility With Intense Training', although I guess that's helpful in that I can worry less about 'doing an arangetram for two'.
Even on amazon, I found 1 (1!) book on training specific to women and it was published in 1995. The book is Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women.
In case you've never heard of Paula Newby-Fraser (as I hadn't), her website helpfully explains that "Paula Newby-Fraser is the only triathlete to transcend the sport. Certainly, she is the greatest triathlete of all time" and ranks her as the 5th most popular female athlete of the last 25 years (defined as 1972-1997). The book has timely exercise advice like "(t)he horrible lesson of breast implants has shown women of the 90s that true fitness means having an attractive shape because you've sweated it out, you've done the exercise it takes, not just paid for the plastic surgery". Amen!
Aside from the occasional dated statements, it's actually a very decent book. Newby-Fraser even explains the rising popularity of Pilates, which impressed me. Her physiological descriptions of stretching and strength training sound very legit to me. For instance, stretching and flexibility are important for keeping muscles long, which in turn is important when your body is under stress and building up lactic acid, which shortens the muscles. This was all news to me.
The major shortcoming is the book is geared towards triatheletes and other endurance sport athletes. Talking with my student teacher yesterday, there's really no way to adapt an endurance training regime to dance. So my next reads will be dance-specific. I have a book on conditioning and another for nutrition.
In the meantime, if any of you have suggestions for really great training literature, especially related to the ladies, dance, or are just really well written in terms of science, please let me know!
Results thus far have been disappointing. Do a search for 'women athlete' and you get a bunch of pictures of women in bikinis and 'The 15 Sexiest Female Athletes to Watch'. Barf. Refining the search to something more specific, like 'women athlete training', yields less objectifying results, but equally frustrating anti-women-athlete information like 'Female Athletes Compromise Their Fertility With Intense Training', although I guess that's helpful in that I can worry less about 'doing an arangetram for two'.
Even on amazon, I found 1 (1!) book on training specific to women and it was published in 1995. The book is Paula Newby-Fraser's Peak Fitness for Women.
Aside from the occasional dated statements, it's actually a very decent book. Newby-Fraser even explains the rising popularity of Pilates, which impressed me. Her physiological descriptions of stretching and strength training sound very legit to me. For instance, stretching and flexibility are important for keeping muscles long, which in turn is important when your body is under stress and building up lactic acid, which shortens the muscles. This was all news to me.
The major shortcoming is the book is geared towards triatheletes and other endurance sport athletes. Talking with my student teacher yesterday, there's really no way to adapt an endurance training regime to dance. So my next reads will be dance-specific. I have a book on conditioning and another for nutrition.
In the meantime, if any of you have suggestions for really great training literature, especially related to the ladies, dance, or are just really well written in terms of science, please let me know!
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