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'A must-read for all athletes, from the professional to the weekend warrior.' - Wall Street Journal
The New York Times Bestselling account of the new frontier of sports recovery science, which shows what we should and shouldn't be doing between exercising to achieve maximum performance.All athletes, from Olympians to weekend warriors, must find the balance between training and recovery to maximize the benefits of workouts and reach optimal performance. For the longest time, coaches and training manuals have emphasized training above all else. However, science shows that recovery is a crucial component of exercise training and it may even be the most important one.
Good to Go is the first definitive account of this new frontier in sports and exercise science. Christie Ashwanden takes you on a first-person tour through the science of exercise recovery, from ice baths and cryogenic freezing chambers to the science behind Usain Bolt's love of chicken nuggets and Tom Brady's recovery pyjamas.
Full of eye-opening revelations, Aschwanden takes us on an invigorating journey through the science and potions of sports recovery and debunks the junk to give a clear picture of what we should actually be doing to achieve peak performance.
List of contents
Introduction - Introduction: Introduction Chapter - 1: Just-So Science Chapter - 2: Be Like Mike Chapter - 3: The Perfect Fuel Chapter - 4: The Cold War Chapter - 5: Flushing the Blood Chapter - 6: Calming the Senses Chapter - 7: The Rest Cure Chapter - 8: Selling Snake Oil Chapter - 9: Losing Your Zoom Chapter - 10: The Magic Metric Chapter - 11: Hurts So Good Section - Conclusion: Conclusion Acknowledgements - Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements Section - Notes: Notes Index - Index: Index
About the author
Christie Aschwanden is the lead writer for science at FiveThirtyEight and health columnist for the Washington Post. She's also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, a contributing editor for Runner's World and a contributing writer for Bicycling. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including Discover, Slate, Proto, Consumer Reports, New Scientist, More, Men's Journal, NPR.org, Smithsonian and O, the Oprah Magazine.
A lifetime athlete, Ashwanden has raced in Europe and North America on the team Rossignol Nordic ski-racing squad.
Summary
Good to Go is the first decisive exploration of sports recovery science and the crucial role it plays in optimizing training performance, debunking myths and falsehoods along the way.
Foreword
Good to Go is the first decisive exploration of sports recovery science and the crucial role it plays in optimizing training performance, debunking myths and falsehoods along the way.
Additional text
Christie Aschwanden’s experience as both a journalist and a competitive athlete makes her uniquely well-qualified to write this book. The result is a skeptical and precise but also immensely enjoyable and relatable examination of the science of recovery. Even if you’re not someone who regularly trains, you should read this book as a tour de force of great science journalism, shining a critical light onto a field that has historically been dominated by pseudo-scientific and exaggerated claims.