Who is this guy and what is this product?
Quote:
| My name is Eric Cressey. I have a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science from the #1 Ranked Graduate Program in the country. I’ve authored close to 100 articles relating to health and human performance in some of the industry’s most respected magazines. I’ve set state, national, and world records as a competitive powerlifter. And, I’ve been an invited guest speaker all over the country. |
What does this product claim?
Quote:
| I won’t beat around the bush here; The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual isn’t for everyone. If you’re an athlete or coach who is content with mediocrity, don’t even bother. This isn’t a casual read; it’s designed for coaches and athletes who can’t wait to rip the plastic wrap off the manual to find out what it takes to perform at all new levels. It’s not the random collection of ineffective tips that you get in so many products today. It’s not flavor of the week garbage that you’ll discard within days of reading it. It’s not just a book for your coffee table. The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual is a cohesive, no-nonsense SYSTEM designed to build ELITE athletes. |
Where can I get it and how much does it cost?
$100 Don’t worry about the special limited offer, that’s just a script that changes every month. Or it has for the past year any way.
Review:
Binding\Design\Paper Quality
Another 3-Ring binder. Binders suck, nuff said. Paper is decent enough.
Layout\Format
On the bright side there isn’t a lot of white space. On the bad side, their isn’t a lot of words. You’ve got 3” margins on the top and bottom, 2” on the sides with double spaced Arial 12 font. With more appropriate spacing the pages could have been cut in half.
Content Usability
For an athlete with an off-season there’s a decent bit of information that can springboard your ideas of what you should be doing during your off season. You’re not going to be an expert at training, but you’ll have a little more base to focus your training in reference to the time that you have to work with (recovery, strength, conditioning).
What the manual doesn’t cover in enough detail is what tests you should be doing and why\how to do something about it. He mentions movement patterns but doesn’t say what patterns to check or why or how to read them or react to them.
There are some fairly detailed tests on static\dynamic strength. It goes through the tests but doesn’t really give a compelling reasoning on why any individual person should care in reference to the sport\position that they’re playing.
It doesn’t tell you how to set up a program in reference to your goals, sport, position, time, present state.
Does it do what it says\Final Thoughts\Value
Think of this is a manual that tells you what to do but not how to do it. The devil is in the details (or lack of) where you may very well not be able to use the concepts presented because you don’t know “how” to evaluate, create strength\EST programs. If you already know how to do all that in reference to your sport and are an athlete or coach that has a definite off-season this is an OK buy (assuming that you don’t already know how to plan your off season at this point). It’ll give you concepts that you can build on and areas to search as far as scheduling and planning what your off-season blocks will look like (think Charlie Francis’ Vertical Integration model).
If you not an athlete with a DEFINITE off season (as in you’re an every day Joe that farts around on the weekend or a runner or compete year round) then get a training manual that focus’ on your sport or a general reference book because this isn’t going to help you at all. The training concepts “get stronger” and testing for static\dynamic strength deficiencies are not worth $100. Even the “example workouts” if you’re just curious are odd to the point of including band\thick bars\other equipment that are just “odd” for most young athletes\non-advanced lifters. It’s an odd book…well, binder.
I don’t recommend this to anyone.
