Where to Start Learning?

Hey guys I am in need of a little advice about where to begin in learning about conditioning and exercise for the muscular and nervous systems of the body. I have been wanting to start some college courses for a while now but there are two things stopping me at this point.

First I am not entirley sure what I want to do yet, I just know I want to be involved in training and conditioning of athletes, not a fitness club instructor. The other is that I am piss broke and already defaulted on a student loan from when my son was born.

I have decided that while I am not able to start school, that shouldn’t hinder my ability to begin the learning process. While I could easily enough look up the names of some authors and start reading, I want to make sure I am not getting too far ahead or reading bad info. What would be some good books and articles to read for someone just getting into this field of study. Any advice would be appreciated

Mark Rippetoes “Starting Strength”

You want to develop a foundation of knowledge on athletic training and conditioning, and you can’t currently afford to go to school for it, right?

Well… you should probably lift weights yourself, first.

Second, there are a number of articles here on T-Nation. I would advise going through the archives of specific authors, namely

a) Dan John
b) Charles Poloquin
c) Eric Cressey

and reading and understanding what they’ve written. Try out many of their suggestions in your personal training, in order to seperate fact from fiction.

Third, there are many very incredible books out there. Many of them have been posted in various threads that can be found my using the search feature with the query parameters of ‘training books’.

Good luck.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I actually have been lifting seriously for about a year now, but only doing basic routines for the most part, though I have had some great gains in strength and have just recently decided to try and add some weight. I have learned a decent amount by just guessing and checking and following other peoples routines, but you can never know enough.

I will definitely look into the resources you guys suggested. Thanks again.

visit a college campus bookstores that has programs similar to what you want to know. browse the isle looking for books that ciriculum uses, find a used book and buy it.

I do that all the time when I hit road blocks in my research.

The above authors are also really good for information and so are a lot of the shorter articles here on T-Nation.

The books however will really help build a fundamental understanding of human physiology and allow you to understand a lot more the the “why” does this work rather then the what should I do that most people want to know…

hope that helps a little…

-Ratchet-

I would add “IronAddict” to the list Otep mentioned. I learned a lot of good information on his website.

Ratchet, that is an awesome idea. I will have to go up to CU and see what they have. Cant believe I didnt think of that. Thanks man.

I will check out the IronAddict website too. Thanks again fellas.