I can strongly recommend the 'Tactical Barbell' books (1 & 2) for anyone who has gotten into barbell lifts (Starting Strength, Strong Lifts etc) and found themselves much stronger but starting to lose there aerobic and/or anaerobic fitness capacity.
Its aimed at military/police but is ace for anyone trying to effectively combine strength training with conditioning and cardio training.
A big plus is the system's flexibility, you can swap exercises around to suit available equipment and swap elements of the program to prioritise some attributes while maintaining others in preparation for a big trip, competition etc.
Not to mention it scales well, able to take you from relatively new to ultra fit.
I think one issue with entry into some meaningful strength training is to keep it as simple as possible, and not enter at a level (through books or videos) that require a medium/high level of skill and grasp of the techniques/methaology. The issue is that a novice not only knows what they don't know, but they also don't know what they don't know. This can lead to a lot of confusion, wasted time, injury, and a lack of results - hence failure to progress (meaning they give up). I think telling someone to buy a 16kg kettlebell and use that for swings, goblet squats, presses, cleans etc, and do these every day (say 10x10), for a month (researching how to do these optimally), might be better than reading twenty books and 100 youtube videos, as it helps to establish some kind of base to a later foundation (the base base). I like the Tactical books, but feel they require a high level of understanding (nothing wrong with that), that you won't find in a book like Simple and Sinister (which works for both the novice and the pro). I guess it's like climbing books in that no time is wasted reading them, as each helps to fill in the gaps in what you don't know, as well as give you an insight into what you didn't know you didn't know.
I agree that, knowing what I know now, almost everyone would be best off doing basic kettlebell work for there first year before venturing out into heavier weight, lower rep workouts.
I take your point about complexity, if you dont know how to safely determine a 1rep max, tactical barbell is not a great starting point !
That said, a lot of guys start out doing starting strength or variations of it (myself included). I wanted to give those guys somewhere to go when they decide to broaden there training horizons beyond the barbell.
I think it's great when you hear someone like Dan John expressing doubt or questioning dogma about what he does or did, as it shows nothing is settled or certain (although it does seem like many old-school strongmen knew what to do through hard-won knowledge). The lack of certainty in just about everything, versus its illusion, is a critical line you need in order to understand anything. Yes, the tactical books are a great way to apply the SS stuff better to what you do. I suppose it's a little like faith/religion, as there are prescribed ways of seeing the world, but through living in the world you adapt and grow, and better understand how to apply what was once blind faith (even an atheist or anti-theist practices a form of faith) into something far more practical and effective (maybe it's like magnetic deviation in a compass needle, sooner or later you'd work out to take off or add a few degrees to get where you want to go, even if no one told you why that is).
I can strongly recommend the 'Tactical Barbell' books (1 & 2) for anyone who has gotten into barbell lifts (Starting Strength, Strong Lifts etc) and found themselves much stronger but starting to lose there aerobic and/or anaerobic fitness capacity.
Its aimed at military/police but is ace for anyone trying to effectively combine strength training with conditioning and cardio training.
A big plus is the system's flexibility, you can swap exercises around to suit available equipment and swap elements of the program to prioritise some attributes while maintaining others in preparation for a big trip, competition etc.
Not to mention it scales well, able to take you from relatively new to ultra fit.
I think one issue with entry into some meaningful strength training is to keep it as simple as possible, and not enter at a level (through books or videos) that require a medium/high level of skill and grasp of the techniques/methaology. The issue is that a novice not only knows what they don't know, but they also don't know what they don't know. This can lead to a lot of confusion, wasted time, injury, and a lack of results - hence failure to progress (meaning they give up). I think telling someone to buy a 16kg kettlebell and use that for swings, goblet squats, presses, cleans etc, and do these every day (say 10x10), for a month (researching how to do these optimally), might be better than reading twenty books and 100 youtube videos, as it helps to establish some kind of base to a later foundation (the base base). I like the Tactical books, but feel they require a high level of understanding (nothing wrong with that), that you won't find in a book like Simple and Sinister (which works for both the novice and the pro). I guess it's like climbing books in that no time is wasted reading them, as each helps to fill in the gaps in what you don't know, as well as give you an insight into what you didn't know you didn't know.
I agree that, knowing what I know now, almost everyone would be best off doing basic kettlebell work for there first year before venturing out into heavier weight, lower rep workouts.
I take your point about complexity, if you dont know how to safely determine a 1rep max, tactical barbell is not a great starting point !
That said, a lot of guys start out doing starting strength or variations of it (myself included). I wanted to give those guys somewhere to go when they decide to broaden there training horizons beyond the barbell.
I think it's great when you hear someone like Dan John expressing doubt or questioning dogma about what he does or did, as it shows nothing is settled or certain (although it does seem like many old-school strongmen knew what to do through hard-won knowledge). The lack of certainty in just about everything, versus its illusion, is a critical line you need in order to understand anything. Yes, the tactical books are a great way to apply the SS stuff better to what you do. I suppose it's a little like faith/religion, as there are prescribed ways of seeing the world, but through living in the world you adapt and grow, and better understand how to apply what was once blind faith (even an atheist or anti-theist practices a form of faith) into something far more practical and effective (maybe it's like magnetic deviation in a compass needle, sooner or later you'd work out to take off or add a few degrees to get where you want to go, even if no one told you why that is).
Well two pods in a week was a treat then I read Steve House too, godsend!