Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book, like many others, promises a lot but hardly delivers. The author, Matt Dixon, clearly knows triathlon and is actually pretty good at relaying what he knows in a logical, sensible and readable manner without the need to overly complicate his theories and philosophy. A welcome relief from the many triathlon books out there. Where this book falls short is in the actual Tri plans and nutrition plans. There are "samples" of several scenarios but no real plans. Like many other "coach" authors, Mr. Dixon chooses the safe approach and keeps his secrets for his coaching business. He writes about his philosophy in strength training but give no workout plan. He writes about nutrition but doesn't express a typical day's nutrition, training nutrition, race day nutrition. He talks about recovery, a lot, but his few examples of two week training plans barely show recovery or have a day off. This seems to be the way for this type of book by the coach turned author. I really wish that any author wanting to write a triathlon book would follow these simple guidelines: 1) keep it simple, leave the tech talk for the paying coached athletes. 2) describe your success in the race distance you are talking about, good and bad experiences 3) provide some general plans, with the understanding that this is a guideline for the general triathlete and provide a seasonal plan that can be followed to some success or ways to modify it for less or more. 4) not only talk about your nutrition philosophy, but support it with some examples for everyday, training, racing etc. again, support the season. This book did have a couple of good points, first, it was easy to read and understand. It does take some talent and restraint to take a technical sport and break it down for the average athlete. Matt does an outstanding job at this. There are also sections on weak point training and fixes to common problems that were the real value this book provides. The appendix also describes Matt's exercises in detail, which is good but there is nothing for which ones to do as part of a training plan. That minor detail is up to you. It Is a good effort and has some good parts, so I think the book is almost worth the Kindle price. However, my general opinion is that it lacks any substance towards turning potential into performance unless you hire Matt Dixon as a coach. There is hardly any of the usable, training plan information I was looking for on any of the topics he discusses. I would not recommend this book if you are looking for actual guidance. Jim