(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best ab workout books

Here is most of my library, broken down, with links and some thoughts on each.

Karate Specific

• The Bubishi by Patrick McCarty (Amazon) - I think this book needs to be in every library.
  
• Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate by Patrick McCarthy (Amazon) - One of the first books I purchased by McCarthy. Details older version of classic kata found in a lot of traditional styles.
  
• Karatedo by My Way of Life - Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Great read! I really nice view at the life of Funakoshi.
  
• The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Another great read. While I'm no longer a practitioner of Shotokan, I believe the teachings of Funakoshi should be tought to every karateka.
  
• Okinawan Karate : Teachers, styles and secret techniques by Mark Bishop (Amazon) - Great amount of historical content, and helped link a few things together for me.
  
• The Study of China Hand Techniques by Morinobu Itoman (Lulu.com) - The only known publication by Itoman, this book detains original Okinawan Te, how it was taught, practiced, and some history. This was one of my best finds.
  
• The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do by Shoshin Nagamine (Amazon) - Great details on Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu kata, and some nice historical content.
  
• The Way of Kata by Lawrence Kane & Kris Wilder (Amazon) - Fantastic book on diving deeper into kata to find the application of the techniques.
  
• Classic Kata of Shorinji Ryu: Okinawan Karate Forms of Richard 'Biggie' Kim by Leroy Rodrigues (Amazon) - Not quite accurate as to the title, this book details the versions of shorinji-ryu kata as if they were taught by a Japanese school. Still able to use, as long as you understand what stances and techniques have changed between Okinawa and Japan.
  
• Black Belt Karate by Jordan Roth (Amazon) - This was a gift from a friend. I have a First Edition hard cover. Shotokan specific, and has some nice details on the kata.
  
• Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text by Gichin Funakoshi (Amazon) - Love this book, especially for the historical content.
  
• Kempo Karate-do by Tsuyoshi Chitose (Shindokanbooks.com) - The only known book from Chitose, highlights his history, his thoughts and ideas for practicing karate-do as a way of life, and contains steps for practicing Henshu-Ho. Chitose is the creator of the style I study. I have this book for obvious reasons. Your mileage may vary.
  
  Kobujutsu Specific
  
  
• Okinawan Weaponry: Hidden methods, ancient myths of Kobudo & Te by Mark Bishop (Amazon) - Really great detail into the history of some of the weapons and the people who taught them from Okinawa.
  
• Okinawan Kobudo Vol 1 & 2 (Lulu.com) - Fantastic books detailing the kihon and kata of Okinawan Kobudo. Anyone who takes Ryukyu Kobujutsu, and doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on the original texts by Motokatsu Inoue, this is the next best thing.
  
• Bo: Karate Weapon of Self-Defense by Fumio Demura (Amazon) - Purchased it for the historical content. Doesn't actually apply to anything in Ryukyu Kobujutsu, but still a decent read. I also have his Nunchaku and Tonfa books.
  
  Other Martial Arts
  
  
• Applied Tai Chi Chuan by Nigel Sutton (Amazon) - A great introduction to Cheng Style Tai Chi, detailing some of the fundamentals and philosophy behind the teachings.
  
• Tai Chi Handbook by Herman Kauz (Amazon) - More Cheng Style Tai Chi, but this one has more emphasis on teaching the shortened form (37 steps).
  
• Tai Chi Chuan: Classical Yang Style: The Complete Long Form and Qigong by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming (Amazon) - Just received this for Chirstmas, and looking forward to diving in. Includes some history of Tai Chi Chuan, Yang style Tai Chi, philosophy, and has instruction on the complete long form (108 steps)
  
• The Text-book of Ju-Jutsu as Practiced in Japan by Sadakazu Uyenishi (Amazon) - I have a very old version of this book (1930ish). Picked it up for the historical content, but still a great read.
  
• Tao of Jeet Kun Do by Bruce Lee (Amazon) - Notes on technique, form, and philosophy from Bruce Lee. Another must read for every martial artist, regardless of discipline.
  
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: The Ultimate Guide to Dominating Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts Combat by Alexandrew Paiva (Amazon) - Excellent step by step illustrations on performing the basic techniques in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Easy to understand and follow. Contains several tips on what to watch out for with each technique as well.
  
  Health and Anatomy
  
  
• The Anatomy of Martial Arts by Dr. Norman Link and Lily Chou (Amazon) - Decent book on the muscle groups used to perform specific techniques in martial arts. On it's own, not totally useful (but not useless), but with the next book, becomes gold!
  
• Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy by Bret Contraris (Amazon) - Brilliant book that details what muscles are use for what type of action, and gives examples on body weight exercises that pin-point those specific muscle groups. My best purchase of 2014, especially when paired with the previous book.
  
• Martial Mechanics by Phillip Starr (Amazon) - Slightly Chinese Martial Arts specific, but contains great material on how to strengthen stances and fine-tune technique for striking arts.
  
  EDIT: I can't believe I forgot this one...
  
  
• The Little Black Book of Violence by Lawrence Kane & Kris Wilder (Amazon) - Fantastic book about situational awareness, what happens during fights, and the aftermath. LOVED this book.
  

I'm going to sound like an infomercial now, but bare with me :)

Tim Ferriss wrote a book called the 4-Hour Body and it is essentially a tome of knowledge with chapters on weight loss, weight gain, building muscle, having better sex and so on. There is a lot of great knowledge in there and it's not at all a bad investment.

Other than that you can get a lot of stuff done with dumbbells and youtube access. I recently linked to this video in this forum and it's a good place to start when it comes to lifting and building muscle at home. The guy is goofy, but he is essentially right and big on safety and all of that, which would make a difference to someone with bulging discs. Check out his channel for more videos.

Other than that I would suggest that you find a great book on stretching as muscle cramps and fatigue might be painful for someone who is getting old, has bulging discs and might be losing a little range of mobility. I haven't tried it yet, but I am getting this book myself.

Now all of that is for home training of course, but only because if your father chooses to go to the gym, I am sure they will have plenty of people educated in the field to give him good advice and ways to get started.

Good luck and let me just add how refreshing it is that a 68 year old man with bulging discs wants to get into lifting. I really love that. But remember to be careful, go slow and focus on form especially in the beginning.

There are lots, of varying quality.

Off the top of my head are the books by Nestor Capoeira, who is deeply respected for lots of reasons. He has a series of three books, only one is formatted as a sort of technical manual, but the others are highly entertaining and fascinating in their own right and discuss important elements beyond just the movements of capoeira.

http://www.amazon.com/Nestor-Capoeira/e/B001JRUQ8Y

There is also the Capoeira 100, and Capoeira Conditioning. These have some issues, while the contain photos of various movements, the instructions seem to go like "First, prepare to do the flip, next, perform the flip, finally, finish the flip." Also be aware that different capoeira groups use different names to refer to moves, there are very few that are completely stable between groups, so the names of the moves in the book might not be how they are referred to by any group you meet.

seriously though, google is your friend. So is amazon books.

There are lots of youtube videos, around too. Like Com Expressao who have a basic movements video, and some tutorials on more advanced moves, but those that i've seen do not discuss the use of those movements in the roda. They post here occasionally as well as /u/comexpressao .

Got into working out quite a bit after college - since I continued to play sports (prior to picking up golf) I didn't want to just become an inflexible muscle head but add function as I get stronger. I guess the best example from the mold would be Lebron.

Anyway, below is the book I have focused my workouts/nutrition around for the last 6-7 years (6'3 160lbs to 210lbs) and I feel like it has made the power and round endurance a non-issue since I started playing a little over 2 years ago ... so I can just focus on stop sucking at the sport itself :)

http://www.amazon.com/Mens-Health-Power-Training-Performance-based-ebook/dp/B001EHE22A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415728831&sr=8-1&keywords=power+training

You could also do bodyweight exercies, in my opinion they are good as lifting! You need only your body and some space (a room, a park, wherever you want) If you are interested, /r/bodyweightfitness is the place for you. Aand I'm currently using a very nice bodyweight book, called "Body by You" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345528972) (and you can find it for free somewhere...). It's really nicely done and with a good progression :)

In addition to Ray Long's anatomy book and blog that were also mentioned here which are really amazing and a must have as it is broken down by muscle. It's what we used in my yoga teacher training and something I look on frequently. One of my teachers were trained by Judith Lasater. I hear her her old book is a good pairing with that, although she is writing a new one that has a better editor and more years of wisdom behind it. She take a slower moving approach that is a awesome for when getting into specific regions of the body safely.

I know this is old school, but still works and inexpensive to make.
http://shitokai.com/archives/652
There is also some great knowledge to be found in http://www.amazon.com/Karate-Do-Kyohan-The-Master-Text/dp/1568364822
Good Luck!

I hate running as well. My cardio is all HIIT. If you can't afford a gym, get a jump rope and do any of the following intervals

• 8s/12s rest
  
• 24s/36s rest
  
• 20s/20s rest
  
• 30s/30s rest
  
  You can also run stairs, hill sprint, flip tires, do sledge swings, etc. Since you're starting off being pretty out of shape, you won't be able to do a long HIIT workout, but fortunately you don't need the sessions to be long for them to be effective.
  
  If you get access to a gym or free weights, find a book called Cardio Strength Training.

Not exactly the same, but I highly recommend the Best Karate series by Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama. It's a comprehensive series with explanations, pictures and it is very detailed.
Best Karate Vol 6

I'd recommend taking a look at the Body by You book. It's basically the You are Your Own Gym workout, but redesigned specifically for women, with different progressions, etc.

My wife started YAYOG, but didn't make it past the first couple of days due to the difficulty. She's had much better success with Body by You though, and has stuck with it as a result.

Also, if you do end up getting that book, I'd recommend the paper version. It's going to be easier to reference the exercises, plus it has places to log your workouts, etc. And, it's only $.10 more than the Kindle version right now.

Rock Warrior's Way is indeed fantastic; and PRC has some good mental sections.

I'd advise Ungerleider's book, even though it's non-climbing related: Mental Training for Peak Performance - great stuff. Note that it's quite short (80-100 pages IIRC,) so get it from the library if you can.

Also, I haven't seen 9 out of 10 climbers mentioned. I bought it and have read it several times. MacLeod has a wandery style of writing, but if you like it then you might find the book useful. It's felt more like a confirmation of ideas that I've felt about climbing for a long time than an introduction of new ideas. (Wow, poor sentence construction.)

You should check out BBLS - well worth the read. I switched to his BLS program last year when I hit a plateau and that got me through it. Switched to the Beyond program earlier this year.. consistent gains on that too. His books are fucking great.. basically a better researched and more comprehensive guide than the reddit fitness wiki.

This looks good, but HIIT and tabatas are about using a lot of energy in a short time span. Not all exercises are suited for this. Also, if you're going all out, you will sacrifice form and shouldn't do anything that risks injury when this happens, like deadlifts (yeah, you can go light, but then you're sacrificing effort).

Some that I saw that don't fit are handstands, planks,...

Maybe add a category for bodyweight. Those exercises are already included, but it's not clear in which category.

A very good book with lots of different types of exercises is Cardio strength training.

I'm absolutely not shitting on your effort (it' s more than I've ever created), just giving some pointers.

If you want, I can list all the exercise from that book (tonight orntomorrow).

Recommend getting a book New Rules On Lifting and Mens Health Big Book Of Exercises.

NROL has a pretty solid program made by Alwyn Cosgrove. The big book is a good reference for movements.

I have seen a lot of people over on fitocracy use the book You Are Your Own Gym Seems like a of people like this guys books. Also I have heard good things about the Convict Conditioning.

Linkys
http://amzn.com/0345528581

Also one just for women
http://amzn.com/0345528972

Go to your local bike shop and talk to them. One of the best parts of cycling is the community.

Also, I like this book.

Edited: Formatting the link

My teachers, Davidine Sim and David Gaffney have written some excellent books on Chen style Taijiquan. All three are a good read:

Chen Style Taijiquan: The Source of Taiji Boxing

The Essence of Taijiquan

Chen Taijiquan: Masters and Methods

Looks like it's available for as an e-reader for the Kindle/Kindle app. Probably going to have a hard time finding it published for free anywhere online. Worth the $15 in my opinion though.

I picked up this book about anatomy and stretching that has proven very helpful in learning how to stretch out my back more effectively: https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Stretching-Second-Illustrated-Rehabilitation/dp/1583943714/

I enjoy action meditation to silent. this is a good starter

We use the Juno+. My MiL uses a lillebaby. Both work fine.

You don’t mention if you have back pain when carrying but I had pain carrying her originally. I’ve found doing the exercises in the advanced section of this book really helped along with counter-balancing with a backpack. You’ll want to tighten the straps as much as you can to keep the baby as close to you as possible for your back’s sake (obviously you’ll want to make sure he’s comfortable too).

I picked up this recently, some interesting ideas, and I'm sold on adding a gym day to improve my endurance for long distance events. Anyone else see this? Here's a shorter article with the core of the workout.

A list of good and bad example of throws on this reddit : https://www.reddit.com/r/judo/comments/2qh230/go_kyu_no_waza_first_set_video_list_the_good_the/

One of my favorite judo book (in French) : https://www.amazon.fr/Judo-pratique-d%C3%A9butant-ceinture-noire/dp/2851805908

The last book I've bought, highly recommended by another user (in English, not read yet) : https://www.amazon.fr/Kodokan-Throwing-Techniques-Toshiraao-Daigo/dp/1568365772

A good blog with a lot of advanced stuff : http://thedifficultway.blogspot.fr/

I don't recommend Judo Unleashed though. Photos looks good (judo throws on the beach by sunset, why not ?) but the text is a little succinct.

Best I have read for cycling - https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Maximum-Overload-Cyclists-Strength-Based/dp/1623367743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503885479&sr=8-1&keywords=jacques+devore

http://www.amazon.com/The-Shaolin-Workout-Transforming-Warriors/dp/1594864004/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345835126&sr=8-1&keywords=28+shaolin

Start here, best I can offer.

https://www.amazon.com/Muay-Thai-Basics-Introductory-Techniques/dp/1583941401

The technical information contained in this book is very good.

> The Anatomy Of Stretching

This one :)

https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Stretching-Second-Illustrated-Rehabilitation/dp/1583943714

I got mine from amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Weeks-Pull-Ups-Strengthen-Shoulders-Consecutive-ebook/dp/B004XOZ7MA

The program changes depending on your base amount of pull ups. So how many weeks it takes, does depend on your base. 7 weeks is if you are really damn good at pull ups to begin with.

It's not yoga, it's a Shaolin workout with stretches:

http://www.amazon.com/Shaolin-Workout-Days-Transforming-Warriors/dp/1594864004/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260497684&sr=8-7

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bicycling-Maximum-Overload-Cyclists-Magazine/dp/1623367743

I'm not clicking a random wordpress article

I've read many books on karate, even the "bible" of karate, karate do kyohan and there's never been one mention of Siamese martial arts

Yes

It's a book by Mark Lauren, there's one for men and women on German Amazon, unfortunately only the male version in the US for some reason:

http://www.amazon.com/90-Day-Bodyweight-Challenge-Men/dp/3868837736/

There's this one however, for women: http://www.amazon.com/Body-You-Guide-Womens-Fitness/dp/0345528972/

you dont have to do ab specific exercises to work out your core. take small steps doing exercises in the 5 main movement categories: horizontal pull/push, vertical pull/push and legs.

use leverage and additional in between steps if any of the exercises are too hard at first.

take a look at this http://www.amazon.com/Body-You-Guide-Womens-Fitness/dp/0345528972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405364211&sr=8-1&keywords=body+by+you

and this https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2oknZg-EI8xenpWUWFidDc1aDQ/edit?pli=1

> "The Source Of Taijiquan"

This? https://www.amazon.com/Chen-Style-Taijiquan-Source-Boxing/dp/1556433778

EDIT: Seems not. Dug up my copy, and while it has at least one unindexed mention of Feng Zhiqiang, I could not find anything about him teaching zhan zhuang in the village.

This comment mentions the same bit of lore (Master Feng teaching zhan zhuang methods in the village) https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/31411-if-you-practice-zhan-zhuang-for-how-long-do-you-stand/?do=findComment&comment=555331 but is unsourced.

The bio heading the interview of Master Feng by Jarek Szymanski floating around says "Feng Zhiqiang visited Chenjiagou three times, teaching Taijiquan to the 19th generation descendants of the style. Many Taijiquan practitioners of Chen clan from Chenjiagou were also often coming to Beijing to deepen their studies with Feng.", but no offers no details. (http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/FZQinterview.html)