Sports Books to Read Now

Fans of sport will love these books and reviews curated by the sport and fitness fanatics at Fitrena.

The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls

If you followed the NBA in the '90s, you've heard of this one. If you watched The Last Dance, you've heard of this one. But let's get into it just in case: sportswriter Sam Smith got inside with the Chicago Bulls for their first championship in the 1990-1991 season. For the first time, people saw that Michael Jordan—MJ, His Airness, Air Jordan, whatever you prefer to call him—wasn't just a 2-dimensional basketball god, but a real person with a real personality and real issues. And it gets into teammates and coaches of the era, too—a must-read for anyone looking to fill in relatively-recent NBA history.

Fever Pitch

You've probably heard of this one in its form as a Jimmy Fallon-led (remember when he used to act?) 2004 romantic comedy about a guy balancing his love life with his obsessive love for the Boston Red Sox. The movie is based on a memoir of obsessive devotion to English Football Club Arsenal, written by author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, A Long Way Down). Funny, engaging, and still fascinating, if you're a sports fan who just can't figure out why you continue rooting for the loser, you'll find home here.

Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN

This nonfiction story on the past and present of ESPN is long (763 pages), but it's an oral history—so you can read through it like movie dialogue. Starting with stories of the network's very beginning in 1979 and coming up to date with many names that you'll still see on TV every day, this book is gripping and quite cinematic. So cinematic that a significant adaptation has been in discussion for a couple of years now. Read the book now and get ahead of the curve.

For more great sports reads, check out the curated list of books and Fitrena review at Fitrena.

Sports books worth checking out now

Fans of sport will love these books and reviews curated by the sport and fitness fanatics at Fitrena.

"America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation" by Michael MacCambridge

This is as thorough and definitive a re-telling of NFL history from the post-World War II era to the near-present as there is. The tale kicks off with the Rams' move west to L.A. from Cleveland, delves into the AFL-NFL merger that ultimately launched the league into the sports stratosphere and ends around Janet Jackson’s time’s "wardrobe malfunction" during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII.

"Blood, Sweat and Chalk: The Ultimate Football Playbook" by Tim Layden

This book gives a quick breakdown of the history and invention of many of the formations and schemes we see in modern football with interviews from the people who were closest to the innovation and evolution.

"The Courting of Marcus Dupree" by Willie Morris

On its face, this is a story about high school football and college recruiting through the lens of Philadelphia, Mississippi, running back Marcus Dupree, one of the nation’s top prospects, and how football captivates the whole of the South. Morris uses the attention cast on Dupree and his hometown, where three civil rights activists were murdered in,1964 to assess Mississippi’s changing racial landscape from the 1960s to the 1980s. It’s about football and also very much not.

"The GM: A Football Life, a Final Season, and The Last Laugh" by Tom Callahan

I'm a sucker for an excellent behind-the-scenes book, and this one certainly fits the bill. Callahan gets excellent access with former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi throughout a season to give readers a glimpse of what life is like as an NFL GM. (On a personal note: This was also one of the books that nudged me toward sports writing and away from a possible career in politics, for which I am eternally grateful.)

For more great sports reads, check out the curated list of books and Fitrena review at Fitrena.

The Keys to Staying Focused While Training

It’s not always easy to stay focused when you’re training, but here are four tips that may help.

Set your goals. It’s easy to lose focus when you haven’t set specific goals. Everyone wants to be in better shape, but when you set a goal with measurable results your training will feel much more rewarding when you attain those results! Want to lose weight? Set yourself a 5 or 10 pound weight loss within a given time. Want to get stronger? Set your sights on being able to lift a set amount of weight.

Make your goals realistic. You can’t be muscle bound in minutes, you won’t have a beach body by your first session, and you won’t drop a lot of weight right away. Goals take time to achieve, and setting realistic goals will go a long way in staying motivated, whereas unrealistic goals will often lead to giving up.

Develop a routine. Once you have your goals set, form a plan on how you’ll achieve them, and stick to that plan. Planning on going to the gym? Set a dedicated time each day and stick to that time, you’ll find that making it a routine will be the best way to stick to it in the long run.

Acknowledge that there will be bumps in the road. No plan is perfect, and sometimes life gets in the way of even the best of plans. You might get sick or injured, you might have a busy week, or something else may pop up to stop you from training. Don’t worry, these things happen, and it’s important to get right back to it as soon as you can when they do.

Looking for some fitness related reads? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

You Don’t Need a Workout in Order to Exercise

What is exercise to you? Ask most people and you’ll get the common types of answers you’d normally associate with exercise: Running, cycling, swimming, weight lifting, crossfit, yoga, or just about any other dedicated form of moving your body and elevating your heart rate. But what if you didn’t need to engage in any of these activities in order to exercise? Sounds impossible? According to a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it’s not.

Labelled high-intensity incidental physical activity, the paper suggests that everyday activities like taking the stairs, sprinting for the bus, walking uphill, or carrying heavy grocery bags home, is enough physical activity to produce health benefits, even if it’s only done in 30 second bursts throughout the day. Considered to be a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), these day to day activities can add up to big benefits down the road.

Now let’s be honest here, taking the stairs a few times a day isn’t going to work off that double bacon cheeseburger you had for lunch, the decadent chocolate cake that followed your dinner, or even that can of Coke you had as a pick-me-up on your work break. What it will do, however, is contribute to overall good health for people who already make sensible lifestyle choices, and emphasize the importance of leading an active life.

Looking for some great fitness related reads? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

Workout Plans: The Key to Successful Exercising

Sticking to an exercise regimen isn’t always easy, but it’s almost always worth it. There are many tips and tricks along the way, but perhaps the biggest key to exercise success lies in a simple but effective tool: The workout plan. Far beyond a mere list of exercises, the workout plan addresses the key components of your exercise routine: Where, when, and how.

The where need not necessarily be at the gym. For those who live too far away or who just can’t work it into their schedules, effective workouts can still take place at home, or even sometimes at work. For those sick of staying indoors during the cold winter months, plans can be modified according to season to ensure plenty of outside activities.

The when is an important part of any plan, and should definitely include a certain amount of flexibility. While dedicated exercise time is important to commit to, when schedules change it’s certainly handy to have some backup times planned.

When it comes to how, specific exercise routines are not only a great way to effectively use exercise time, they’re a way to obtain measurable results that will lead to more motivation. Exercise routines can also include a certain amount of flexibility to accommodate for soreness or unforeseen injury.

Looking for some great fitness content? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices, and sure to get you moving!

“Fitness Breaks” For When There’s no Time for a Workout

We get it, you’re a busy person with a lot on your plate, and you don’t always have time to make it to the gym for a full workout. That said, you know exercise is important, that it will help you look and feel your best, and you’d still like to find a way to work it into your busy schedule. The answer may be “fitness breaks,” short bursts of high intensity exercise multiple times throughout the day. A recent study has shown that fitness breaks may just be enough to improve overall fitness levels and offer health benefits. Here are three ways you can incorporate fitness breaks into your daily routine.

Climb the stairs. If you work in an office building or from a home with multiple levels, 60 seconds of stair climbing may be enough if done at high enough intensity at multiple times throughout the day.

Push-ups. With no exercise equipment necessary, you can drop and do some push-ups just about anywhere. It may be slow going at first, and you may need to start on your knees rather than in a full plank, but you’ll build up strength and endurance before you know it!

Run around the block. No kidding. What may have once been suggested dismissively could actually be an effective way so stay in shape. If at all possible, get outside and take a run around the block a few times a day to help get the exercise you need.

Looking for more fitness fun? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime from your favorite devices, and sure to get you moving!

Best sporting victories of 2018

The sporting world is full of magical moments that happen every day, but not all of these moments are victories. So just for those who have come through, beaten the odds and won in their fields, here are the best sporting victories of 2018.

Geraint Thomas and the Tour de France

The Tour de France is the most gruelling race in cycling, both physically and mentally. People come from all over the world to compete, but it was a Welsh man by the name of Geraint Thomas that cycled his way to victory in the Tour de France this year. But this victory wasn’t a shocking upset; it was the product of hard work. He geared his whole season around winning the Tour de France and came out of it, and the TUE scandal that has tarred his teammates, as a role model that any sport can be proud of.

The Red Sox and the World Series

The road to this Red Sox World Series title was a long one, but it is their 9th title and something that didn’t look likely at the start of the season. Throwing away an eighth-inning lead on Opening Day was not the best way to give fans hope. But the Sox came back and won 119 times, all with a rookie skipper. As wins go, this one is one for the history books.

The US Women’s hockey team and the Olympic Gold

The final was as dramatic as sporting events can get as the USA upset the Canadians to take the gold. Not only taking the Olympic gold, but breaking the streak of four Olympic gold medals on the trot for the Canadians. It’s been 20 years since the USA women’s hockey team last won the Olympic gold and though it has been a long wait, it has been well worth it.

To find more of the best from the sporting world, check out www.fitrena.com where you’ll find even more sporting moments, victories and the best that sports can offer.