Every Day Is Game Day

As an athlete, I'm obviously very interested in what it takes to achieve elite performance. In all the unnecessary time I spend on the internet, I found out about this book and its author: Mark Verstegen is the Director of Performance for the NFL Player's Association and his combine prep training has produced the number 1 draft pick in the NFL for the past 6 years. What really sold me as a rugby player is that he trained Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe of Argentina, one of my favorite loose forwards. Needless to say, I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book.

This book does many things right. The first sentence, in all caps, says “YOUR BEST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH”. From the first page, I knew that I'd enjoy this book. While I feel that nutrition was the weak part of the text, the rest of it will serve me well in my training. The best part of this book is probably the programming, I've seen many of the concepts that he discusses before but have had trouble implementing them in a structured way. The Movement Skills section and sections on mobility and flexibility are undoubtedly highlights. As a college kid, it's always useful to be reminded to set a consistent sleep schedule.

For someone so qualified, Verstegen makes practically no reference to the scientific literature. For example, in the nutrition section, he recommends 6 meals a day to boost metabolism, when this has never been shown to be more effective than 3 meals a day. Furthermore, I'm suspicious of his claims that the color of a fruit or vegetable dictate its functions in the body. Overall, I think nutrition is the weakest section, but there are still certainly practicable and helpful tips. He also makes reference to some pseudoscience, such as when he talks about reflexology and its effects on movement and recovery. The body of the book is only 134 pages long, which is disappointingly short. I would have liked to see a more in depth, technical analysis of the mechanisms at work in the adaptations that his training drives, so the reader has more scope for customization. Smaller niggles: The table of contents has only 4 topics, but these are subdivided in the text itself, making reference a little bit more difficult. At least there is an index.

PROS:

• A lot of common sense advice that we athletes must often be reminded of


• useful recommendations for programming that integrates the different aspects of athleticism


• Sections focusing on recovery, nutrition, and mobility/flexibility, which are often neglected


• simple, concise

• Perhaps oversimplified, lacks reference to scientific literature. Could be more rigorous.


• Short, could be more detailed


• Could be better structured for reference