At your core, there's an incredible athlete. Lean, yet powerful. Strong, but still flexible. World-class trainer
Mark Verstegen shows you how to use your core to transform your body and your life, turnback the clock, speed up
your metabolism, trim your waistline, build muscle, and gain boundless energy. More than a workout routine, Verstegen's
12-week, comprehensive program reveals the athlete that's always been inside you.
The Core Program Shows You:
How to develop balanced fitness -- strength, muscle mass, flexibility, power, and endurance -- without overemphasizing
or shortchanging any component.
How to recover from workouts so you get leaner and stronger when everyone else is just getting tired.
How to eat the right foods to get the body you want and the energy to have more fun with it.
You probably look at elite athletes and think they have something you don't. Certainly, they can do things the
rest of us can't, but they have the same muscles and require the same food. They have to strike a balance between
exercise and recovery, or they'll wear down. They need to get leaner and stronger without compromising their endurance
or flexibility. And if they don't train intelligently and cautiously, they'll get hurt. Same as you.
Of course, athletes have hours a day to train, and you're probably lucky if you can squeeze in 60 minutes. So it's
no wonder that you focus on one or two types of exercise -- aerobics, bodybuilding, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing,
or Tae-Bo -- and assume you don't have time to work on all the other aspects of fitness.
Core Performance is the first program that delivers strength and muscle mass, endurance and a lean body, balance
and flexibility, athletic quickness and power -- all in less than an hour a day. How? By giving you a personal
coach who has worked with some of the most famous and successful athletes in the world today.
Mark Verstegen, owner of Athletes' Performance in Tempe, Arizona, and Carson, California, has trained the best
of the best: Nomar Garciaparra. Mia Hamm. Roberto Alomar. Mary Pierce. When Verstegen trains an athlete, millions
of dollars in salary and signing bonuses are at stake. Bottom line: If he didn't deliver, he'd be out of business.
And he's busier than ever.
What works for these gifted athletes will work for you. Sure, you can't do as much exercise as they do, but you
don't need to. It takes less than an hour a day to build the type of fitness that improves your life in almost
every way. You can straighten your posture, eliminate aches and pains, sleep better, and approach everything you
do with more vigor and a better attitude.
Sure, you will get bigger muscles, a tighter waist, and more strength and power. But the biggest benefits come
from the inside. The intense focus on the muscles of your core -- abdominals, lower back, hips, and thighs -- will
help you stand taller and prevent the back pain from which most people eventually suffer. The detailed nutrition
section guarantees that you'll feed your muscles, starve your fat, and get boundless energy when you need it most.
And the attention you'll pay to recovery from your workouts will give you a straight path to the results you want.
The potential is within you, and the power to unleash that potential is within Core Performance.
Table of Contents
Part 1. Welcome to the Core
Chapter 1. Core Inspiration
The Core Covenant
Chapter 2. Core Beginnings
Core Self-Evaluation
Chapter 3. The Core Challenge
Part 2. The Core Workout
Chapter 4. The Foundation: Building Your Pillar of Strength
Chapter 5. Movement Prep
Brandon Wood on Core Performance for Young Athletes
Chapter 6. Prehab
Chapter 7. Physioball Routine
Mia Hamm on Core Performance for Women
Chapter 8. Elasticity
Chapter 9. Strength
Chapter 10. Energy System Development
Chapter 11. Regeneration
Chapter 12. The Core Workout Worksheets
Part 3. The Core Nutrition Plan
Chapter 13. How to Eat Better, Starting Now
Chapter 14. Core Performance Foods
