Exercise-hungry non-athletes like me, clumsy and inept, love to read advice books based on “real” athletes. We are besieged by recommendations, corrective counsel, and products based on measuring and coaching elites. Thus I was drawn to “Good to Go: How to Eat, Sleep and Rest Like a Champion,” a sprightly, insight-packed investigation by journalist and athlete Christie Aschwanden. Eleven fascinating chapters tackle everything from ice baths to sports drinks, energy bars, massage, pre- and post-even nutrition, meditation, metrics, and rest. If Aschwanden has one gift to a reader, it is this: “research” on athletes and fitness and performance is typically of poor scientific potency. Experiments are too small, poorly structured, and unable to screen out coexisting factors. Like dietetics, sports/activity science is barely scientific. Weaving her way through the fields of information and hype, Aschwanden gradually gleans what might actually help you and me make sense of our sporting and recovery efforts. Good to Go is an entertaining, useful book.
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