This book is about the human clock, about timing at a conscious and unconscious level. Dr. Rowland looks at a number of timing events from breath and footwork in running to throwing a football at a moving receiver. In each case, he looks at the data objectively and draws his conclusions.
During his analysis, he looks at biorhythms and different aspects of training to evaluate the best training times and methods, the best times for events, and whether it is better to save energy until later or expend it in a flash.
Early in the book, the author suggests that his own belief is that most of our timing is left to the subconscious, but he does a good job of presenting alternate views and not really pushing any conclusions. Later in the book, this issue seems to be lost. The last chapter, entitled Aging and Sports Performance, hardly touches on this theme at all, and felt quite different from the rest of the book. Overall, the book didn’t quite feel like it had a unifying theme.
In spite of the minor shortcomings, the book is full of interesting information. It would be a valuable read for anyone planning to enter training for the first time, and an interesting read for anyone interested in sports.