Book Review: The Singles Game, A novel by Lauren Weisberger

The Singles Game

by lauren weisberger

Book on CD

This is as much a modern story encompassing everything from one nighters, social commentary, and some version of modern love.  It does use tennis as the backdrop and I suppose it is the main storyline.  I found myself amused at the Valley girl narration, not that there’s anything wrong with that approach, but it gave me a mental image of a relative airhead tennis player.  The mistakes made by Charlie, her nickname for Charlotte, leading up to her failures annoyed me mainly because with the type of time investment described in her training she found ways to sabotage her wins with dalliances.  The imagery focused mainly on well proportioned male players, hunks with attitudes, and beautiful and fit female players.  The male coach Todd that she hired was a real special case of bad attitude seemed overdone.  I suppose there are players that would need that or be willing to submit to his methods in order to win, but the feeling was that it was a deal with the devil that inevitably would fail as it did at least in performance terms since she didn’t win her major.  Again it was distractions that cost her the win.

I picked this book up because it was about tennis and stayed with it because it had enough reality to it that it is worth the time invested.  Plus, I’ve found a new author I might investigate for other books to read.

The title is a play on words since the singles aspect of it has as much to do with the main female character’s personal life as it does with tennis, the backdrop.

There is a dearth of tennis fiction so for anyone looking for tennis related reading I can say it was worth listening to for 10 CDs worth of time.

Recommend  ***and 1/2 stars

Free Tennis Book Promotion Today - Tennis Basics: Learning the Sport

I'm running another free promotion today for my recently published book called Tennis Basics.

If you're taking an introductory tennis class this is a good companion for review.

Free Book Today September 14th.

Please take advantage of it and let me know what you think by making a comment here on my blog or posting a review on Amazon.

Thank You,
Brent

Can exercise can suppress the immune system? Seniors Take Notice.

New Study says two days in a row of exercise can suppress the immune system.

No kidding.  I knew this when I was in high school and used to play basketball all winter for 5 or more hours a day.  I kept getting colds and when I finally went to a doctor and told him that I played basketball every day for hours and thought it might have something to do with it he said something simple.  "Well, stop playing every day and take some time off for recovery."  and I did and solved the problem.

That is easier said than done since exercise can become addictive and is a regimen that many form into a habit.

My routine is to vary the type, intensity, and duration of workouts.  For instance.

Weight training:  I do minor stretch bands and dumbbells more or less every day but don't stress if I miss a day.  I go for more weight in curls and presses on an alternate day or every third day program and do this in the evening where it allows some repair and recovery, plus it manages metabolism for better sleep as blood sugar appears suppressed.

Calisthenics:   Pushups, planks, crunches, etc.   Every couple of days I find it worth doing this but not every day for me.  Avoid the Gym and do calisthenics. - Interesting article.

Stretches:  Every day simply for injury prevention,  Hamstrings are my primary focus since this helps protect the back.

Cardio:  This includes walking and tennis.  You can moderate each so that doing them every day can be done without risk to most healthy people.  If walking is overdoing it then as humans we've devolved into couch potatoes.  It find a light tennis workout against a backboard or just taking serves is something I can do every day without concern.  I think my body has acclimated to this as a standard condition whereas a higher workout might cause problems.  That falls into the intense cardio category.

Intense Cardio:  This can be tennis, jogging, sprinting, or just doing anything that brings the heart to a fast clip relative to your age and health.  This is the area where risk seems the highest so learning to calibrate and discipline your workouts tailored to your needs is important.

Final Thought:  Do what works for you and observe the results on how you feel.  Your body will often let you know.  When older it seems that the joints are the place where the most recovery is needed.

Disclaimer:  Talk to your doctor, physical therapist, and physical trainer before embarking on a new program.  This article is for information purposes only.

Free Tennis Book Today

What good is a blog if you can't help push your new book.  In this case though I'm only asking for you to grab a free copy and post a review on Amazon if you like it.

Tennis Basics: Learning the Sport

How to Eat for Tennis

Eat before 7pm to avoid heart attacks and strokes
Add to this idea not eating again for at least 12 hours.

Hot pepper food has risks.
I stay away from this altogether.  Any food with the word death in it leaves me cold, not hot.  I won't touch it.

Here is a comparison between the Nutribullet and others.
I use the Nutribullet to eat my salads.  A cucumber, spinach, and some whey or soy protein with water and whatever else you want to drop in for taste and nutrients.

Paleo Diet - Can it reduce heart disease.
There are some similarities to this and the Mediterranean diet so if that suits you then maybe it is the best compromise.

100+ village lives on Mediterranean diet.  They are in the Mediterranean so that helps.
This seems like the ideal diet for health in general but may be appropriate for those that want to participate in sports since it has a good measure of fruits, vegetables, and is light on meats other than fish.  It looks as if dairy is limited as well.

Broccoli the superfood for health

Diet better than Statins: New study

New study results on the Mediterranean  diet vs the MED-statin diet.

The side effects of drugs like statins are often downplayed.  This is why many of use have chose diet and some supplements like fish oil to help keep heart disease risk down, but as we've been told often genetics play a major part in results no matter what you do.  I take this approach to at least improve my odds.  

Also, it seems the twofer of anti-inflammatory properties of Omega 3 oils helps with arthritis and pain.  I had doctors actually recommend fish oil for joint pain.  Other possible benefits include better moods and brain function.  Whatever the case, if it does no hard it might be worth a look.  It can always be approached incrementally.

Why post this on tennislifer?  Because anything you can do for your health is a net positive and adding to your ability to continue to play tennis through joint pain management as well as cardio risk reduction is a powerful reason to make life changes.  It's easier than you think.

As always:  Consult your doctor before changing your diet or meds.  This commentary is for informational purposes only.

Can Tennis Slow Aging?

Endurance Exercise may slow aging
So make tennis your endurance sport.  That's easy enough.  Hit against the wall, or play singles if your legs, hips, and back can take it.  If not, make doubles your version of a round of 8 in Golf, though I'd guess that the tennis is much more of a physical challenge than golf.  That said, I tried golf again recently and found that though I have learned to accommodate tennis my back does not like golf at all so except for putt putt golf I'll stick to the doubles court.

Another thing to remember is that the surface can make it easier on your body in terms of impact while allowing you to increase your endurance demands by playing longer.  Additionally, new research tells us that just being in the heat is a form of conditioning and a few hours in a clay court playing doubles might be a good endurance challenge.

Disclaimer:  As always, consult your physician if you have health issues that might put you at risk in the sun or just performing strenuous activity.  One great thing about a doubles game is that you can calibrate your play level by choosing your opponents and partners and ratcheting down your activity level accordingly.  Just focus on skills and strategy and leave the acrobatics to the ones still willing and able to do so.