Challenging Beliefs by Tim Noakes with Michael Vlismas

Tim Noakes is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science behind sport and a successful sportsman in his own right. Through a lifetime of research, he has developed key scientific concepts in sport that have not only redefined the way elite athletes and teams approach their professions, but challenged conventional global thinking in these areas.

In Challenging Beliefs Noakes gives his views on everything from the myths perpetuated by the sports-drink industry and the dangers of overtraining and overdrinking to the prevalence of banned substances and the need to make rugby a safer sport.

The teams and athletes with whom Noakes has worked make fascinating backdrops to these topics, highlighting the importance of science in sport in human terms.

In providing an intimate look at the golden threads running through Noakes’s life and career, this truly remarkable book reveals the groundbreaking theories and principles generated by one of the greatest minds in the history of sports science.

Tim Noakes is the Discovery Health Professor of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Cape Town. He is a lifelong athlete and is rated an A1-scientist by the National Research Foundation. In 2008 he was awarded the Order of Mapungubwe by the president of South Africa for ‘excellent contribution to the field of sport and the science of physical exercise’. His book Lore of Running is considered the global ‘bible’ of running. He has been married to Marilyn Anne for 39 years, and they have two children, Travis and Candice. Tim is the co-founder of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, along with rugby icon Morné du Plessis.

Michael Vlismas is a Pretoria-based freelance sportswriter and broadcaster who owns a sports-media agency. He writes and broadcasts on sport, specifically golf, for a variety of South African and international publications and radio stations, and is a columnist for various sports and lifestyle publications, the editor of the golf publication Tee to Green and the Africa correspondent for Global Golf Post. His first book, Don’t Choke – A Champion’s Guide to Winning Under Pressure, was co-written with Gary Player. Challenging Beliefs is his second book. Michael is married to Ursula and they have two boys, Jack and Ethan.

Date of Publication: September 2011
ISBN: 9781770221468
Publisher: Zebra Press