How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle
Author: Matt Fitzgerald
Published: October 2015
Length: 272 pages
Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audible
Available on Amazon
From the publisher:
The greatest athletic performances spring from the mind, not the body. Elite athletes have known this for decades and now science is learning why it’s true. In his fascinating new book How Bad Do You Want It?, coach Matt Fitzgerald examines more than a dozen pivotal races to discover the surprising ways elite athletes strengthen their mental toughness.
Fitzgerald puts you into the pulse-pounding action of more than a dozen epic races from running, cycling, triathlon, XTERRA, and rowing with thrilling race reports and revealing post-race interviews with the elites. Their own words reinforce what the research has found: strong mental fitness lets us approach our true physical limits, giving us an edge over physically stronger competitors. Each chapter explores the how and why of an elite athlete’s transformative moment, revealing powerful new psychobiological principles you can practice to flex your own mental fitness.
The new psychobiological model of endurance performance shows that the most important question in endurance sports is: how bad do you want it? Fitzgerald’s fascinating book will forever change how you answer this question and show you how to master the psychology of mind over muscle. These lessons will help you push back your limits and uncover your full potential.
How Bad Do You Want It? reveals new psychobiological findings including:
- Mental toughness determines how close you can get to your physical limit.
- Bracing yourself for a tough race or workout can boost performance by 15% or more.
- Champions have learned how to give more of what they have.
- The only way to improve performance is by altering how you perceive effort.
- Choking under pressure is a form of self-consciousness.
- Your attitude in daily life is the same one you bring to sports.
- There’s no such thing as going as fast as you can―only going faster than before.
- The fastest racecourse is the one with the loudest spectators.
- Faith in your training is as important as the training itself.
Athletes featured in How Bad Do You Want It?: Sammy Wanjiru, Jenny Simpson, Greg LeMond, Siri Lindley, Willie Stewart, Cadel Evans, Nathan Cohen and Joe Sullivan, Paula Newby-Fraser, Ryan Vail, Thomas Voeckler, Ned Overend, Steve Prefontaine, and last of all John “The Penguin” Bingham
About the Author:
Matt Fitzgerald is an award-winning endurance sports journalist and bestselling author of more than 20 books on running, triathlon, fitness, nutrition, and weight loss, including Brain Training for Runners and Racing Weight. His byline appears regularly in national publications including Men’s Journal, Outside, and Women’s Running. An experienced running and triathlon coach and certified sports nutritionist, Matt serves as a Training Intelligence Specialist for PEAR Sports and as a featured coach on active.com.
Editorial Reviews:
“Fitzgerald is going to go down as one of the most competent and prolific authors of books for serious runners covering just about every legitimate aspect of the all-important runner’s lifestyle.” ―Letsrun.com
“Captivating, animated, uniquely readable and downright thrilling. [Iron War] is a truly great read―and an ode to our sport with all its quirky characters and epic venues…It is absolutely comparable to Krakauer, Bowden (Blackhawk Down), or Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm)… Iron War is what we buy books for: Excitement, entertainment, information and inspiration.” ― TriSports.com
“A true page-turner about a too-little-known great moment in sports.” ― Booklist (American Library Association)
“Iron War is the very first time our sport has engaged in Krakauer-style journalism, where full-featured personalities are presented to readers without excuse, or pause, or an author’s self-censorship. Iron War is Fitzgerald’s Krakauer moment.” ― Slowtwitch.com
“Iron War by Matt Fitzgerald recounts the fabled Ironman world championship battle between triathlete legends Dave Scott and Mark Allen. By the end of the story, [triathletes] will feel like [they] personally know the athletes, raced side-by-side with them, and understands the amazing contribution they made to the sport.” ― Active.com
How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle is available on Amazon.
