brilliant books to be a better athlete

I adore the psychology of cycling. I ride everywhere I can, offer a discounted rate to female pro cyclists (my tiny contribution to a massive gender imbalance in pay in the sport), write cycling psychology features for Cycling Weekly and I truly enjoy helping cyclists...

You can spot a qualified sport psychologist by the look of despair which sweeps across their face when an athlete mentions the 10,000 hour rule as a reason for overtraining. “It is not a rule” we will shout. It is 4,000-16,000 hours (10,000 plus or minus 6,000) and it...

Occasionally non-fiction books seem to take off and become talked about even though you are not sure why. A few years ago it felt like it was all about Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, before that it was Steve Peter’s Chimp Paradox, and much further back was Eat, Shoots...

I rarely review fiction as it doesn’t usually fit in the sport psychology genre. However, athletes struggle with mental health issues just as much as the rest of us so to find books that accurately describe psychological issues, portray and discuss them in a way that...

To become a sport psychologist as an adult your first step is often taking a MSc Psychology conversion course. Essentially this involved taking the key undergrad modules in a year so that we have covered the basics. One of these modules was cognitive psychology. It...

If you want nice, ‘easy to digest with lots of lightbulb moment’ performance psychology tweets, Steve Magness (@stevemagness) is the guy to follow. To get all the wisdom in one book he has just bought out ‘Do Hard Things’. I was a little wary from the title. As a...

Your 9th wedding anniversary is supposed to be celebrated by giving a Pottery gift. But in our house (with a husband nicknamed Mr Bump) that would not last long. Instead, for our 9th my husband gave me a Stand-Up Paddle Board. Random yes, but we had just moved house...

I have definitely been tutted at by the ‘real’ outdoor swimmers when I rock up to a safe, supervised lake in my cosy wetsuit, complaining about the 18 degree water and the risk of being attacked by a swan. I definitely prefer the ease and warmth of a pool. But I am...

Rachel Ann Cullen’s first book covered the story of how she felt running saved her when she was struggling with mental health issues. It was a compelling read. In this book she ties in her internal insight around those issues with the stories of others who have also...