brilliant books to be a better athlete
Book Review: Start with Why, Simon Sinek
The performers I work with often ask which books they should be reading in order to be able to maintain their high performance. There are always two I recommend because their subject matter is so fundamental to being able to perform under pressure; Professor Steve...
Book review: The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
I raced in one of those triathlon’s recently where you register and put your stuff in transition at 5:30am and then, because it is in a swimming pool, have to sit around for literally hours until your slot opens up. I had over 400 people ahead of me. I took a grown up...
Book review: Need for the bike, Paul Fournel
I recently broke my elbow. It at the end of a triathlon I was savagely thrown off my bike by a bump or a dent in the road and so now, in the glorious heat of the summer, having suffered all winter, I cannot get my reward and go out riding (or running, or swimming, or...
Book review: The Passion Paradox, Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness
If you want some basic, good quality health and wellbeing advice then Brad Stulberg is your guy. His twitter feed (@BStulberg) is full of simple common sense and his articles, while always evidence based, are written in a way you actually want to read. He turns the...
Review: How to support a champion, Steve Ingham
I attended a week long workshop a couple of years ago at the English Institute of Sport and one of the people leading it was Steve Ingham. He had some great advice on how to build our skills as applied sport scientists so I bought his book as soon as it came out. And...
Review: The Brave Athlete, Marshall & Paterson
Not your normal sports performance book. The language is much jokier and friendlier than you’d usually expect from a professor (in public anyway) and there is a lot more swearing than I have spotted in any of the other sport psych book, or most books really! It is...
Review: Faster, Fitter, Happier, Tony Westbury
This author of this book, Tony Westbury, a Sport Psychologist, aims to answer 75 questions that athletes or coaches may be thinking about. Westbury is both an applied sport psychologist and a lecturer so spans the world between academics and consulting. In this book...
Review: Endure, Alex Hutchinson
As soon as I opened Endure the green-eyed monster snuck out. This is absolutely the book I wish I’d written. If you are an endurance athlete, curious about how to go faster or longer Hutchinson has collated all the research that you should be relying upon. What he...
Review: Run Smart, John Brewer
Professor John Brewer is known as a go to guy for marathon running. He works at St Mary’s University in Twickenham where they have some fantastic running programmes (Mo Farah was a such a regular when he lived nearby they’ve named the track after him) and unusually...
Review: Irongran, Edwina Brocklesby
My plan to read 25 sports books in 2018 is way behind schedule but one I managed to read in under 24 hours (to the joy of my little one who got to watch far too much CBeebies that day) was Irongran. I was involved in the early stages of the book and am quoted in it a...
Review: Run for your life, William Pullen
Within my sport psychology practice I’m getting increasingly interested in how athletes can use mindfulness to become more aware of their thoughts. I’m not convinced meditation and mindfulness techniques as a whole work universally, and some of the research starting...
Review: This Girl Ran, Helen Croydon
I set myself a goal for 2018 to read 25 endurance sport books. These can be autobiographies, text books or popular psychology books. I plan to review them all (as I’m often asked on twitter and by clients for good books to read about sport psychology). Five books in...
Tribe of Mentors. 55 pieces of great advice
Tim Ferris – known for the 4 hour work week recently wrote to a bunch of successful people he admired. He asked them 11 questions: What is the book or books you’ve given most as a gift and why? What purchase of...
Turning the pedals, or pages….
In that little bit of dead time between the Giro and the Tour de France there is time for reading! So to get you into the mood for Le Tour starting on July 2nd here are some books to help you swot up on your Tour knowledge and understand just what those 189 riders are...
Great running books
If this morning’s marathon spectating gave you a few lumps in your throat, saw you shed a few tears and has meant you have already circled Monday May 2nd in your diary to remember to put in your entry in for the London Marathon, then here are a few great running books...
Books to make your brain buzz…
Great books on sports, psychology and performance. The Sports Gene – David Epstein – if you are in any way a sports and science geek this book has fantastic statistics, references really interesting research and includes interviews with some of the brightest brains in...