How Bad Do You Want It?

This read definitely held some gems for aspiring elite athletes, although I did have a few issues with it. I liked the idea that each chapter would focus on a particular sporting individual, and through this case study style exploration readers would learn something about the athlete mindset. However, these chapters were long and sometimes bogged in sport-specific detail, making it difficult to get through them. Additionally, I realised after some time that all the examples were endurance sports, and although I understand why the book was not marketed as such I felt slightly disappointed in this aspect. However, the physiological model and mindset learnings that Fitzgerald was able to both infer and pull from these real-life legends was astounding, and I definitely gained a new understanding and respect for individuals pushing themselves in whatever level of sporting arena they were in. I do wish that there was a condensed version of just the key lessons, but I can attribute some of my frustrations towards not being well-read in non-fiction generally.

I like Matt F. And read many of his books as well as I'm using his training programs.
I really like that in each chapter there's a different and interesting athlete's story tied to some scientific research topic around mental fitness.
I highly suggest to find the video of the race mentioned in each chapter on YouTube and watch it. It makes the story really fun and real.

Willie Stewart! Becomes a one armed rugby player! Re-learns to swim and ride a bike! In the 80s! Ahhhhhhh! — whoops, that was my halfway point update. Now that I'm finished I can say THIS is my preferred mix of sport science studies, drama-filled race descriptions and athlete stories of triumph or tribulation. The psychobiological model is the hypothesis that what limits endurance athletes is our ability to deal with the perception of effort - how hard the work feels and how much we are willing to suffer for a particular goal. The chapters go through different mental tactics different athletes have used to give out more effort regardless of physical limitations (see the one-armed rugby player turned triathlete)