How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle

by Matt Fitzgerald

Overview

The greatest athletic performances spring from the mindset, not just the muscles.

Elite athletes have known this for decades—and now science explains why. In his fascinating sports psychology book, How Bad Do You Want It?, coach Matt Fitzgerald examines more than a dozen pivotal races to explore how the best endurance athletes build mental toughness and gain a competitive edge.

Fitzgerald takes you deep into the action of over a dozen epic events in running, cycling, triathlon, XTERRA, and rowing, blending thrilling race reports with exclusive post-race interviews. Through the athletes’ own words and breakthrough science, How Bad Do You Want It? reveals that developing mental fitness is the key to pushing your limits and outperforming stronger rivals.

Each chapter uncovers a defining moment when an athlete's mental game changed the outcome—showcasing powerful, practical psychobiological principles you can apply to your own training. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to improve endurance performance, develop grit, and master the psychology of endurance sports.

In How Bad Do You Want It, you'll learn,

• Mental toughness is what determines how close you get to your physical limit
• Bracing yourself before a race can boost performance by 15% or more
• Champions succeed because they’ve learned how to dig deeper
• Performance improves by changing how you perceive effort
• Choking under pressure is a form of mental distraction
• Your everyday attitude shapes your athletic mindset
• There’s no such thing as max effort—only going faster than before
• Loud spectators can actually make you race faster
• Confidence in your training is as crucial as the workouts themselves

Athletes featured include: 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 John “The Penguin” Bingham.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937715410
Publisher:	VeloPress
Publication date:	10/15/2015
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Matt Fitzgerald is a certified sports nutritionist and the author of numerous books on running, triathlon, nutrition, and weight loss. His most recent books are Racing Weight Cookbook, Racing Weight Quick Start Guide, RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel, Racing Weight, Brain Training for Runners, and The Runner's Diary. Matt is a regular contributor to Men's Fitness, Men's Health, Outside, Runner's World, Bicycling, Running Times, Women's Running, and other sports and fitness publications. Fitzgerald is a featured coach on TrainingPeaks, Pear Sports, and Active.com. He is a certified sports nutritionist (CISSN) licensed by the International Society of Sports Nutrition. He lives and trains near San Francisco, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Race is Like a Fire Walk: Sammy Wanjiru
Brace Yourself: Jenny Barringer
Chasing the Man Behind: Greg LeMond
The Art of Letting Go: Siri Lindley
I Never Wanted to Swim Until I Couldn’t: Willie Stewart
Sweet Disgust: Cadel Evans
The Wrong Body: Joseph Sullivan
Hard Work Security Blanket: Paula Newby-Fraser
Miracle in the Mud: Ryan Vail
The Yellow Jersey Gives You Wings: Thomas Voeckler
Slowing Slower: Ned Overend
It’s Worth It: Steve Prefontaine

Appendix

Editorial Reviews

"To be a great athlete, you need more than natural ability; you need mental strength to keep going when your body wants to quit. In his new book, writer Matt Fitzgerald dives into the research behind these coping skills and highlights the top athletes who use them. Anyone, whether pro or everyday exercisers, can use these tactics to push further."

Men's Journal

"Fitzgerald has been writing about the psychology of endurance performance for more than a decade now and is really one of the pioneers in terms of trying to take this body of research out of the laboratory and into the field for everyone to try. His latest book examines a series of notable races through the lens of Samuele Marcora’s 'psychobiological' theory of endurance. The races make it a fun read, and the psychology is thought-provoking."

Runner's World magazine

"Fitzgerald has done an exemplary job in making physiology and psychology understandable with contemporary research framing a creative and entertaining book that makes the subject come alive through charismatic writing."

Canadian Running magazine

The mind is the next frontier for significant performance gains...Mental fitness, says Fitzgerald, means becoming your own sports psychologist and developing coping mechanisms to help you suffer better. Which, while not entierly satisfying, is a good start.

Outside Magazine

"Harnessing the power of the setback is a powerful motivation. How Bad Do You Want It? recognizes the fact that we all have the power to adapt and be better than before."

Willie Stewart

"At the highest level of sport, it's often not physiology but psychology that separates the best from the rest. Matt goes well beyond just telling stories of great athletes (though he's really good at doing that, too) and delves deep into cutting-edge brain science to show us all how we can strengthen our own mental muscle."

Huffington Post

"Think of it as the mind-over-matter guide to racing. Fitzgerald’s book dissects pivotal races and features top endurance athletes...illustrating how elite athletes rally their mental strength and amateur athletes can, too."

Austin-American Statesman

"How Bad Do You Want It? really brings to life how important psychology is for endurance performance."

Samuele Marcora

"A book every that every endurance athlete should own...A page-turning read both for the narrative content and hard information...For all athletes drawn to pushing up against the red line to see what they've got."

LAVA magazine

"Imagine you could get into the mind of an elite athlete and use their skills to improve your sporting potential. That's the premise of Matt Fitzgerald's How Bad Do You Want It?"

Triathlon Magazine Canada

"To be a great athlete, you need more than natural ability; you need mental strength to keep going when your body wants to quit. In his new book, writer Matt Fitzgerald dives into the research behind these coping skills and highlights the top athletes who use them. Anyone, whether pro or everyday exercisers, can use these tactics to push further." – Men's Journal

"Fitzgerald has been writing about the psychology of endurance performance for more than a decade now and is really one of the pioneers in terms of trying to take this body of research out of the laboratory and into the field for everyone to try. His latest book examines a series of notable races through the lens of Samuele Marcora’s “psychobiological” theory of endurance. The races make it a fun read, and the psychology is thought-provoking." – Runner's World magazine

"At the highest level of sport, it's often not physiology but psychology that separates the best from the rest. Matt goes well beyond just telling stories of great athletes (though he's really good at doing that, too) and delves deep into cutting-edge brain science to show us all how we can strengthen our own mental muscle." — Huffington Post, Best Health and Fitness Books in 2015

“The mind is the next frontier for significant performance gains…Mental fitness, says Fitzgerald, means becoming your own sports psychologist and developing coping mechanisms to help you suffer better. Which, while not entierly satisfying, is a good start.” — Outside magazine

"A book every that every endurance athlete should own…A page-turning read both for the narrative content and hard information…For all athletes drawn to pushing up against the red line to see what they've got." — LAVA magazine

"Fitzgerald has done an exemplary job in making physiology and psychology understandable with contemporary research framing a creative and entertaining book that makes the subject come alive through charismatic writing." – Canadian Running magazine

"How Bad Do You Want It? really brings to life how important psychology is for endurance performance." — Samuele Marcora, PhD

"Harnessing the power of the setback is a powerful motivation. How Bad Do You Want It? recognizes the fact that we all have the power to adapt and be better than before." – Willie Stewart

"Think of it as the mind-over-matter guide to racing. Fitzgerald’s book dissects pivotal races and features top endurance athletes…illustrating how elite athletes rally their mental strength — and amateur athletes can, too." – Austin-American Statesman

"Imagine you could get into the mind of an elite athlete and use their skills to improve your sporting potential. That's the premise of Matt Fitzgerald's How Bad Do You Want It?" – Triathlon Magazine Canada

“Fitzgerald’s presentation digs into the very soul of his athletes to uncover innate traits and learned behaviors in ways that draw the reader right into the competition being described. This is a fantastic group of stories being told with literary skill far beyond most sports books… All the profiled athletes and all the masterful storytelling and all the research presented to back up the concepts he is illustrating become a cohesive effort by Fitzgerald to document the connections between the showcased sporting accomplishments and the mental fitness skills that propel those successes. Fitzgerald forms the foundation for constructing your own arsenal.” — Oregon Distance Runner

“How Bad Do You Want It perfectly introduces the exciting new understanding emerging in the world of sports psychology and exercise physiology. Fitzgerald uses key examples from some of the world’s most famous and celebrated athletes…to distill down highly scientific concepts and cutting edge theories into real world examples and situations that anyone can grasp. A superb book…If you want to succeed at your next race, to break through to a new PR, or reach a new level in your running, then I highly suggest this book. It will give you many of the latest tools and theories for doing just that, written in a way that allows you to apply them to your running, from the first to the last page.” — Colorado Runner

“Fitzgerald is a skilled writer and the drama and excitement of the various races really jump off the pages. If you are feeling a bit unmotivated about running, this would be a great book to pick up, as you are likely to be inspired by all of the thrilling stories.” — Run Oregon

"This fascinating book explains why perception of effort is so crucial to maximizing athletic performance. The mental toughness behind a dozen breakthrough endurance performances in cycling, running, triathlon, and rowing is analyzed through spectacular storytelling, first-person interviews, and powerful new psychobiological theory. Fitzgerald has a gift for making exercise science come alive with pulse-pounding stories of elite athletes engaged in the most pivotal races of their lives." – Saltmarsh Running

From the Publisher