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How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle Paperback – November 7, 2023

by Matt Fitzgerald (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,019 ratings
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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
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  1. Print length
    296 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    November 7, 2023
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.67 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1937715418
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1937715410
  7. See all details
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From the Publisher

How Bad Do You Want It?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it?
Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance Racing Weight Quick Start Guide The Comeback Quotient
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Price $12.99 $18.00 $12.99
Inspiration for athletes. ✓ ✓ ✓
Sports psychology and science. ✓ ✓ ✓
Easy-to-understand guide to improving athletic performance. ✓ ✓ ✓

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

From the Back Cover

"How Bad Do You Want It? will make you see your world as an endurance athlete in a new way. Fitzgerald’s research will help you become your own sports psychologist." - Joe Friel , leading endurance sports coach and author of the Training Bible series

THE GREATEST ATHLETIC PERFORMANCES TAKE PLACE IN THE MIND, NOT THE BODY.

How Bad Do You Want It? looks at epic moments in endurance sports to mine habits and tactics we can use to cultivate our own mental strength.

Top athletes can seem godlike in their abilities. But no matter how skilled they are, talent takes them only so far. The hardest races demand that a champion rely as much on the mind as on the body, using it to confront the fears that we all face: fear of failure, suffering, or change, to name a few.

In How Bad Do You Want It? renowned endurance sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald examines the “psychobiological” model of athletic performance, exploring how athletes are able to overcome physical limitations with mental might. In gripping accounts from triathlon, cycling, running, rowing, and swimming, Fitzgerald puts the reader inside breathtaking races, shedding new light on what science says about mental fortitude and how anyone can cultivate the mental strength to surmount challenges―in sport and in life.

Matt Fitzgerald is a journalist, coach, sports nutritionist, and author of more than 20 books, including the best-selling Racing Weight.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ VeloPress; 1st edition (November 7, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1937715418
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1937715410
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.67 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,019 ratings

About the author

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Matt Fitzgerald

Matt Fitzgerald

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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.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,019 global ratings
Something every runner should have
5 Stars
Something every runner should have
This book is a great read. I have bought several copies for the runners in the family. Inspiring motivating, and something you want to come back to again and again.
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Top reviews from the United States

Tom Demerly
5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Melding of Anecdote and Clinical Explanation: Readable and Authoritative.
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
Fitzgerald is the reader's writer. This is especially important with clinical and technical topics like sports psychology. "How Bad Do You Want It" combines strong anecdotal and practical examples with clinical studies and references to teach the cornerstones of sports psychology. The result is a rare combination of information and inspiration. Fitzgerald combines inspiration and information to make you faster today. Arguably the best performance bang for your buck, this book will likely make you faster right now because you'll be inspired to think about going faster. You can buy a power meter, a wrist-top GPS and an online training log- and you should- but none of them will make you think differently about your performance. This book reframes the endurance sports experience from participation to competition, taping into resources you carry with you now but aren't using. I love both the stories and the clinically-flavored analysis and examples. They make the book uniquely easy to learn from. Check your GPS- you'll be faster after reading this, and it won't all be in your head.
9 people found this helpful
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Mike Mertens
4.0 out of 5 stars Mental Skills, Perceived Effort and Great Stories for Endurance Athletes of all Levels
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2015
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Matt Fitzgerald has written a very interesting and enjoyable book on the role of mental training for endurance athletes. I recommend this book to all endurance athletes and those who enjoy interesting narratives about individuals who have overcome challenges to become successful. The book can truly be enjoyed on 2 different levels:
• Stories of Elite Athletes who have achieved their best through development of better mental training skills and mindsets – these are truly inspirational stories of courage, resilience and are very enjoyable to read
• A deeper understanding of the psychobiological model – how the mind and body interact for endurance athletes – that can be used to help each person better coach themselves in a true journey of self-discovery to see what they are truly capable of, regardless of their level of athletic ability (these skills are helpful in other area of life as well).

I learned a lot in each chapter of the book but would like to share a bit from 2 chapters that I found interesting and compelling:
• In the chapter “The Art of Letting Go”, Matt chronicles the story of Siri Lindley (triathlete) and her struggles and triumphs. The chapter has some very interesting information on choking during big performances. Perceived effort is heightened by self-consciousness - which then leads to decreased performance. The solution is to reach a state of flow – complete immersion in a purposeful activity – that allows one to be in the moment. A key passage from the chapter: “Paradoxically, it may seem, Siri had to let go of that dream and find contentment in the moment-to-moment process of chasing it in order to complete the personal transformation that was her deeper ambition.”
• In the chapter “The Gift of Failure”, we learn the story of Cadel Evans (Cycling) and secondarily of Nick Symmonds (800M runner) and the valuable coping skill of resilience. There is a cycle of frustration that can cause an athlete to feel defeated or angry. They can use the anger to reach “sweet disgust” – a determination to fight back that fuels positive change.

Additionally, the story of Willie Stewart – “The Workaround Effect” - is one of the most remarkable and inspirational I have read. Stewart lost an arm and still became an elite triathlete by using the coping skill of adaptability – you will not want to miss this story!

The best part of the book is that the author realizes that the path to mastery is unique to each of us. There are general coping skills that work well but how we fold those into the fabric of our lives is something we must figure out on our own. This book gives stories of how other have done it and insights into the coping skills and mindsets that can help each of us perform at a higher level. I will close with the way Matt explains it toward the end of the book:
“The path between you and the best you can be is unexplored territory. You are on your own, to some extent, to discover not only what motivates you to ‘leave it all out there’ but also your special formula for maximum mental fitness. This is what it means to become your own sports psychologist.”
18 people found this helpful
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Running Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read for Endurance Athletes
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2015
Verified Purchase
First and foremost, Matt Fitzgerald is an engaging and entertaining writer. His background as an endurance athlete shows in his insights into what makes endurance athletes tick. Similar to prior works, this book effectively mixes sports science with anecdotes and stories. The book is longer and more substantive than I has expected, and profiles the experiences of some familiar names, such as Jenny Simpson and Greg LeMond. The athletes' stories, which illustrate a different idea in each chapter, come from various endurance disciplines (including rowing) and include a good balance of male and female athletes (thanks for noticing that we exist, Matt). If you enjoyed Iron War, Diet Cults, or any of his other books, you'll find How Bad Do You Want It a hugely enjoyable read. If you're an endurance athlete wondering if you could up your mental game, this is a must read.
4 people found this helpful
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Jeremy W. Ginsburg
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly motivational book
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2019
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Matt Fitzgerald's writing style is on point. He tells stories in this book that are highly engaging and truly suspenseful. These parts are page turners even if you already know the outcome.

He makes the heady, psychological data understandable, fun to read and interesting to think over. Even though the stories and data are pulled from the "elite athlete" space, the stories and findings are all relatable to weekend warriors and less-than elite performers.

There is so much useful and motivational information in this book that I am going to refer back to over and over again.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Miguel F.
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable para afrontar un gran reto fisico
Reviewed in Mexico on June 29, 2023
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Me encantan las historias y la importancia de la mentalizacion a la hora de buscar alcanzar nuestroa objetivos lo eh comprado y regalo un par de ocasiones!
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad - doesn't give much training insight
Reviewed in the Netherlands on March 8, 2024
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed the stories being told. Was hoping for more of how to structure my training and that is not this book.
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Över hälften är storys, inte fakta
Reviewed in Sweden on May 8, 2023
Verified Purchase
Jag hoppade över mer än halva delen av varje kapiten då jag ville komma direkt till poängen utan att behöva lösa den, i mina ögon, utfyllnaden som inleder varje kapitel. Dock en ganska bra bok ändå.
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R Bruce Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and useful tips
Reviewed in Canada on November 3, 2020
Verified Purchase
Loved the book. Well written, nice balance of science and stories. Useful tips and take a ways for an athlete of any ability level.
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5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars
Reviewed in India on December 9, 2020
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Great book.
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