The Brave Athlete

written by Simon Marshall and Lesley Peterson published by Velopress

One of my favourite lines from Theb ravea thlete is, “Dopamine is motivation’s Sriracha sauce.” It’s preceded by the advice to “give yourself a brain-boner.” Yup. “Brain-boner.” And this is a serious book. Seriously. The hot sauce and erection discussion was in service of “cognitive priming.” It’s a strategy to keep you from quitting, to help you continue on with your athletic goal. It’s also backed up by real science: a paper from Nature Neuroscience. That little section – its humour and practical advice with scientific underpinnings – is what The Braveathlete is about. The language is energetic, the F-bombs slightly censored. But the advice on motivation, for overcoming fears, for overcoming a lack of confidence and on that classic adage to “harden the f*ck up” is all solid. It’s geared toward amateur athletes, from those looking to get more fit to those hoping to win races. Even top performing cyclists will find some good advice here, like that stuff about getting a brain-boner. Who doesn’t want that?