35 Book Recommendations
Over the last 5+ years, I have continued my education through a habit of daily reading. Being very intentional with my time, I decided in 2020 that I was going to fill any idle time, time watching TV, or time scrolling on my phone with the habit of reading and educating myself. While I read, I have found it beneficial to sit down with a notebook and take notes as if I was studying class material. It really helps me stay mindful and absorb everything I read. It is better to read one page and take in everything you read than it is to rush through reading a whole book and not fully understand what you read.
Little did I know when I started that I would read around 100 books over the next handful of years. Most of my reading has been geared toward endurance sports performance, physiology, nutrition, psychology, and philosophy. This has largely been driven by an intense curiosity to learn how the best athletes in the world train, and to immediately apply those lessons and methodologies to my athletic career. I wanted to reflect on much of the reading I have done and share a list with you of some of the most impactful books that have helped me navigate the many challenges of sport and life.
These are not listed in any order, and they cover a wide variety of topics with varying levels of complexity. I hope you can find some books in here as equally as helpful as I did. Feel free to reach out with any book recommendations yourself!
Books: (Find on Apple book store, Amazon, Kindle, or Hard Copy)
Peak Performance - Steve Magness & Brad Stulburg
The Short Cut - Ruben Gonzalez
The Cyclists Training Bible - Joe Friel
Good to Go - Christie Aschwanden
The Performance Mindset - Anthony J. Klarica
Strength Training for Cycling Performance - Menachem M. Brodie
Fueling Endurance - Alan McCubbing PhD & Steph Gaskell PhD
How Bad Do You Want It - Matt Fitzgerald
The Defining Decade - Meg Jay PhD
Change Your Life’s Direction - Jim Taylor PhD
Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes - Monique Ryan
How Champions Think - Dr. Bob Rotella
W1nning - Tim S. Grover
The Rules: The Way of the Cycling Discipline - The Velominati
Atomic Habits - James Clear
Courage is Calling - Ryan Holiday
Intuitive Eating - Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch
Turning Pro - Steven Pressfield
Endure - Alex Hutchinson
We Share the Sun - Sarah Gearhart
On Top of Your Game - Carrie Cheadle
The Dip - Seth Godin
The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing - Dr. Philip Maffetone
Talent is Overrated - Geoff Colvin
Endurance Training Science and Practice - Iñigo Mujika
Learning from Sport Burnout and Overtraining - Open Learn University
I Can: The Teenage Athlete’s Guide to Mental Fitness - Dr. Josephine Perry
Sport Nutrition - Asker Jeukendrup & Michael Gleeson
Training and Racing with a Power Meter - Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan PhD & Stephen Mcgregor PhD
The Athletes Guide to Recovery - Sage Rountree
Get the Drive - Enzo Mucci
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Relentless - Tim S. Grover
The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion - Simon Marshal PhD & Lesley Paterson
Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday
My Top 5:
1.) Peak Performance - Steve Magness (Managing burnout and achieving your peak without distruction)
2.) Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes - Monique Ryan (All things endurance sports nutrition)
3.) The Short Cut - Ruben Gonzalez (Leadership)
4.) Good to Go - Christie Aschwanden (Recovery)
5.) How Champions Think - Dr. Bob Rotella (Psychology of success)