I’ve been a fan of the 80/20 training method for quite a while now. My conversion started when I read Primal Endurance about 10 years ago and then sped up after listening to Stephen Seiler, and chatting with Phil Maffetone about the Maffetone Method. There are other approaches, most notably the pyramidal option, but the 80/20 method seems like the perfect choice for the majority of athletes because it really helps build consistency and longevity. I’ll come back to this point later. The Maffetone Method and 80/20 are not the same, but the principles of training eas ..read more

Two weeks ago we published episode 200 of the High Performance Human podcast. I thought it would be fun to look back at those conversations and see if I could pick out some key lessons. As you would imagine when you speak with smart people, each of them at the top of the tree in their chosen field, there were a lot of lessons but some kept appearing in my list. In today’s solo podcast, I’ll outline the 5 lessons and dive a bit deeper, highlighting some of the guests who talk about their importance. The 5 lessons are Keep it simple Find what works for you Focus on the process, not the outcome ..read more

As we emerged from lockdown I started writing swim sets with 25 & 50m reps on the basis that short intervals could lead to big improvements in your swim fitness.  Let’s talk about the reasoning behind this. What happens after 4-5 months of no pool time? Lack of muscular endurance in the shoulders and upper back Traditionally poor technique for the average triathlete The psychological impact of swimming long reps in general, and it’s now exacerbated by lack of swim fitness A requirement to develop fitness quickly and efficiently, while avoiding injury What are some key swim requireme ..read more

When chasing goals it’s not necessary to make drastic changes. Small changes lead to big payoffs if you’re persistent. The diagram below of the ‘Plateau of Latent Potential’ perfectly highlights what happens when we start to make small changes to our habitual behaviour.  It’s discussed in more detail in this book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear which I highly recommend. The quick fix diet An obvious example would be the New Year’s diet. Most opt for a crash diet that brings huge weight loss in just a few weeks, but the evidence is clear that most of these end in failure.  The al ..read more

Last week I asked the question, which comes first, action or motivation? The results of the poll show that most people feel that motivation comes before action. I totally get that this is an ‘it depends’ topic and some readers will only be able to act after they find motivation. My own experiences and observations are that the most successful people, in any field, are action takers. In this post, I’m going to offer an alternative perspective based on the action before motivation principle. Action often comes before motivation, not the other way around We can spend a lot of time looking fo ..read more

Intensity versus consistency in training, which is more important? The #1 rule for becoming a better athlete is consistency. Hands down!! Nothing else comes close. Champions in all walks of life are built from many years of practice. Getting to the top of any endurance sport takes time and patience. Alistair Brownlee won a gold medal at the London 2012 triathlon at the age of 24. That’s very young for triathlon, but he had been completing high-volume training since his early teens (over 10 years). In fact, if you start with your end goal and work out what training you will need to achieve that ..read more

How can you invest in your own physical pension, and what is it? Growing up my father bored me to death about how important it was to save for the later stages of my life. He always talked about how much he put into his pension. As soon as I got my first job he wanted to know if any of my salary was being paid directly into a pension. It wasn’t. Of course, that meant he introduced me to his financial advisor so we could “have a chat about money”. Who wants to hear that at 22? I just wanted enough money to have fun. Tomorrow could wait. Of course, now I’m approaching my 60th birthday, I realise ..read more

Good morning, everybody. Today, I’m going to answer a question from one of our SWAT members and outline the smart way to lose weight. If you have a question you’d like me to answer please feel free to send it in.  If you would like to listen to Simon answer this question in video format, please click HERE The question Today’s question was asked by Dan Newbould, who recently joined SWAT.  He said, “I’d like to lose about 15 pounds over the next one to three months, I’m sitting at around 195 pounds now, although I’ve been hovering between 195 and 205 for the last couple of years. In th ..read more

Some of my work in the last 15 years has involved coach education for British Triathlon, generally at Loughborough University. Often we invite guest presenters to deliver on specialist subjects and that is how I met today’s guest, Dr. Jamie Pringle when he came to speak on physiology for triathlon. Who is Jamie Pringle Jamie is an applied sport scientist who has held various leadership roles within the British world-class sports sector, including Head of Science for British Athletics and Lead Physiologist for the English Institute of Sport, along with research, innovation, and education respon ..read more

We hope you enjoy this guest post written by Jonathan Ward, a Courage Coach and Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher “Why bother?  You’ll never amount to anything. You will never be as fast as the others, give up now you useless, lazy good for nothing waste of space.” This sounds like a scene from a movie, where a sergeant major is trying to encourage a reluctant new recruit to move from his indolent ways to trying harder, to achieve more, to be better. The narrative might be more like this:  “If you don’t push through illness and pain, you will never reach your goals.” “I missed a traini ..read more