How British cycling's approach to medals can help you lose fat and keep it off
Jun 21, 2022
British cycling went from being an 'also ran' to the pinnacle of British sport. And all under the guidance of Sir David Brailsford.
Brailsford's focus on the detail meant he picked up small progressions that over time led to massive changes. He coined this "the aggregation of marginal gains" and can be seen across industries with compound interest and the rise in popularity of focus on habits.
Brailsford bought into Professor Steve Peters (author of the Chimp Paradox) and his acronym CORE.
Brailsford adjusted British cycling's approach and, in his words, "took the crown from the coaches heads and placed it onto the athletes".
By placing the responsibility of success onto the cyclists themselves and facilitating small, often imperceptible progressions, this compounded over time and led to monstrous progressions.
4 golds and 11 medals in total across 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 to 16 golds and 26 medals in total across 2008 and 2012.
The purpose of this blog is to encourage you to take more ownership and responsibility. I spoke about our own transition to this approach recently here.
Coaches, experts, guides, whatever term you wish to use are great. I am one after all. But if you are too reliant on them then your progress is fragile. You MUST take ownership and responsibility.
There is much to be learned from those who have walked a successful path. The more we can take on from these people, the better our results will be.
Inspired by Diary of a CEO Episode 115 - Former Performance Director of British Cycling Sir David Brailsford.
