The Gladiator Mindset

Back in November, Olympic swimming champ Adam Peaty OBE had a book tour for his part-autobiography, part-self-help book, The Gladiator Mindset. In it, the Commonwealth, Olympic, European and World champion regales on his upbringing and his swimming successes, and breaks down how he achieved his 14 world records and his numerous awards, including 2 Olympic golds. 

Olympic champions are a different breed. Their whole lives and attitudes are on a different plane to regular people like us. The 4am starts, the strict diet and massive consumption, the hours in the facilities (in Peaty’s case, the pool) and the gym, the tailoring of their lives to produce the best possible result… few could go through that pressure. I couldn’t. 

But in The Gladiator Mindset, Peaty fuses his life story with the lessons he’s learned along the way- how to focus, controlling intrusive thoughts, dealing with steadily increasing stress, etc. Secrets passed down to him through his coaches are fused with his other great passion: Ancient Greece and Rome. 

He’s studied this around his training, and the teachings of the warriors and political leaders that lived in that era permeate the book’s advice too. (They permeate his skin as well, as you can see from his sleeve tattoos.) 

The 10 steps are listed out in the book but not together- you come across them as you read through the 13 chapters.  

1) Imagine you are the hero in your own movie 

2) Answer 4 questions to find our life goal- what is you passion? What are you good at? What does the world need from you? What can you get paid for? 

3) Banish negativity 

4) Cold shower every morning 

5) Choose the pack you run with very carefully 

6) Summon your inner rage 

7) Finesse your process to reach your goal 

8) Face your fears 

9) Start a gratitude and self-observation diary 

10) Meditation keeps you in the present 

No Olympian is going to be the next Don DeLillo or George Orwell. If an editor wants to make a book with an athlete, they’re going to have to coax out the details and tailor the book, research the details and put it all together in an appropriate order, whilst keeping keeping the subject’s individual voice. 

Richard Waters harnesses Peaty’s ideas well, and presents them in a very readable and charismatic fashion. That said, there’s neither an index nor glossary, so when writing a review like this it’s hard to find the exact sections that I recall reading. 

But there’s a good wad of advice in here that would be great for schoolkids, the people who will be the next Olympians, as well as anyone else.