Book Review: The Well-Built Triathlete by Matt Dixon
I recently purchased and read Matt Dixon’s book, The Well-Built Triathlete – Turning Potential into Performance, and wow, what an eye opener!
First off, I have to say that Dixon is an excellent writer. I’ve read a ton of these triathlon books and they aren’t always well-written but this book, I wasn’t able to put down. I read the 300+ page book in just over a week. And, I took notes along the way!
The book starts with all the stresses in your life including training. The only way to really recover is through good nutrition and sleep and recovery. This section drew me into the book quickly because it spoke to me and I’m sure it will speak to you too. We all have way too much stress in our lives and it’s important to find a healthy balance.
Dixon has a chapter on nutrition, strength training (where he provides some great training examples), and then has a chapter on swimming, cycling and running. In these chapters, he talks about form and provides sample workouts.
I had so many great takeaways from this book including:
- Recovery = high value training
- Don’t minimize sleep because it’s an integral part of recovery. (For me, I have broken sleep throughout the night so I’ve been forcing myself to go back to sleep instead of reading Dixon’s book!)
- Recovery blocks are imperative to getting stronger
- Focus on your weaknesses during off season
- Don’t do deep tissue massage
- Always provide your coach with how you feel after the workout
In part three, he delves into setting up your training plan for maximum performance.
This is a hands on book that shows you various strength workouts for each discipline, how to use a foam roller for your entire body and what to focus on to get stronger and perform better during races.
This was one of the best books I have read on triathlons. It put everything into perspective and was extremely motivational. After reading this book, I want to focus on three things in the off season — getting stronger, losing weight and getting faster.
Matt Dixon, MSc, is an exercise physiologist, a former pro triathlete, an elite triathlon coach, founder of purplepatch fitness and is the expert in triathlons.
I’m so excited that Matt Dixon will be the keynote speaker at the NY TRI EXPO ’16 on Saturday, March 19 from 10 – 6 pm at Citi Field. After reading his book, I know he will be informative, motivating and will offer a ton of additional takeaways to get you stronger and faster for your next swim bike run!
