TOUGHEN UP
Ross Edgley combines a strongman’s physique with extraordinary endurance. He has rope-climbed the equivalent height of Mount Everest, towed a Mini Countryman for 26.2 miles, and in 2018 he became the first person to swim the entire coast of Great Britain.
In his new book, The Art Of Resilience: Strategies for an Unbreakable Mind and Body, Edgely reveals the inner secrets of mental and physical toughness that he discovered while training for and doing his larger-than-life endurance challenges.
MF caught up with him, to find out how we can all apply these lessons to our own lives and training, to build a resilient body and mind.
STRATEGISE YOUR SUFFERING
Endurance athletes the world over refer to their harder efforts as ‘sufferfests’. Contests such as the Tour de France are said to be won by the cyclists who are able to ‘suffer the best’, and endurance sports are often dominated by people who may be past their physiological peak, but have built up mental endurance through bloody experience.
Edgley knows all that, but for him, relying on experience just doesn’t cut it when the going gets ridiculous – when you’re swimming 2,883km, for instance.
“After 157 days looking at the
