The Norwegian Method

Find out how a sparsely-populated country came to dominate the world of endurance sports and get a blueprint for high performance.

Norway has long stacked the field with champions in sports like Nordic skiing and sailing, but a new generation of athletes has arrived on the endurance scene, smashing records and grabbing medals in running, cycling, and triathlon.

Sports journalist Brad Culp unpacks the rise of the Norwegian method and its meticulous scientific protocols, which upend long-held beliefs about training and performance. With its rugged terrain and harsh weather, Norway has a way of hardening competitors for any test. Culp explores how the Scandinavian culture imbues a unique biopsychosocial approach to performance. He also introduces the athletes, coaches, and scientists who are shaking up the world of endurance sports. Their secret? Plenty of volume at low intensity, punctuated with hard-fought double-threshold workouts, which seems to turn workhorses into winners—they know when to hold back and when to go all-out.

The Norwegian Method is a real-life story of how discipline and determination can be employed to overcome seemingly impossible odds and achieve breakthrough performances. Culp drives this point home by introducing U.S. pros who have reconfigured their training to look more like that of Norway's Jakob Ingebritgsen and Kristian Blummenfelt, and how endurance athletes can adopt the same methods in their own pursuit of high performance.