How 'swimming with a smile' keeps Ross Edgley motivated

ross edgley great british swim

Finding the motivation to go for a swim after a tough day when you're not feeling at 100% is a challenge all swimmers will have faced at some point.

But spare a thought for Ross Edgley, who has been pushing his body to the absolute limit for more than 100 days as he takes on his 2,000-mile Great British Swim challenge.

Just how does Edgley keep finding the energy and enthusiasm to put on his HUUB wetsuit and get back in the bitterly cold British water day after day?

It's not just the extreme conditions he has to contend with either. In the past three months he's regularly been stung by jellyfish, dodged sharks, lost parts of his tongue and suffered the most horrific chafing wounds.

His secret to overcoming all this? A positive mental attitude and, more importantly, swimming with a smile.

"There are a lot of studies on how your psychology affects your immune system – your body’s defence mechanism," said the 32-year-old strongman, who has already covered more than 1,400 miles.

"If you’re swimming angry all the time, cortisol, your body's stress hormone, is going to go through the roof. All sorts of biomechanical reactions are going to happen that mean your immune system is suppressed, which makes you more susceptible to illness.

ross edgley great british swim

"The very fact that I've got over 100 days to survive means that I really can't afford to be ill.

"So when you see me being all smiley and enthusiastic, that is important for motivation, but it's also important for my physiology and the biomechanical reactions going on inside my body. Studies show that it is better to swim with a smile."

Edgley started the Great British Swim in early June when he set off from Margate. From there, he's swum the length of the English Channel to reach Cornwall and then all the way to the tip of Scotland.

He's now swimming his way down the east coast of Scotland and England, and has around 600 miles left to go before completing the circumnavigation.

"You have to be motivated to get up at 2am, put on a cold, clammy wetsuit and make peace with the fact that you're probably going to be stung in the face for the next two or three hours by jellyfish," Edgley added.

"I honestly think everyone has an innate ability to overcome severe hardship.

"If anything, I think I have a superhuman ability to be stubborn and naive. In most of my adventures, I've got by on those two things. I always say 'be so naive that you start, but so stubborn that you finish'."


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