Sports participation--from the recreational to the collegiate Division I level--is at an all-time high. While the caliber of their games may differ, athletes at every level have one thing in common: the desire to excel. In The Champion's Mind, sports psychologist Jim Afremow, PhD, offers the same advice he uses with Olympians, Heisman Trophy winners, and professional athletes, including:

- How to get in a zone, thrive on a team, and stay humble
- How to progress within a sport and sustain long-term excellence
- Customizable pre-performance routines to hit full power when the gun goes off or the puck is dropped

With hundreds of useful tips, breakthrough science, and cutting-edge workouts from the world's top trainers, The Champion's Mind will help you shape your body to ensure a longer, healthier, happier lifetime.

The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training?

In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success and the so-called 10,000-hour rule, David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving it. Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.

You've achieved outward success-the job, the status, perhaps even the trappings of achievement. Yet that nagging voice in your head won't let up about missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential. Trapped in a cycle of self-sabotaging habits, you're chasing an outdated notion of being alpha while battling imposter syndrome. The good news is you have the power to change the game, and it all begins with mastering your mind.

The Inner Path to Alpha presents a new concept of alpha-a mindset rooted in conscious awareness and self-mastery rather than aggression or dominance. Mindset coach Arlen J. draws from neuroscience, psychology, ancient wisdom, spirituality, and even astrology to show you how to tap into the alpha brainwave state and cultivate a positively charged Internal Monologue System (IMS).

Filled with lessons from athletes, business leaders, and pop culture, this guide ventures into new territory in conscious awareness and enhanced performance across all life areas. Go from self-destruction to self-mastery and discover the extraordinary power of your internal dialogue.You'll discover how to:

Master the Internal Monologue System (IMS) to leverage positive self-talk and recalibrate thought patterns for success.Train in the trifecta of conscious command and operate within the alpha state, the true state of creativity.Test your mettle with techniques to build mental toughness, utilizing strategic discomfort and personal-growth challenges.Hit the sweet spot on the zero-to-cocksure scale for optimal self-assurance without arrogance.Align your goals with cosmic cycles, using natural, universal rhythms for growth.

The alpha brainwave represents the mind's most present state-a realm where you can recondition your mind to target any goal. Whether you're a driven professional, an aspiring entrepreneur, or simply want to break free from self-imposed limiting beliefs, The Inner Path to Alpha offers the tools and insights to elevate every aspect of your life.Don't settle for mediocrity when greatness awaits.

Ben's ability to develop mental toughness and the approach he shares in Chasing Excellence is a game changer for athletes in any sport.
--Javier Vazquez, Major League Baseball All-Star

This book will do for you what Ben has done for me--take you to the next level and show you how to be the best. His insights on the mental game are second to none. You will feel prepared for anything.
--Bethany Hart-Gerry, US Olympic Bobsled Team

CrossFit trainer Ben Bergeron has helped build the world's fittest athletes, but he's not like other coaches. He believes that greatness is not for the elite few; that winning is a result, not a goal; and that character, not talent, is what makes a true champion. His powerful philosophy can help anyone excel at all aspects of life.

Using the dramatic competition between the top contenders at the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games(R) as a background, Ben explores the step-by-step process of achieving excellence and the unique set of positive character traits necessary for leveling up to world-class. The mindset and methodology that have produced some of the greatest athletes in the world's most gruelling sport can work equally well for golfers, lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs--anyone who's willing to commit totally to becoming better than the best.

By Chasing Excellence, you'll discover how extraordinary it's possible for you to be.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS: Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good is the ground-breaking book that will change the face of sports performance forever. This book introduces the breakthrough concept of STSD (Sport Traumatic Stress Disorder). Grand and Goldberg have discovered that STSDs are the cause of most significant performance problems. Performance blocks and anxiety, including the yips, stem from accumulated sports traumas including sports injuries, failures and humiliations. The authors also introduce the Brainspotting Sports Performance System (BSPS) which quickly finds, releases and resolves the sports traumas held in your brain and body. An easy read, THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS is filled with engaging, informative, inspiring stories. These case examples illustrate how professional, elite, collegiate and junior athletes have been freed for good from this silent epidemic of performance blocks and anxiety including: the yips, Steve Blass disease, Mackey Sasser syndrome, protracted slumps, balking, choking and freezing. THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SPORTS provides the answers and the cure for athletes, their coaches and parents about Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good Grand and Goldberg also show how their BSPS can take all athletes to levels they could only heretofore dream of

A Wall Street Journal bestseller.

In this groundbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler decodes the mystery of ultimate human performance. Drawing on over a decade of research and firsthand reporting with dozens of top action and adventure sports athletes like big wave legend Laird Hamilton, big mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones, and skateboarding pioneer Danny Way, Kotler explores the frontier science of flow, an optimal state of consciousness in which we perform and feel our best.

Building a bridge between the extreme and the mainstream, The Rise of Superman explains how these athletes are using flow to do the impossible and how we can use this information to radically accelerate performance in our own lives.

At its core, this is a book about profound possibility; about what is actually possible for our species; about where--if anywhere--our limits lie.

Discover the five inner beliefs shared by the world's greatest achievers.

If you want to take control of your life and achieve your biggest dreams, you must develop a warrior mindset. This book will show you how to stop thinking like a victim and start thinking like a warrior.

In this inspirational fable, Chris McNeely is a college football coach who is at the end of his rope after a hard-and-fast fall from the top of his profession. Now bankrupt and on the verge of losing his job, he has no idea what he's doing wrong or how to get back on track.

Angry, worried, and desperate for help, Chris receives mysterious visits from five of history's greatest coaches: John Wooden, Buck O'Neil, Herb Brooks, Paul Bear Bryant, and Vince Lombardi.

Together, these five legendary leaders teach Chris how to think like a warrior and take control of his life. The warrior mindset he develops changes his life forever-and it will change yours as well.

Discover the life-changing lessons of John Wooden, Buck O'Neil, Herb Brooks, Bear Bryant, and Vince Lombardi in this inspirational tale of what it takes to achieve your dreams-whatever those dreams may be.

This book will show you how to...
- Build your self-confidence
- Develop mental toughness
- Attack every day with joy and enthusiasm
- Use a positive mental attitude to achieve more
- Harness the power of positive self-talk
- Be a positive leader for your family and your team
- Become the person you were born to be
- And much more...

The five inner beliefs revealed in this book will empower you to take control of your life and overcome any obstacle that stands in your way.

When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team--someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began. Mumford has worked with Jackson and each of the eleven teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports.

With a charismatic teaching style that combines techniques of engaged mindfulness with lessons from popular culture icons such as Yoda, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Lee, Mumford tells illuminating stories about his larger than life clients. His writing is down-to-earth and easy to understand and apply. The Mindful Athlete is an engrossing story and an invaluable resource for anyone looking to elevate their game, no matter what the pursuit, and includes a foreword by Phil Jackson.

Self-consciousness is when you're focused on how you're doing instead of what you're doing. We have to learn how to push and challenge ourselves, but not in an insensitive way. Honing your performance really comes down to being comfortable with being uncomfortable.--George Mumford

The Washington Post sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author of the fascinating (The Wall Street Journal) The Real All Americans presents a love letter to the extraordinary coaches and athletes she has covered over the years and the actionable principles of excellence they embody.

Sportswriter Sally Jenkins has spent her entire adult life observing and writing about great coaches and athletes. With her engaging and expert prose, she has helped shape the way we view these talented sports icons. But somewhere along the line, she realized, they had begun to shape her.

Now, she presents the astonishing inner qualities in these same people that pushed them to overcome pressure, elevate their performances, and discover champion identities. Based on years of observing, interviewing, and analyzing elite coaches and playmakers, such as Bill Belichick, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, and more, Jenkins reveals the seven principles behind success:

-Conditioning
-Practice
-Discipline
-Candor
-Culture
-Resilience
-Intention

Discover how you can apply these same principles to your life and become your own champion. Colorful, inspirational, and accessible, The Right Call is the one stop shop for anyone wanting to learn how to effectively elevate themselves to greatness.

Loc Vetter coached United States college rugby for 22 years, two seasons a year, so 40+ seasons. Ended up with a lot of little learnings that should be shared with current or aspiring coaches, and with current or aspiring players, their families and friends.

The very essence of graded college learning is done alone. The problems of the world that need solving will require a team approach. Rugby is inescapably, inherently, quintessentially a team experience.

I would not be where I am today if I hadn't reached out to Christen. She helped me set myself up mentally to succeed despite the pressure and nerves that I was facing. She has helped me overcome so much in this sport, leading me to accomplish my biggest goals of being an Olympic Gold Medalist and setting a World Record. Working with Christen has totally changed my career and I'm going to do it as long as I swim.

Gretchen Walsh, Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record Holder

For over 25 years, Coach Christen has worked with some of the best athletes in the world.

This book is filled with 52 of the most important reminders that these athletes have needed to find consistent confidence and perform at their best. Reading these short, powerful reminders consistently can help you find consistent confidence in the very inconsistent world of sports.

Looking to strengthen your confidence even more? Order your copy of the companion journal: Confident - A Journal for Athletes.

The 15 Unbreakable Rules for Building Grit and Achieving Your Dreams!

Psychologists tell us that the secret to a successful and happy life, more than anything else, is something called GRIT. Defined as the willpower to persevere with passion and a sense of purpose, research shows that grit is what matters most in whether a person succeeds or fails.

That same research shows that previous generations had a lot more grit than today's younger generations. This isn't surprising. After all, most of us would agree that those older, wiser, and tougher members of the Greatest Generation are prime examples of what it means to persevere, to never back down, and to make sacrifices for a greater purpose. We could all use more of the OLD SCHOOL GRIT they embraced.

In this inspirational fable, Bob Flanagan represents the voice of old school grit. A legendary college basketball coach who thinks like John Wooden and talks like Mike Ditka, Flanagan is entering the final days of his coaching career. While his team tries to advance through the NCAA postseason tournament, Flanagan uses his last days as a coach to write his grandchildren letters revealing the rules for a successful and happy life. The rules of grit.

Though Coach Flanagan's letters are intended for his grandchildren, they might as well be for America in general. This is a man who lives by the old school code of faith, family, courage, and character; and he believes too many people have gone soft these days. They give up on their dreams too easily. They whine, complain, and pass the blame. They spend all their time and energy trying to avoid challenges instead of bucking up and powering through them.

Flanagan's letters are a rallying cry for toughening up and building grit. His fifteen rules provide a clear path to success in any endeavor.

Consider this book an instruction manual for getting back to the values that truly lead to success and developing the type of old school grit that will get you through anything.

The book taught me that there's no cookie-cutter way to lead. Leading is not just what Hollywood tells you. It's not the big pregame speech. It's how you carry yourself every day, how you treat the people around you, who you are as a person.--Mitchell Trubisky, quarterback, Chicago Bears

Now featuring analysis of the five-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and their captain, Tom Brady

The seventeen most dominant teams in sports history had one thing in common: Each employed the same type of captain--a singular leader with an unconventional set of skills and tendencies. Drawing on original interviews with athletes, general managers, coaches, and team-building experts, Sam Walker identifies the seven core qualities of the Captain Class--from extreme doggedness and emotional control to tactical aggression and the courage to stand apart. Told through riveting accounts of pressure-soaked moments in sports history, The Captain Class will challenge your assumptions of what inspired leadership looks like.

Praise for The Captain Class

Wildly entertaining and thought-provoking . . . makes you reexamine long-held beliefs about leadership and the glue that binds winning teams together.--Theo Epstein, president of baseball operations, Chicago Cubs

If you care about leadership, talent development, or the art of competition, you need to read this immediately.--Daniel Coyle, author of The Culture Code

The insights in this book are tremendous.--Bob Myers, general manager, Golden State Warriors

An awesome book . . . I find myself relating a lot to its portrayal of the out-of the-norm leader.--Carli Lloyd, co-captain, U.S. Soccer Women's National Team

A great read . . . Sam Walker used data and a systems approach to reach some original and unconventional conclusions about the kinds of leaders that foster enduring success. Most business and leadership books lapse into clich s. This one is fresh.--Jeff Immelt, chairman and former CEO, General Electric

I can't tell you how much I loved The Captain Class. It identifies something many people who've been around successful teams have felt but were never able to articulate. It has deeply affected my thoughts around how we build our culture.--Derek Falvey, chief baseball officer, Minnesota Twins

A game-changing guide to help hockey players of all ages gain the confidence they need to excel at the sport.

Confidence affects how we deal with stress and how we fulfill our potential to achieve the results we desire. In sports and in life, confidence is the underlying factor determining mental and physical performance, leading to overall success. This book by experienced mental performance specialist Isabelle Hamptonstone contains a collection of powerful techniques and tips to help hockey players overcome lack of confidence.

Clear instructions and illustrative case studies show how training the brain to develop and sustain hockey confidence can upgrade results and help players make smarter, quicker decisions under pressure. Hamptonstone shares step-by-step guidelines gleaned from her years of research working with the giants in the game of hockey. Some of the greatest hockey players in the world have used these very same steps to change their game and their lives. Added to this base of personal knowledge, the book references inspiring moments of mental performance by Wayne Gretzky, Doug Lidster, Scott Niedermayer, Shane Doan, Darryl Sydor, Jarome Iginla, and Mark Recchi.

This pragmatic and positive book is a game-changing guide and valuable resource for anyone interested in high-performance hockey, as well as a valuable tool for self-development.

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Studies prove that positive thinkers are happier, healthier, and more successful than everyone else. Discover the simple, proven techniques for becoming a more positive person...

Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes. Study after study proves this. Researchers have found that optimistic people live longer, live healthier, have more energy, have more successful careers, make better decisions, are more productive, are less stressed, have healthier relationships, and (not surprisingly) are much happier than pessimists.

However, a lot has been misunderstood about what it means to be a positive thinker and what it takes to maintain an optimistic mindset. It takes a lot more than repeating feel-good platitudes to make positive thinking work in your life. It takes discipline, commitment, and a proper understanding of what optimism really means in a world that is constantly throwing new challenges at us.

This is a book for anyone who has ever questioned whether positive thinking really works.

It's also a book for those who have tried to develop a more positive attitude, but have found it difficult to eliminate the voices of fear, doubt, and cynicism.

This is a book for anyone who wants to put optimism to work in their life with practical, proven techniques.

In this inspirational fable, you'll meet Bobby Kane, a 31-year-old minor league baseball player who realizes his dream of making it to the majors is finally coming to a disappointing end. His dream, he believes, was not meant to be.

That is, until Bobby meets an unconventional manager named Wally Hogan. More mental coach than baseball manager, Wally teaches Bobby that if you want to change your life, you have to first change your thinking.

As you'll see in this book, developing a positive mindset gives Bobby a renewed chance to make his dreams come true-not just in baseball, but in all areas of his life.

Wally teaches Bobby what it means to be an optimist and what it takes to maintain a positive attitude through the ups and downs of life. He teaches him proven, real-world techniques for building and sustaining optimism. These methods have an immediate impact on Bobby's life and they will have an immediate impact on yours as well.

This book will show you just how powerful a positive attitude can be and it will teach you how to use positive thinking to make your biggest dreams come true.

There is a war going on within your mind. It's a battle between the positive and the negative. The side that wins determines the life you live.

This book will show you how to take control of your thoughts and win the inner war against negativity.

In this inspirational fable, Jack McKee is a professional golfer who has just suffered through the most humiliating meltdown of his career. After years of struggle, he is ready to quit on his dream. He has convinced himself he doesn't have what it takes to make it on the PGA Tour.

In a desperate attempt to figure out why his career has ended up the way it has, Jack reaches out to one of the game's greatest former players for advice. This legendary golfer teaches Jack that the problem is not in his swing, but in his mind.

As Jack learns to combat his thoughts of self-doubt and worry, his golf game improves right along with his mindset, culminating in the most important tournament of his career.

As this story plays out, you will learn...

- How to take control of your thoughts and make sure they are working for you instead of against you.

- The importance of talking to yourself instead of listening to yourself.

- How to develop a morning and evening mental routine that will keep you in a positive state of mind.

- The technique used by many of the world's most successful people to make gratitude a part of their daily lives.

- The fastest way to fight off worry and negative thoughts.

- How to protect your mind from the negative, anxiety-producing, and failure-oriented messages that surround us daily.

- The importance of your self-image and how to program it for your benefit.

- The biggest, yet often-misunderstood, key to performing at your best when the pressure turns up.

- How to find peace and confidence no matter what is going on around you.

- And much more...

This book is about the mental game we all must play on a daily basis - regardless of our chosen profession. It will show you how to win the inner war that takes place within your mind.

Once you start winning the war in your mind, you will start winning in the game of life.

On the playing field, natural talent isn't enough--there's a mental component that determines whether athletes win the race or wipe out before the finish line. But what separates standout sports stars from the rest?

In a paradigm-shifting new theory, acclaimed sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald identifies two key traits behind athletic success: strict self-regulation over thoughts and emotions and an unquenchable psychological need to pursue victory--even when it means enduring extreme mental and physical suffering.

Drawing on modern psychology, neuroscience, and performance theory, The Other Talent offers a fascinating exploration of the best athletes' winning mindset, revealing how you can tap into your own potential and strengthen your self-discipline for better emotional intelligence and sustainable performance improvements.

Readers will learn: