The world of sports psychology and in the introduction of mental skills coaches has exploded into the athletic mainstream over the last few decades. Before then, the attitude regarding such training was extremely conservative and “old school”—the prevailing philosophy was that “any athlete who needs to talk with a shrink needs to have their head examined.” Fortunately, with today’s modern athletes, the dark ages of mental training in sports have gone away and times have changed for the better. But as with any growing industry, there are lots of new and untested pathways to one’s mental performance training in practices and games. But depending on who you talk to, the advice that is given can vary widely—and sometimes, even be contradictory. The Secrets of Sports Psychology Revealed by Rick Wolff, one of the pioneers in the field of sports psychology, is based upon his many years of clinical, hands-on work with top professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports. He provides real insight into what does—and doesn’t—work. Specifically: Do pre-game visualization techniques really work? Is it OK to be superstitious, or are those rituals counterproductive? Does taking a deep breath or two in a tight situation really help? What’s the best way to learn how to make adjustments in one’s game? These direct questions, and many others, are presented and answered in this easy to use how-to guide aimed directly at athletes and coaches. The answers are right to the point and are based upon the author’s observations and work over the years with top athletes.

Finally! An easy way to use the science of Sports Psychology to Skyrocket Your Performance! The No.1 Bestseller - get your copy now! You may already know that Pro Athletes use the power of Sports Psychology to boost motivation, manage nerves and become top performers. The problem is that many of these techniques are kept secret and other guides are heavy and full of jargon. So how can you use the simple power of Sports Psychology techniques to revolutionize your performance today? Clearly you need more than just a system, you need the right kind of system. Not just the science behind mental strength but a super-simple, step-by-step guide to unlocking the power of your brain. As a bestselling author, martial arts and fitness coach, I've been lucky enough to work with some of the best experts around the world. With input from top instructors and researchers I discovered easy tactics that can be effortlessly used by everyone. From fitness fans, runners and gym athletes to combat styles like boxing, MMA, and martial arts. Even the busy office worker can dominate any competitive or stressful event in minutes! This is "Mental Combat"... and once applied to your training it quickly revolutionizes performance - every time! What Is Mental Combat? Mental Combat is a simple, easy set of tactics for unlocking the full power of your brain and body. Moreover, it gives you the proven scientific benefits of Sports Psychology without needing to understand the complex history and theories. Whilst traditional guides can be heavy and difficult to follow, Mental Combat is a simple, tactical approach. Perfect for martial artists, fitness fans, gym enthusiasts and even the busy office worker! Stressful, nerve-wracking events become a walk in the park when transformed using the right techniques. A busy and cluttered mind becomes laser-focused. Would you like to know the quickest and easiest way to experience the incredible benefits of mental training? The Easy New Way To Get Started with Mental Training Inside "Mental Combat" you'll discover... How to "psych-out" an opponent. How to spot an opponent's personality type (and use it against them) "Mind Hacks" for instant, rock-solid confidence and cool. The three tricks for negotiating like a pro Powerful motivation and concentration skills. Revealed: the body position to banish nerves quickly and easily. How to spot deception The truth behind meditation. (and why it's easier than you think). How to unlock the power of your brain for any event. The secret to managing victory, like a pro. The secret to handling defeat... and coming back stronger. How you can use Sports Psychology tactics even if you don't do sports! And much more! Want To See For Yourself How Mental Combat Can Transform Your Performance? Click and grab your copy of Mental Combat now to see you've been missing! Perfect for: Martial Arts, Sports Psychology, Mental Toughness, Mental Training, MMA, Boxing, Karate, Taekwondo and more!

My friend Bill Thierfelder, a great leader and motivator, puts the words and descriptions to what we leaders try to do every day to challenge ourselves and our teams to be at our best, all the time. —Coach Mike Krzyzewski, from the Foreword Dr. Bill Thierfelder knows what it takes to win. As a student at the University of Maryland he dominated the high jump, winning fame as an All-American and Irish national champion. Later he earned his doctorate in sports psychology. He became a private coach and mentor to the world's top athletes...and revealed to them his hard won secrets for success. In Less Than a Minute to Go: The Secret to World-class Performance in Sport, Business and Everyday Life, Thierfelder, now President of Belmont Abbey College, reveals the secrets to: • Becoming a world-class performer • Preparing your mind to win • Making peak performance a common occurrence • Playing with a passion that never ends But Thierfelder does more than give peak performance techniques. In these pages he shows why sports are worthy of our deep attention and effort, whether as athletes or as avid spectators and fans. He shows how sports can and should engage the highest parts of our nature that, in fact, only when we are so engaged can we truly excel. And he reveals how sports train and prepare us for other arenas...where we all are players and where our choices have more significance than any World Series or Super Bowl. Join Dr. Bill Thierfelder in an exploration of sport—and of life—as you have never considered them before. Let this world-class athlete, mentor and coach teach you what he has taught so many others, from college students to superstars: How to give your very best when the clock is ticking...everything is on the line...and you have Less Than a Minute to Go.

Athletes are naturally exposed to significant psychological challenges in sports, but do not wait helplessly for the assistance of sports psychologists or trainers. Instead, they practise one form or another of self-regulation. Self-talk in Sport explores one such self-regulatory strategy: self-talk, the inner voice that accompanies every human being throughout their lives. Over time, research has revealed many secrets of self-talk in sport, though many others remain unveiled. This book offers you the opportunity to discover the multiple identities of our self-talk, how the “inner coach” serves as a rational counterpart to the irrational self, and what we need to do to develop our inner voice to reach its maximum self-regulatory potential. There is a general need for concrete interventions in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. In addition, the autonomous functioning of people is a central aim of psychological interventions that align with positive psychology and focus on people’s strengths rather than weaknesses. In this volume, researchers and applied practitioners are shown how they can use self-talk interventions to strengthen people’s rational self-regulation in order to deal with a variety of situations that apply to both sport and other exercise and performance contexts. Since self-talk is a tangible result of cognitive processes and inner experiences that researchers and applied practitioners can barely access, Self-talk in Sport is a tool for sports psychologists to understand and interact with hidden parts within athletes that have a major impact on sport and exercise experiences and performance. A book demonstrating the diverse – both rational and irrational identities – of self-talk, as well as specific interventions to change the inner dialogue of athletes, is a fundamental piece in the education of sport scientists.

This book introduces the reader and student to the unconscious mind, the hidden treasures and dangers it holds. It contains some very basic, useful, and empirically supported facts from depth psychology, which allows everyone access to deeply hidden aspects of themselves.

The all-star advisor to athletes like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan shares his revolutionary mindfulness-based program for elevating athletic performance—featuring a foreword by legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson. “George helped me understand the art of mindfulness. To be neither distracted or focused, rigid or flexible, passive or aggressive. I learned just to be.” —Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan credits George Mumford with transforming his on-court leadership of the Bulls, helping Jordan lead the team to six NBA championships. Mumford also helped Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom and countless other NBA players turn around their games. A widely respected public speaker and coach, Mumford is sharing his own story and the strategies that have made these athletes into stars in The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance. His proven, gentle but groundbreaking mindfulness techniques can transform the performance of anyone with a goal, be they an Olympian, weekend warrior, executive, hacker, or artist. 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.

The timeless guide to achieving the state of “relaxed concentration” that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself—now in a 50th anniversary edition with an updated epilogue, a foreword by Bill Gates, and an updated preface from NFL coach Pete Carroll “Groundbreaking . . . the best guide to getting out of your own way . . . Its profound advice applies to many other parts of life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes (“Five of My All-Time Favorite Books”) This phenomenally successful guide to mastering the game from the inside out has become a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of people. Billie Jean King has called the book her tennis bible; Al Gore has used it to focus his campaign staff; and Itzhak Perlman has recommended it to young violinists. Based on W. Timothy Gallwey’s profound realization that the key to success doesn’t lie in holding the racket just right, or positioning the feet perfectly, but rather in keeping the mind uncluttered, this transformative book gives you the tools to unlock the potential that you’ve possessed all along. “The Inner Game” is the one played within the mind of the player, against the hurdles of self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses in concentration. Gallwey shows us how to overcome these obstacles by trusting the intuitive wisdom of our bodies and achieving a state of “relaxed concentration.” With chapters devoted to trusting the self and changing habits, it is no surprise then, that Gallwey’s method has had an impact far beyond the confines of the tennis court. Whether you want to play music, write a novel, get ahead at work, or simply unwind after a stressful day, Gallwey shows you how to tap into your utmost potential. In this fiftieth-anniversary edition, the principles of the Inner Game shine through as more relevant today than ever before. No matter your goals, The Inner Game of Tennis gives you the definitive framework for long-term success.

In this accessible study, a journalist examines the science, philosophy, and sociology behind being a sports fan. Sports fandom is either an aspect of a person's fundamental identity, or completely incomprehensible to those who aren’t fans at all. What is happening in our brains and bodies when we feel strong emotion while watching a game? How do sports fans resemble political junkies, and why do we form such a strong attachment to a sports team? Journalist Eric Simons presents in-depth research in an accessible and brilliant way, sure to interest readers of Malcolm Gladwell. Through reading the literature and attending neuroscience conferences, talking to fans, psychologists, and scientists, and working through his issues as part of a collaboration with the NPR science program RadioLab, Eric Simons hoped to find an answer that would explain why the attractive force of this relationship with treasured sports teams is so great that we can’t leave it. Praise for The Secret Lives of Sports Fans “Adroitly mixing research with feature reporting, Simons unveils some intriguing discoveries. . . . There’s a lot of science to digest, but Simons’s affable writing style—and his great eagerness to profile actual people, including himself—infuses the data with heart and soul.” —Publishers Weekly “An intriguing ride through “all the wondrous quirks and oddities in human nature.” —Kirkus Reviews

Utilizing sophisticated methodology and three decades of research by the world's leading expert on happiness, Happiness challenges the present thinking of the causes and consequences of happiness and redefines our modern notions of happiness. shares the results of three decades of research on our notions of happiness covers the most important advances in our understanding of happiness offers readers unparalleled access to the world's leading experts on happiness provides "real world" examples that will resonate with general readers as well as scholars Winner of the 2008 PSP Prose Award for Excellence in Psychology, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers

The author of this book offers an interesting guide to the familiar concept of happiness. Aware that many self-help books are merely the opinions of the respective author, this book, The Science of Happiness, strives to provide the solid factual data where other guides on happiness fail. The author claims to have read hundreds of psychology studies on happiness and has incorporated data from more than 50 of these studies in this easy-to-read text based on psychology research.The first part of this book covers the connection between health and happiness. This includes examining how emotions such as anger and sadness can be detrimental to our health-or at least affect us temporarily in negative ways. The second part of this guide will offer suggestions for a happier life and debunk many of the more common yet stubborn myths, such as those surrounding social media influence and fake smiles. The third section of this self-help resource will hopefully provide the key to sustainable happiness. Readers who adopt the suggested practices contained herein will not only boost their positive emotions but also greatly improve their overall well-being.For those willing to keep an open mind, study the material, and master the techniques described in its pages, The Science of Happiness could very well be an insightful journey offering a new perspective on life and well-being.