athlete

‘Train to Trust’ and the Tour de You | KC Wilder

September 18, 2011 By admin

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A Sport Psychology book for kids, (called Tour de You) using cycling as the theme hit the stands in the last year, and KC Wilder, PhD, knows both ends of that spectrum….the cycling, and the Sport Psychology.

She’s a PhD in Sport Psychology from Virginia, and a National champion cyclist.

Today, on the Athlete’s Audio Academy, it’s KC’s second visit, (first one’s here) and we discuss the idea of ‘Training to Trust’. That is, planning, preparing, and practicing in your training sessions so that you can just let it flow, and trust in your skills when the flag drops.

kcwilderco.com is her website, and she has articles, and additional information about her book there.

K.C. began her career with a 1989 Brown University bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior and management. She then focused on sport psychology, earning masters and doctoral degrees in that field from the University of Virginia. Her own athletic career is distinguished, with All-American cycling honors at UVA, a top twenty U.S. professional cycling ranking, two national Master’s championships, and a top ten finish in the Masters World Track championships among her numerous accomplishments.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: athlete, Emotion Control, goal setting, Interview, Mental Skills Training, Mental Training, Motivation, no-feat, self-talk, Sports Psychology, Tour de You, Train to Trust, Visualization

Wait…I have to (gulp) WORK OUT?? | Exercise Psych w/ Dr Michelle Cleere

August 29, 2011 By admin

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Many of the guests that we visit with on the Athlete’s Audio Academy are Sport Psychologists or Mental Conditioning Coaches, and primarily focus their work with athletes, helping them improve their performance. Get better, faster, stronger, and more focused, and calm.

But what if you’re thinking about getting healthier, or maybe just heard from your doctor “You need to start exercising…or you may be at serious risk of disease or death”?

Oh, God…now I have to go to the (gulp) gym?? Worse….do I have to hire a trainer??

Intimidation factor = RED ALERT!

Getting your mind around working out is really the specialty of an Exercise Psychologist, and a great one is our guest today. Meet Dr. Michelle Cleere.

Dr. Cleere is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in breaking emotional patterns that hold people from achieving their physical goals; whether the motivation is to get healthier or beat the competition.

She is a contributor, blogger, and resource at ShareCare.com, and works with Dr. Oz. She’s also a Certified USA Triathlon Level I Coach, NASM-CPT, and regularly contributes articles to USA Triathlon, and AmateurEndurance.com

With a PhD in Clinical Psychology and an MA in Sports Psychology, Dr. Michelle is one of the leading experts in exercise and sports psychology. She has written for Triathlete Magazine and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is also the author of: The Experience of Participating in a Triathlon: from the perspective of two women and Shifting Gears: How Women Triathletes Balance Life with Sport.

Dr Cleere works with new exercisers, emotional eating, weight management, athletes, coaches, and trainers, and can be found at DrMichelleCleere.com or on FaceBook, and Twitter.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, athlete, Emotion Control, emotional eating, Exercise, goal setting, Interview, Memory, mental rehearsal, Mental Skills Training, Multi-Sport, no-feat, self-talk, Sports Psychology, Triathlon, Weight loss

If you’re thinking negatively, you might as well punch yourself in the face.

August 15, 2011 By admin

Dr. Taryn Morgan | IMG Academies

Dr Taryn Morgan, PhD, of IMG Academies (and the business manager of two previous guests!) joins the Athlete’s Audio Academy today to talk some Mental Skills Conditioning.

Dr. Morgan outlines the basics of mental skills in a concise, easy to understand, and friendly manner. (Oh, and she’s DR. Morgan…so you know that she knows her stuff). She was also a collegiate Tennis, and Volleyball athlete, of some repute, too. She’s been there. Done that. Bought the T-Shirt. Used it to wash her car.

Taryn has consulted with numerous junior, collegiate, and professional/Olympic athletes and teams. She has been the mental conditioning consultant for Texas A&M Women’s Soccer, University of Tennessee Women’s Soccer, Rowing and Swimming/Diving, Maryville College Volleyball, the Southeast Florida Figure Skating Club (including Amanda Evora, Olympic Pairs skater) in addition to all of the IMG sports.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, Affirmations, athlete, Confidence, goal setting, Imagery, Life Skils, Mental Skills Training, Motivation, no-feat, Olympics, Performing Arts, Practice, self-talk, Sports Psychology

Wait…WHAT was I just thinking?? | 4 types of Focus | Tomas Adalsteinsson

August 1, 2011 By admin

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We loved what he said about failure so much that we had him back to talk about focus! Meet Tomas Adalsteinsson, the founder of TheSportBrain.com.

Tomas joins us to talk about his graduate work on sustained attention for athletes. You WILL lose your focus in competition, as the research shows that optimal focus only exists for 1-4 seconds. We fluctuate in various degrees of focus throughout all of our activity.

Your focus moves and switches all the time between the following four types of focus:

1.) Attentional Orienting – Where am I generally looking?

2.) Selective Attention – I’m going to choose to direct my attention towards in that environment or direction?

3.) Divided Attention – I’m focused on a couple of things…

4.) Sustained Attention – How long can I maintain my gaze, or attention to that (or those) things?

He works as a Sport Psychology Consultant and College coach in Minnesota, having recently relocated. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Iceland (2007) and is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University (April, 2011). He helps teams and individuals develop a strong performance plan.

Tomas is a member of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He has experience working with athletes in sports such as golf, tennis, softball, and soccer, and has also taught life skills to incarcerated young men. He is a certified youth soccer coach from the Football Association of Iceland, and has coached golf at the beginner, intermediate, and junior levels.

Follow Tomas on Twitter

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, athlete, Attention, Confidence, Focus, Goal type, Golf, Mental Skills Training, Mental Training, Motivation, no-feat, Practice, Sports Psychology, Sustained Attention, Triathlon

A 5-point system to make you a Star | Dr. Jack Bowman | Mind Plus Muscle

July 25, 2011 By admin

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Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if there was a quick visual reference for optimal mental performance?? Something that would keep you from having to read, remember, and think about a bunch of things…when you’re trying to NOT THINK!?

We’re lucky to be joined today by one of the most recognized Sports Psychologists in the profession, and a pioneer in distance learning programs for mental training. He’s created (and describes here) the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program for athletes of all ages, and ability levels.

UPDATE!! Dr Bowman has published a pdf of the Perform Like a Star program on his Facebook Page. Here’s a link to the pdf.

Meet Dr. Jack Bowman, Founder of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute in Suffolk County, NY.

Dr. Bowman has been a guest with us twice before, discussing internships for young Sport Psychologists, and trying to separate the good info from the hooey with regards to mental training on the web.

He’s a certified consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, and he’s listed on the United States Olympic Committee‘s registry of Sport Psychologists. An advocate of Sport Psychology Training at all levels of sport, Dr. Bowman has been a pioneer in the application of Telecommunications and Information Technology to make Mental Training and Sport Hypnosis accessible to all athletes

In addition to the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program, Dr. Bowman created the Mental Training Room, an online learning program in 1993. Yep…1993, and he’s been involved in numerous programs at AASP, and at the Suffolk County Psychological Association, including the creation of a Mental Training manual for marathon preparation (which you can download here), and a podcast with Dr. Richard Lustberg on Sports Psychology. Dr. Bowman is also board certified as a clinical hypnotherapist, and offers customized Sports Hypnosis recordings.

Dr Bowman details two important components to any mental skills training program, Goal Setting, and Mental Rehearsal(or Imagery). At the Mind Plus Muscle Institute, Dr. Bowman offers Mental Rehearsal programs for Baseball, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse, Body Building, Running, Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Sped Training, Wrestling, Triathlon, Tennis, and Swimming. He’s also got some good advice for athletes to know what to look for in mental training, and what to look out for.

Dr. Jack Bowman is the Director of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute for Applied Sport Psychology in Port Jefferson Station, New York. Since 1980 Dr. Bowman has served on the graduate faculty at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he teaches the Psychology of Sport. In 1981 he founded the Mind Plus Muscle Institute where he has developed numerous performance enhancement programs, including the Mental Training Room that is currently being utilized by athletes at major universities and Olympic training centers world wide.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, athlete, Confidence, Emotion Control, Goals, Imagery, Interview, mental rehearsal, Mental Skills Training, Motivation, no-feat, self-talk, Sports Psychology, Visualization

Utopia for Athletes | Angus Mugford of IMG Academies

July 11, 2011 By admin

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I think of it as the ‘Walled City of Oz’. That magical place where nobody really knows what goes on inside, but we all suspect that it’s pretty amazing and magical.

Even the people who are there call it a ‘Sports Utopia’.

Meet Angus Mugford, PhD of the IMG Academies. He joins the Athlete’s Audio Academy to give us a peek inside the tent. The IMG Academy was started by Nick Bollettieri, and among the sports represented with physical skills and strength training, the IMG Performance Institute houses Angus, and the other 7 mental skills coaching professionals.

Angus also shares some info about Combine360.com, an new online community that IMG, and UnderArmour have started to create a benchmark for measuring and improving athletic performance. Cool. Here’s the assessment and philosophy.

Angus holds a PhD in Sport Studies (specialization in sport/counseling psychology) from the University of Kansas,(and I published the interview EVEN THOUGH I went to Mizzou!) and is a Certified Consultant with Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences (BASES), which are two of the world’s top sport psychology professional organizations. He is also a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Sport Psychology registry.

Find more information on twitter for Angus & IMG, and dial in to the IMG Performance Blog, or Facebook page.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, athlete, Confidence, goal setting, IMG, Interview, mental imagery, mental rehearsal, Mental Skills Training, Mental Training, Motivation, no-feat, Practice, self-talk, Sports Psychology

What can you learn about a riders’ mind from watching the Tour de France?

July 2, 2011 By admin

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Ahh, July, when a cyclist’s thoughts turn to Northern France for the start of Le Tour. Shots of fields of sunflowers…Phil and Paul on TV at ungodly hours of the US morning ramping up the excitement for the finale. “Pedals turned in anger”…The Tour de France is upon us once again.

Computer screens in offices all over North America are avoiding work with one TDF streaming package or another. All seems right with the world.

That’s what’s in our minds as we watch…but what’s in the rider’s mind? (The effective rider at least!)?

Carrie Cheadle knows. She’s a Sport Psychology consultant in the Bay Area, and she works with lots of endurance athletes, adding mental skills to their toolbox. She is to mental training for endurance athletes what @dwuori is to cycling comedy…that is, a top flight pro.

We discuss the different mental challenges of different kinds of stages, Flat stages in the first week; (where the challenge is focus, concentration, and attention), the high mountains (where confidence, the psychology of suffering, and imagery come into play), and the time trial stages; (again, suffering, pacing, pushing yourself, and goal setting are the skills).

Carrie is sponsoring Neil Browne’s (@neilroad) Online ‘Roadside’ Chats during the Tour (Athlete’s Audio is too…stage 12!) , and has more information about the skills mentioned in our Athlete’s Audio Academy interview on her youtube channel. Check her out at CarrieCheadle.com and follow @FeedTheAthlete on twitter. I was lucky enough to interview her last year at the Association of Applied Sport Psychology conference on the topic of race-day fears.

Click & check out Carrie’s deeper dive on mental skills specific to cycling.

Carrie Cheadle lives in Petaluma, just north of San Francisco, California and has been consulting with teams, organizations, and individual athletes since 2002.

She has written a number of articles for many organizations including Nimble Training and Team Swift. She has been interviewed as an expert resource for articles that have appeared in VeloNews, Outside Magazine, Bicycling Magazine, Sporting Kid, Snowboard Canada, Men’s Fitness, as well as various local media outlets. She has been on the “Form & Fitness” expert panel for Cyclingnews.com since 2007.

Carrie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and Sonoma State University and her Master of Arts degree in sport psychology at John. F. Kennedy University. Her professional affiliations include membership with AASP (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) since 2002, becoming an AASP certified consultant in 2007. She is also a member of IDEA Health & Fitness Association and a member of APA (American Psychological Association) Division 47, Exercise and Sport Psychology. Carrie is also adjunct faculty for both Dominican University of California and John F. Kennedy University teaching undergraduate and graduate level sport psychology classes

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: athlete, Carrie Cheadle, Confidence, Cycling, Fear, mental imagery, Mental Skills Training, Motivation, no-feat, self-talk, Sports Psychology, the extra gear

If your goal is to win, you probably already lost. | Dr. Rob Bell

June 12, 2011 By admin

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Wait! Why would you set a goal to not win? The short answer is that’s what is called an outcome goal. There are many things that can keep you from achieving your goal that are outside your control. The best kind of goals are performance, and process goals, but I’ll let Sport Psychology Pro Dr Rob Bell tell you about that…

Dr. Bell is a professor, and the sport psychology consultant for Ball State University, and has credentials on the PGA tour. He assists numerous athletes at the professional, collegiate, and amateur levels and serves as a caddy on professional golf tours.

Last November, at the Association of Applied Sport Psychology Conference, Athlete’s Audio was fortunate enough to interview Dr. Bell. We spoke on the topic of his (then) new book, Mental Toughness Training for Golf. In that tome, Rob talks extensively abut practicing with the same intensity, and pressure that you’ll face when you’re competing (among other things).

Dr. Bell’s research include the “Yips” in golf, applied golf and baseball research in mental training, athletic identity, and streaks. He has been published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Journal of Athletic Insight, Journal of Sport Behavior, and the Encyclopedia of Sports. He also writes on the mental game and has been noted in Runner’s World, NY Times, Stack magazine, and numerous additional websites. He presents for numerous teams, schools, and organizations.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: AASP, athlete, goal setting, Goal type, Goals, Golf, Interview, Mental Skills Training, Mental Training, no-feat, Sports Psychology

Use your mind to practice your sport! Imagery with Dr. Jim Taylor

May 16, 2011 By admin

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Bay area Sport Psychologist, and prolific blogger on mental performance, Dr. Jim Taylor visits the Athlete’s Audio Academy to discuss one of the most popular, and effective mental training skills for athletes, imagery.

Of course, Imagery is something that we’re really interested in here at Athlete’s Audio!

He’s got some great tips for performers of all kinds, and some ways that you can use imagery to boost your confidence, practice new skills, replay successful scenes from past performances, and engage all of your senses.

Dr. Taylor blogs regularly on Psychology Today, his own website, and he has a great series of youtube videos on his channel, too. He’s big on facebook, and twitter, too.

Dr. Taylor is the author of 12 books, and is currently writing his next parenting book tentatively titled Kids 3.0: Prepare Your Children for the Crazy New World of Popular Culture, Technology, and Social Media (Sourcebooks) will be published in the Spring of 2012.

Dr. Taylor blogs on business, sports, parenting, technology, politics, and popular culture on sfgate.com (San Francisco Chronicle’s web site), huffingtonpost.com, seattlepi.com, and the Hearst Interactive Media Connecticut Group web sites. His posts are read by thousands of people every week.

Dr. Taylor has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends, UPN’s Life & Style, ABC’s World News This Weekend, and the major television network affiliates around the U.S..

He’s also a 2nd degree black belt, and former international ski racer.

Filed Under: Blog, Interviews Tagged With: athlete, Imagery, Interview, mental imagery, mental rehearsal, Mental Skills Training, Mental Training, no-feat, Sports Psychology, Visualization

Parenting Tips for an athlete’s Mom & Dad

April 15, 2011 By admin

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We’re once again lucky to have Dr. Eddie O’Connor as our guest today on the Athlete’s Audio Academy. Dr Eddie is a fellow with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, and on the Sports Psychology registry of the US Olympic Committe. Dr Eddie is one of the most effective Sport Psychology Facebookers, Tweeters, and offers a fantastic newsletter (that you can sign up for here) on mental aspects of sport.

Dr Eddie has joined us to talk previously about some tips for athletes to improve their performance, and today, he’s here to address the parents of those athletes. Some great tips for ALL parents:

Focus on the love of the kids, and less on the winning
Monitor your own investment in the sport
Let the kids own their involvement in their sport
Mistakes are an essential part of learning

Dr. Eddie has a ‘top 10 list’ of tips, and we covered only a few in this interview, so stay tuned for the rest of the list!

Over the last 15 years, Dr. Eddie has helped athletes and coaches at all levels achieve excellence in their sport. He has spent his life helping others achieve their very best in sport, health, personal, and professional lives. As a certified consultant through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and Member of the American Psychological Association Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Dr. Eddie has the training and experience and to help you reach your potential consistently.