Customer Reviews

The Mental Athlete

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best mental training book that I have ever found. In 1985 I was on the National Team for my sport, but I was not up to par for the other aspects of my sport. I found "The Mental Athlete" and it totally changed my athletic life. The book teaches you how to visualize, do relaxation exercise, run mental training programs, etc. Even though it is not specific to my sport, you can incorporate the techniques into any sport. It is an amazing book. It is not a boring, hard to understand technical book, it is written very well. This book took me from a good athlete to a National Champion (many times over). This book is worth it's weight in gold.

I bought this book along with "The Mental Edge" for my college freshman daughter who is extremely busy with school and basketball. I wanted an easy step by step guide to help her with the demands and pressure of basketball. The author gives many examples of positive affirmations and actual scripts of visualizations, for specific sports, that are easy for someone who isn't used to self help type language to understand. There are good sections on an athlete's anger (which I consider frustration since it's anger at yourself) and fear (choking). The book isn't full of cheesy anecdotes. I considered this book far better than The Mental Edge.

One disappointment is the part on breathing. I can't even call it a section since it's basically a paragraph. If one isn't familiar with breathing techniques from yoga, martial arts, lamaze etc. than it isn't very clearly explained. A few diagrams and breathing execises should have been used since this is an important aspect of mental strength and is mentioned elsewhere in the book.

I read this book while training to walk my first marathon. It gave me some great tips for preparing for the "Big Day". Kay provides some wonderful pointers to turn your mind from saying "I can't go on" to saying "I will finish this race". I used her ideas in my race and was successful. I would recommend this book for all athletes.