Customer Reviews

Mind Gym : An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The author starts by stating how important psychology for sports is. It is.
After this promising start, however, we are presented with chapter after chapter of - well, nothing.
He states something obvious like "belive in yourself" and underlines this with some quotes and success stories from profs.
Great. This does not help at all. I already knew that I need confidence to excel.
No "how to", no in depth tipps, nothing usefull at all :-(

I have just about every book on the topic of sports performance.

I've read others that were more impactful and helpful.

Granted, this book is good if you're just looking for some inspiration that might eventually lead you to results. For immediate results to use on one's game, however, this book isn't it!

As another reviewer said, it's clumsily written. For my hard earned money, I'd like something that I can actually use on my game right away.

If you're a couch potato athlete that only watches a game, this book is probably good. My brother-in-law loves it. He's never played a sport in his life, but is a big fan. For competitive athletes who are more interested in RESULTS and can get their cliches from TV announcers, this book isn't for them.

I'd give it one star, but those who've met the guy seem to like him enough to log onto amazon and write a review. Nothing personal, but I can't give this anything like the rating the others did.

Mind Gym's theories on sports psychology are not all that revolutionary. Any good coach will already understand the author's thoughts on discipline, preparation, confidence, positive imagery, etc.; however, there is substantial value in the dozens of anecdotes and stories from household name athletes. These examples make great talking points when explaining psychological concepts to kids.

So, until I was almost finished with the book, I definitely enjoyed it. That was until the author revealed that he has all of his clients close their eyes and listen to "Hero" by Mariah Carey. Wow - talk about a blow to his credibility.

If you believe you can overcome this horrendous nugget of info, then you will probably like this book. But if you, like me, find this just too much to bare, then don't waste your time.

If you are expecting substantive theoretical sports psychological insights from this book, you will be thoroughly disappointed. While the anecdotes presented by the author are amusing, they provide little to no substance. Often, they are redundant to the point where it seems the author is beating the stain where the dead horse used to be. Each chapter ends with a short 1-sentence summary. In my opinion, the book could easily be condensed to only the chapter headings and the 1-sentence summaries, although it would be much less entertaining that way. The 1-liners do contain good information, but, unfortunately, much of it is what I would consider common sense.

Unless you can relate to baseball and other American sports, don't bother picking up this book. Most of the anecdotes are from the world of baseball.

That said, the book is a very easy read. I do not question the author's abilities as a sports psychologist. But I had expected a book with much more substance.

Wow, this one was disappointing. If you're a total newbie to sports psychology, you'll at least be introduced to the basics. But really, this book is just a collection of cute stories and cliched sports sayings.

I found this book because it came up in a search for triathlon books, but I think it was mis-categorized. If you're into sports like baseball, football and golf, this would be an enjoyable read. Seems like 99% of his examples are in these three more traditional sports. But there are a number of issues that come up for endurance athletes (triathlon, marathon, long-course cycling) that aren't even touched on in this book.
I think the author could do a second version that touches on how to continue pushing through the pain when you're 10 hours into a 15 hour effort to complete an Ironman and your head wants to quit. He touches on this in a chapter on determination, but it's one thing to sit on the sidelines and tell someone "don't quit!"; it's another thing to figure out how to manage what's behind your ears and he doesn't do a good job of addressing that. Or how to psychologically deal with a mass swim start. Or the psychological issues of training for 6 to 9 months for a single event.
I read this entire book and felt like only about 1/4th could apply... maybe more if I was forced to make the connections myself, but that's not really what I was looking for. Not saying it's a bad book, but if you're looking at this for endurance sports you might pass.

This a well written, concise look into a gammut of psychological skills related to sport performance. It is also a series of short stories from the author's career as a professional sport psychologist. It is an easy read and well done. What it is NOT is an introduction to sport psychology or a book that can help someone learn sport psychology unless they are already familiar with the topic. Good book, I liked it very much; but not a book from which one can learn sport psychology. It is a collection of stories and within each story there is a skill to be learned.

a solid read, but i was expecting a book that got more into the intricacies of sports psychology, but this book seems to focus more on your thinking off the court then on it.

Many readers said that it's clumsily written. I really cant agree so. It's a little repetitive especially in the second half of it. However, the author did quote a lot of real life examples including successful players' personal quotes to stress the importance of the mind on performance. The key message had been well delivered, for sure. However, it would be better if he could tell more on the "how" side, as in page 9, "One key to achieving success in sports is learning how to focus on the task and not let negative thoughts intrude. The mind can concentrate on only one thing at a time. So, rather than suppress what you dont want to happen, you must focus on what you do want to happen or on some neutral thought. In working with the placekicers, I use a distraction technique. I ask them to create a word that, when said to themselves, will block out all negative thought and help relieve tension."

Certainly a good read for aspiring athletes, for leisure and for life. Anyway, below please find some copy and paste of my favorite messages for your reference.

Competition is won or lost on the six inch playing field between the ears. Practice the seven C's (Competitive, Confident, Control, Committed, Composure, Courage, Consistency) of mental toughness. Learn to love the competition. Pg 28

It takes years of hard work to become an overnight success. Are you willing to make the committment and pay the price. Pg 69

Learn how to fail successfully. Hate to fail but never fear it. Learn to view failure as feedback. Pg 80

You cant outperform your self image. - Dennis Connor. Pg 81

Discipline means doing what you have to do when you need to do it, whether you want to or not. Pg 95

The more you hurry the later you get. When you find yourself rushing you are no longer in the present. Pace instead of race. Pg 144

The less tension and effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. - Bruce Lee / The way to run faster is with four fifths effort. Just take it nice and easy. - Bud Winters Pg 145

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare to win is vital. - Joe Paterno / Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. - Wayne Gretzky Pg 155

A lot of people say this isn't a book for athletes but more for sports lovers, I disagree. You shouldn't buy this book if you want tips on how to improve your skills because its obviously not for that (read the cover!!!) This book is a way to motivate anyone to truly push to find your ALL. That extra 10% you need to excel in all aspects of life. I would recommend this book to Everyone. The title says it all.