Sports Psychology / Book Recommendations

Racing
#1

I recently read “The Inner Game of Tennis” - a book that someone recommended to me about getting one’s head into the right space, reducing negative self-talk, optimizing performance, etc. For those that have not read it and are interested, I’d definitely recommend it. (It’s not really about tennis - the author was a tennis coach and through his coaching he came up with ways of speaking to his clients about sports psychology.)

I’m curious if anyone else has read books like this that they’d recommend… or if you have particular techniques that help you to get into the right headspace.

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Audible recommendations
#2

I’ve only just started reading it, but have you looked at The Complete Guide to Cycling Psychology by Mark Beaumont and Dr Jim Taylor? I’m only a couple of chapters in but there’s a huge amount of content and I’ve already started a to-do list!

https://shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com/the-complete-guide-to-cycling-psychology

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#3

I’ll start with Why We Sleep By Matthew Walker and game changer that got me to really look at sorting out my sleep.

Diet Cults by Matt Fitzgerald
The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley
Zero Negativity by Ant Middleton
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Do Hard Things by Steve Magness

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#4

Second for anything David Goggins (including his new one!) and for Mark and Dr. Jim’s book.

#5

Some great suggestions here, thanks you.

#6

I actually have the same book on my reading pile. I went through a lot of these issues in a previous sporting life but was helped through them by a caring and thoughtful manager.

My challenge today is to resist the urge to throw in the towel when things get tough. As you can see, I am still searching:
The Brave Athlete
Endure
The Ultra Mindset
The Mental Cyclist
How Bad Do You Want it?
The Score Takes Care of Itself
On Top Of Your Game - Mental Skills to Maximise Your Athletic Performance

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#7

Some awesome suggestions here. Not to be a suck-up, but I actually enjoyed @pav’s book as a good introduction to this sort of thing.

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#8

@uktester I enjoyed that too but I lent it to someone so didn’t have it in front of me. I think the best book depends on what problem you are looking for a fix for.

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#9

Haha!! Thank you for that :slight_smile:

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#10

One I’m listening too at the moment is

The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeon

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#11

Me: goes straight on Amazon and maxes credit card on books :rofl:

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#12

My problem is bookshelf space… :rofl:

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#13

Thats what Audible is for :rofl:

Lost my home office to my daughter. Then lost bookshelf space to the Mrs and her wool.

The woman seem to rule in this house :joy: :rofl: :joy:

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#14

Yeah, I actually need to restart my Audible subscription. Really love reading, but not easy on a long ride :wink:

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#15

A big vote for Endure. So many nuggets in there

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance https://a.co/d/aHCndNv

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#16

I am listening to endure at the moment. And in parallel I‘m listening to how bad do you want it. Both are by Matt Fitzgerald and I would highly recommend both.

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#17

Yep, definitely a big fan of Endure as well.

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#18

Some quality suggestions here!!

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#19

My favourites - not all psychology specific but they do talk a lot about what it takes to win
The climb - Chris Frome
Can’t hurt me - David goggins
How bad do you want it - Matt Fitzgerald
Around the world - mark B

Will definitely check out the others above too. I don’t read much but I listen to audiobooks especially when out on the bike - can’t reccomend aftershocks headphones enough

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#20

Not heard of the book by Matt Fitzgerald. I will check that out. Ta!

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