Sports Psychology for Athletes: Think Like a Champion and Train Like a Warrior

By Epic Rios

Do you want to learn How to Think Like a Champion and Train Like a Warrior?

If so, then this must-read Sports Psychology for Athletes book will teach you How to Develop Unbelievable Mental Toughness and Tremendous Resilience for Achieving Greatness in Life.

Sports Psychology for Athletes includes the following books:

(1) Mental Toughness: The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding in Sports, Business and in Life

(2) Bodybuilding: How to Build the Body of a Greek God

(3) Intermittent Fasting: The Smart Way to Losing Weight

(4) Strength Training (Secrets): The Best Tips and Strategies for Getting Stronger

(5) Body Weight Training: Get Bigger, Faster and Stronger with Calisthenics

The first book, Mental Toughness, will teach you:

(A) How to develop extraordinary confidence, razor sharp focus and a positive mindset.

(B) How to develop tremendous resilience to push yourself beyond your self-limitations.

(C) How to develop and maintain unbelievable self-control while facing intense pressure and distractions in life.

(D) How to powerfully improve your self-image and self-esteem.

The second book, Bodybuilding, will teach you:

(A) How to a build a well-proportioned, athletic body like the Ancient Greek Gods.

(B) The type of workouts, exercises and daily training the Ancient Greeks performed.

(C) How Ancient Olympic Athletes prepared and trained for succeeding at the Olympic Games.

The third book, Intermittent Fasting, will teach you:

(A) The best intermittent fasting schedules and methods for burning the most fat.

(B) Highly effective tips and strategies for permanent weight loss.

(C) The importance of nutrition as well as meal planning tips and ideas for succeeding with looking and feeling great.

(D) How to become extremely disciplined with your eating habits.

The fourth book, Strength Training, will teach you:

(A) How to go from a Beginner to an Advanced Strength Training Athlete.

(B) The powerful 5X5 Strength Training Workout and important variations of it.

(C) How to effectively exercise the Legs, Back and Chest Muscles for developing total body strength.

The fifth book, Body Weight Training, will teach you:

(A) Challenging workout routines for undergoing a 12-week body transformation using calisthenics.

(B) The importance of doing beginner, intermediate and advanced body weight exercises for developing superior strength.

(C) How to develop strength, speed, power, balance, agility, coordination, conditioning and flexibility with calisthenics.

So, do you want to learn How to Develop Amazing Mental Toughness and Tremendous Resilience for Achieving Greatness in Life?

If so, then buy this amazing Sports Psychology for Athletes book NOW!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Epic Rios
• Release date: Jun 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386503262

Book preview

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

FOR ATHLETES

Think Like a Champion

and Train Like a Warrior

This book includes:

Mental Strength

Bodybuilding

Intermittent Fasting

Strength Training

Body Weight Training

––––––––

By Epic Rios

For more information please visit:

http://getfitentrepreneurs.com/

Get a Free eBook

Optimizing Your Body and Mind

Sign-up Here

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Table of Contents

Mental Toughness

Bodybuilding

Intermittent Fasting

Strength Training

Body Weight Training

Mental Toughness

The Ultimate Guide to Succeeding in Sports, Business and in Life

By Epic Rios

For more information please visit:

http://getfitentrepreneurs.com/

Get a Free eBook

Optimizing Your Body and Mind

Sign-up Here

http://eepurl.com/dgAAzb

Table of Contents

––––––––

Introduction

Chapter one: What is Mental Toughness

Chapter two: How to Develop Mental Toughness

Chapter three: Mental Toughness – Why it is Important and Why it is Useful

Chapter four: How to Use Mental Toughness

Chapter five: Mental Toughness and Your Health, Your Work, and Your Life

Chapter six: Mental Toughness and How the Military, Athletes, and Businessmen Use It

Chapter seven: What Makes Someone Mentally Tough

Chapter eight: Examples of Mental Toughness

Chapter nine: Strategies for Strengthening and Improving Mental Toughness

Chapter ten: Qualities of a Mentally Tough Person

Chapter eleven: Steps to Building Mental Toughness

Chapter twelve: Mental Toughness and Abuse

Chapter thirteen: Tips for Mentally Tough People

Conclusion

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Chapter one: What is Mental Toughness?

What is mental toughness?

Depending on who you ask, mental toughness can be defined as a person who is strong minded, a risk taker as well as confident, and/or resilient.

In addition, mental toughness is the way of measuring a person’s success in sports, business, education, at the workplace and in overall life. 

When you think of mental toughness you may think of tough athletes in sports such as boxing or rugby. 

In addition, you may think of a warrior such as a soldier or Navy Seal as someone that has mental toughness.

In the business world, you may consider the owner or the CEO of a company to have a lot of mental toughness.

However, mental toughness is something that everyone can aspire to develop throughout their lives but it requires repetitive practice.

Mental toughness first came about as a result of the training that is involved in sports training. 

More specifically mental toughness developed due to the attributes that enable someone to become a better athlete. 

In addition to the process of becoming a better athlete, the athlete learns to deal with difficult training and competitive situations that are going to come about from playing competitive sports without losing his/her confidence.

As time has gone on, the term mental toughness has begun to be used not only by those who work in the sports world with athletes but also by business leaders, members of educational institutions, every day working professionals and even members of a family household.

Quite often, the term mental toughness is used to describe a set of positive attributes that are going to assist someone in coping with situations that are difficult to deal with.

Some examples of positive attributes of mental toughness are:

Emotional intelligence: The ability to control your emotions even when faced in a stressful, negative situation and even when having strong negative emotions. 

Flexible and adaptive:  Having the ability to quickly adapt to any situation no matter what.

Risk-Taking:  A willingness to face fear and take on new opportunities and challenges in order to advance, grow and achieve success in life.

Accepting of Failure: The ability to accept defeat gracefully and then to immediately plan to bounce back in order to have another opportunity at succeeding or winning.

Optimistic: The ability to be extremely confident in yourself and positively know that you will win and achieve great success.

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As stated before, the term mental toughness is used to describe a set of positive attributes that are going to assist someone in coping with situations that are difficult to deal with.

For example, when it comes to sports, coaches and many sports commentators use the term mental toughness as a way to talk about an athlete’s mental state as the athlete overcomes a difficult situation in order to succeed in winning.

However, over the past fifteen years, researchers have tried to come up with a scientific definition for mental toughness so that criteria could be established as a way to measure mental toughness in order for analysis and comparisons to be made.

Here are three different research teams that have been able to come up with a definition for mental toughness in the modern world.

Research Team #1 (Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton)

According to Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton, "Mental toughness is having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to generally cope better than your opponents with the many demands in competition, training and lifestyle that a sport places on you.

More specifically, mental toughness means to be more consistent and better than your opponents in competition and under stressful situations.

Last, mental toughness means to be determined, focused, confident, and under complete control while under intense pressure during competition."

Research Team #2 (Clough and Earle)

The second team of researchers decided that mental toughness was a Personality Trait that consisted of four components.

These four components are:

Commitment

Confidence

Self-control

Daring or up to a challenge

According to this team of researchers, if you had each of these four components in your personality then you had the mental toughness trait.

Research Team #3 (Gucciardi, Gordon, and Dimmock)

According to this team of researchers they concluded that, "Mental toughness is a collection of values, attitudes, behaviors, and emotions that enable you to persevere and overcome any obstacle, adversity, or pressure experienced." 

In addition, this group of researchers also believed that, When it comes to mental toughness it is very important for a person to maintain razor sharp focus and motivation when things are going both good and bad in order to consistently achieve your goals.

Although these three research teams provided what they thought to be mental toughness, there is still no definite answer to what exactly is mental toughness.

However, having important characteristics such as confidence, optimism and razor-sharp focus are definitely important for having mental toughness. 

It is important to mention that there are psychologists that argue that there are different definitions or meanings when it comes to mental toughness and how it is developed.

For example, some psychologists claim that some attributes of those individuals who are mentally tough are going to be different from other individuals that are not developing their mental toughness.

One of the differences is that if you are a male your levels of mental toughness are going to be different from a woman’s levels of mental toughness. 

For example, men are taught to be physically and mentally tough from childhood all the way until they are full grown men. 

In addition, young boys are taught not to cry and to endure pain and this goes on throughout adulthood and for the rest of a man’s life.

Now there are many women that do have high levels of mental toughness and some women may even have higher levels of mental toughness then men.

For example, if there is a woman that endured hardship while growing up then she may have developed high levels of mental toughness throughout this period of her life. 

In addition, if a woman has been involved in competitive sports ever since she was a child then her levels of mental toughness are going to be greater than someone that has not competed in competitive sports.

Another factor that may determine your levels of mental toughness is the type of work you do and whether you have to interact and deal with people every day.

For example, law enforcement officers may have higher levels of mental toughness because they are constantly being faced almost daily with stressful situations and they need to learn to deal with and overcome these stressful situations.

More on Mental Toughness

Mental toughness can actually mean many things considering who you are asking. But to keep things simple, mental toughness can mean the ability to overcome pain, fear, doubt, disbelief and anything else that may prevent someone from succeeding at a specific task or goal.

Usually, when people think of mental toughness, people usually think of athletes that play competitive sports. 

However, mental toughness can apply to everyday people and even a parent that is raising a child with a physical disability.

One thing that is important to state is that mental toughness is not about having high levels of intelligence nor does it mean to be extremely talented.

Instead, mental toughness is about having the, Will to Win, or simply the mental attitude to never give up, never surrender, never retreat no matter what.

Where Does Mental Toughness Come from?

Mental toughness comes from within. More specifically, mental toughness comes from one’s thoughts, one’s "warrior spirit," one’s previous life experiences and one’s very own mind.

Mental toughness can be developed by facing challenges and overcoming these challenges.  In addition, mental toughness can be developed through practice and by being placed in stressful situations both physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. 

For example, in sports athletes will practice a difficult skill over and over again and in various challenging conditions in order to be mentally prepared if such challenge should actually occur during a game.

In the business world, mental toughness can be developed by an employee deciding to achieve very large goals and by accepting to work on challenging projects and assignments.

Accepting to work on challenging projects and assignments will mentally challenge any business person and will prepare him/her for more responsibility and possibly a better position within the company.

How Do You Develop Mental Toughness?

You can develop mental toughness by having a willingness to get out of your comfort zone and having new experiences that will shock your body, your emotions and your mind.

In addition, you develop mental toughness by deciding that you want to have a champion’s mindset and this can take place in sports, business and in any other area of your life.

More specifically, you develop mental toughness by exposing yourself to a wide variety of uncomfortable and challenging experiences.

Keep this in mind, if you decide to stay safe and comfortable in life avoiding challenges, change and growth then you will never develop mental toughness.

In addition, it is very common for people to live a very safe, comfortable life because people simply don’t want to stress themselves out.

However, great champions think differently.  Great champions have a Purpose in Life, a Clear Vision of what they want to achieve in life and Razor-Sharp Focus for achieving their purpose.

As a result, this is why champions achieve greatness in life. 

In addition, these champions know that there is a PRICE to pay for achieving greatness and they make a decision to pay the PRICE for achieving greatness and this is what makes them different from the rest of the world.

In the words of boxing champion Muhammad Ali, I hated training very early in the morning but I LOVED being Champion of The World!

In previous studies that have been done specifically for sports and the mental toughness of athletes, the studies have shown that there is not a common framework between sports such as tennis, boxing or even a team sport like baseball.

So, researchers sometimes find it hard to define what exactly is mental toughness because not every sport is equally physically and mentally demanding. 

Therefore, researchers have found it hard to exactly define what mental toughness is because every athlete in every sport is not going to have the same levels of mental toughness.

For example, a tennis player will have a certain amount of mental toughness but when you consider an athlete that is a boxer, the boxer’s levels of toughness automatically skyrockets.

Why?

Because the sport of boxing is more physically demanding or simply more of a physical sport than a sport like tennis which means boxing is a more mentally demanding sport.

Actually, it can be said that boxing is more mental than it is physical because of the guts it takes for a boxer to fight another boxer in the ring.

And just to dig a little deeper in the mindset of a boxer, every boxer, no matter who it is, is afraid of losing.  In addition, every boxer is afraid of getting knocked out.

Every boxer knows, but most will not admit, that the other fighter can possibly beat him.  As a result, fear is in every boxer’s mind.

It is important to state that there are studies that determine not only how mentally strong an athlete is but also how well that athlete can perform under severe pressure.

For example, going back to the example of a boxer, if the boxer gets his nose broken during a boxing match, this boxer is now required to continue fighting under severe pressure. 

First consider that trying to breathe with a broken nose is very, very difficult to do.

Next, take into consideration that the boxer will continue to get punched all over his body requiring him to try to breathe from his nose. 

Also take into consideration that the warrior boxer will also continue to get punched in his broken nose which is an intense and gruesome experience that no athlete would ever want to experience.

So, consider that it is not enough to be mentally tough but what is also important is how well you perform under stressful situations. 

And performing well under stressful situations is very important not only in sports but also at work, in business and in the everyday living.

As stated before, researches have only been trying to define exactly what mental toughness is. 

However, now more and more researchers are studying mental athletics including analyzing an athlete’s psychological skills as well as how well they perform, and their emotional reactivity.

Still, more and more research regarding mental toughness continues to be done not only on athletes but also on business people, entrepreneurs, and every day common people. 

It is important to state that researchers are currently in an active debate about whether mental toughness is a characteristic that is developed or if it is something that comes from your genetics.

There are two studies regarding mental toughness that have been show that there is a foundational process that occurs when a person begins developing their mental toughness throughout their life.

For example, when a study was done on soccer players, their parents, and their coaches, the study showed that the parents are going to give a generalized form of mental toughness to the athlete child. 

In addition, the generalized form of mental toughness that was given to the athlete child by their parents is then passed on to the coaches that are going to continue to develop the athlete’s level of mental toughness so that the athlete is mentally tough for their sport.

In another study on mental toughness, researchers concluded that the mental toughness of a person is going to be first developed through their development of a tough attitude.

In addition, researchers also concluded that the development of a tough attitude for athletes is going to come through razor sharp focus as well as having a strong belief in themselves while they are practicing and training for their games and competitions.

It is important to state that it is easier to understand if you equate mental toughness to things such as hardiness or resilience.

However, the term resilience is often times used incorrectly to describe mental toughness, but there are psychologists that have defined resilience as the ability to positively adapt to a stressful situation.

Hardiness is a similar construct to mental toughness, but it is usually seen as a personality trait that is constructed and seen throughout someone’s life.

Nevertheless, mental toughness can take on many meanings especially when you consider how it is interpreted in sports, business and in everyday life.

In addition, mental toughness can be learned by continuous effort of certain practiced behaviors.

For example, taking a very cold shower every day for 1 year will develop a certain level of mental toughness in a person.

What is also important to state is that, everyone has some form of mental toughness in them because everyone has gone through some type of challenge or faced adversity whether at school, work or in their personal life.

What a lot of people don’t know is that they can tap into their levels of mental toughness in order to achieve greatness in life.

For example, if a person was mentally tough before, they can decide to be mentally tough again when facing a new challenge. Or, that person can simply retreat and decide he does not want to face any new challenges because facing new challenges can be stressful.

In the following chapter, you will learn how to develop mental toughness and how to apply to every day life.

Chapter two: How to Develop Mental Toughness

Even if you do not believe that you have mental toughness, you are going to be able to build mental toughness if you make the decision to do so.

By developing and having mental toughness, you are going to be empowered to take more risks and achieve more in life. 

In addition, you will have more confidence in yourself and in your abilities and you will simply feel mentally stronger than ever before.

However, should you suffer a loss or failure in life, there is no need to worry because you will be able to bounce back from a bad situation faster because you have put in the necessary working for developing your mental toughness. 

Here are some examples of how to develop mental toughness:

#1 Move straight to acceptance: Whenever you are wanting or expecting a specific outcome from a situation, you are going to need to accept the fact that you may fail and not succeed.

However, this is not something to focus on it just means that there is a possibility that you may not succeed at first.

Therefore, you have to be willing to be resilient and know that you will continue to try and try and try again until you succeed. And by trying over and over again, you will develop mental toughness but remember you cannot quit after one defeat and after failing once.

Instead, you must immediately develop a plan for bouncing back so that you can overcome your defeat/failure.

Keep in mind that when you allow a defeat or failure to negatively affect you in life, you set yourself back and you create a resistance that is going to slow you down for bouncing back and being resilient.

Therefore, even if you do not like what has happened, you are going to have to accept that it happened and move on.

For example, if you were to participate in a swimming competition and you were expecting to win but you ended up losing then you simply have to gracefully accept your loss. 

In addition, there is no need to be upset at yourself or at anyone else for your loss. Simply knowing that you went into the competition well prepared and you performed at your best is all that matters.

This example of mental toughness can be referred back to an ancient philosophy called Stoicism.

Stoicism had an important principle in its philosophy stating, We should only focus on what we can control, and disregard that which we cannot control.

So, remember, you are only in control of your preparation and your thoughts.  Now, if things don’t go your way and you lose or are defeated then that is simply out of your control and there is no reason to be upset.

#2 Reframe the Situation: It is human nature to be upset whenever things do not go the way that you want them to turn out.

But, with mental toughness you are going to be able to persevere even though things are going the exact opposite of how you are wanting them to go.

One way to overcome allowing situations to bring you down is to look at the obstacle that you are facing and think of how you are going to be able to prove yourself in overcoming that obstacle.

Let’s look at one example of how a great baseball player was able to overcome adversity over and over again throughout his career.

The Baseball Home Run Hitter, Babe Ruth was known for having the world record for hitting the most Home Runs.  At the same time, Babe Ruth also held the world record for having the most strikeouts.

When Babe Ruth was asked in an interview how he felt whenever he would strike out, he replied, "I don’t think about striking out. I am just looking forward to hitting my next Home Run.  And when I do strikeout, I don’t focus on the strikeout.  Instead, I just continue looking forward to the next opportunity to hit another Home Run."

As you can see from Babe Ruth’s reply, he wasn’t focused on striking out nor did he let striking out negatively affect him or his attitude.

Instead, Babe Ruth was only focusing on hitting Home Runs and striking out had no impact on his attitude or mindset at all.

In addition, Babe Ruth didn’t let striking out bring him down. Instead, he simply continued swinging the baseball bat with the intention of hitting more Home Runs. 

So, Babe Ruth simply kept moving forward by simply focusing on what he wanted to achieve and that was to simply hit more Home Runs.

#3 Shift to Solution Mode: Don’t let a negative outcome affect the way you feel and think.  Instead, simply learn from the experience and more on. 

In addition, try to focus on your past successes in life, in order to move on, and don’t relive any past negative defeats or experiences.

Keep in mind that mental toughness is about overcoming difficult situations that you are placed in whether by accident or because it is what life throws at you.

It is also important to state that it is human nature to panic and focus on everything bad that is happening.

However, with mental toughness, you are going to be able to push past that panic and begin to look for a solution in order to fix and correct the issue at hand.

Another important point to mention is that BREATHING in a relaxed state is very important when you are faced with panic.

Your breathing affects how you feel and how you react to any situation so you must be aware of your breathing. 

Being aware of your breathing takes practice but it is very important in order to stay in control of yourself whenever you are in a stressful situation. 

For example, as part of their rigorous training, Navy Seals are taught to always stay calm whenever they are faced in a chaotic situation. 

More specifically, Navy Seals are taught to be aware of how they are always breathing and to always control their breathing in order for them to control themselves while under intense pressure.

Believe That You Can Achieve Your Goals

One thing that many successful athletes and people in business as well as other successful people in life have is that they have this unbelievable confidence in themselves.

These high achievers believe so much in themselves and that they will succeed in their pursuits that they don’t let anything or anyone stop them from achieving success.

You can say that these high achievers are Relentless in the pursuit of achieving their dreams and goals and that is why they are so successful.

One thing that you can begin to do right now is to be aware or Mindful of your self-talk or what you say to yourself when you talk to yourself.

Start by practicing to be more aware of the words you use when you talk to yourself. At the same time say begin to say positive things about yourself in order to develop confidence in yourself and in your abilities. 

This is no time to be humble because in order to be great in life you have to think great. In addition, you have to take the necessary action for being great and that may mean doing more work, training more often, putting more hours at work, taking more action and so forth.

But remember to keep in mind to simply say great things about yourself.

Just think of the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali used to always say with conviction, I am the Greatest! and he believed it too and he also showed it as well!

It is very important to practice positive self-talk with yourself in order to keep pushing towards achieving your dreams and goals.

Keep this in mind, you don’t have to shout out to the world that you are the greatest but simply be a quiet, confident, humble warrior. 

Focus on Why You Want to Win and Succeed

Whether it is in sports or in business, ask yourself, Why do I want to Win? Why do I want to succeed?

Sure, everybody wants to win and succeed but why?

Do you want to succeed and win to feed your ego?

Do you want to win or succeed to impress others?

Do you want to win or succeed in order to get validation and praise from others?

The Greatest Basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan from the Chicago Bulls, would always say that he played for the love of the game.  Michael Jordan would go on to say that he loved competing against the best and that is why he loved playing basketball so much.  

Simply put, Michael Jordan played for the Love of the game and for the competition that came with it.

The same can be said about the Ancient Greek Olympic Athletes.

In the beginning, Greek Olympic Athletes would compete for pride and for competition.  In addition, they didn’t care to receive awards or praise. 

Instead, they wanted to prove to themselves that they were the best at their sport and this is what made the Olympics so great to watch. 

Don't Let Defeat and Losing Get You Down

Remember that defeat and losing is only temporary and not permanent unless you decide to quit.  And if you do quit then you have simply decided to ACCEPT failure. 

When you quit in life, this is when you have been defeated and this is where you have loss faith in yourself and in your ability to overcome adversity.

Remember that losing and being defeated in any endeavor is unavoidable.  However, the