Ian Reardon, M.Sc. and Anthony Carnevale, M.Ed. of the Mental Barbell discuss the importance of mental skills training, analyze the five mental skills all athletes should have, and give practical tips for all athletes to sharpen their mental game. Definitions: Determination - A fixed intention or resolution Concentration - The ability to focus on the task at hand while ignoring distractions. Orientation - The degree to which an individual is concerned with performing their best or winning in competitive situations. Poise - Calm confidence in a person's way of behaving. Mental Toughness - Psychological resource that enables athletes to initiate and sustain goal-oriented efforts towards achieving optimal levels of performance in the face of stressors that vary in duration, frequency, and intensity. If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com. Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian Reardon M.S. and guest host Matthew Rieger M.A. CMPC discuss what athletes should focus on when trying to 'block out distractions', the four types of attention, and dealing with too much information. For more information on Nideffer's model of attention see citation below. Nideffer, R. M. (1976). Test of attentional and interpersonal style. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34(3), 394–404. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.34.3.394 If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com. Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian Reardon M.S. and Anthony Carnevale M.Ed. recap a few notable moments from the Paris Olympic Games, discuss the principles of deactivation, and what to do post competition! If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com. Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian Reardon M.S. and Anthony Carnevale M.Ed. discuss the pressure of competing at the Olympic Games and how to use a pre-game routine to combat them. The guys also discuss gratitude as the ultimate positive emotion to combat nerves and anxiety. If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com. Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian introduces the newest member of the team: Anthony Carnevale! The guys discuss the inverted U theory of arousal, what the peak performance zone is, and how to use cognitive reappraisal to control your emotions. Anthony also gives very practical tips to control your fight or flight response!

If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com.

Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian and Chris of The Mental Barbell talk Augusta National and the Masters Tournament, UFC 300, and the lighting of the Olympic Torch!

If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com.

Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance

Ian and Chris of The Mental Barbell talk NIL deals and the impact on team dynamics, Gambling in sport, Mental Preparation, New Research in Augmented Reality and Visualization, and Q&A including overcoming mental blocks and finding Flow!

Book Recommendation:

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

New Research Further Reading:

Lin, T., Singh, R., Yang, Y., Nobre, C., Beyer, J., Smith, M. A., & Pfister, H. (2021, May). Towards an understanding of situated ar visualization for basketball free-throw training. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13

If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com.

Please like and subscribe to follow our journey of optimal mental performance!

Ian and Chris of The Mental Barbell talk March Madness, differentiating between excuses and legitimate reasons, and why athletes often don't compete at their very best. If you have any questions you want answered on TMB please send them to info@thementalbarbell.com