The Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive

As someone now well into their senior years but who has also been active physically for more than 7 decades in various sports and martial arts, I am always seeking interesting and informative material on a wide range of topics. This is why while browsing on Amazon when I came across this 270-page soft cover book (The Champions mind: How great athletes think, train and thrive by Jim Afremow, PhD) I decided to purchase it. From the very first page I loved this book. If you want to achieve success in not only sports, but all aspects of your life this book provides effective and valuable advice to help you achieve your goals. Indeed, without realizing it in my own martial art life I have been using the methods and lessons taught in this fantastic book. Just keep in mind that you have to actually do the work to succeed at anything. This great book covers the following material: “If you can sport greatness, you've got greatness, be your own champion, master the mental skills, be in it to win, the wisdom of a champion, exercise, nutrition, pain, injuries, and regeneration, take control of your personal destiny, Zen in the zone, golden reflections, your world class game plan, long term survival of the most mentally fit and ultimate victory is yours.” In conclusion, if you are a serious about “being he best you can be” this book is for you. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical principals of the most effective combative systems).

Want to improve your athletic performance without working out more, then get this book by Jim Afremow. I almost did not want to review this book since it has so much solid and practical advise for improving the mental side of athletic performance. Every chapter is backed by research and he includes exercises to practice every performance tip. I first became aware of this book when I read an article in Self magazine about pro golfer Michelle Wie. She talks about how the principles in this book have helped her game. Some of the topics covered include: Self talk Self confidence Focus Breath control to calm down or pump up Dealing with anxiety Positive affirmations Champion leader Pure-race and post race routines Dealing with mental errors Focus on what you can control I read this book at the beginning of my triathlon season this year. I have been able to bounce back much better after a bad race than I have in the past. One of the things I worked with on my coach in the last year was focusing on the things I could control. One of the things my coach does is pre race planning and post race analysis. After every race she has taught me to ask three questions that Afremow also discusses in this book: What did I do that was good? What needs to get better? What changes should I make to become my best? The goal is always to learn from experience, not repeat mistakes, visualize success and improve performance. Afremow states his goals for any athlete using the skills outlined are to: Train with passion and purpose Achieve victory through variety in training exercises Believe they are worth the time it takes to exercise Find support and encouragement Break work into manageable pieces Keep an exercise workout calendar Treat themselves like a champion There is a mental toughness quiz to assess strengths and weakness. Then you can decide which of the strategies will be your top priority. The book is well worth the time of any athlete looking to improve performance. Chris Wodke Author: Running for My Life, Winning for CMT

The book is easy to read and relaxing. I found it a great source for mental preparedness and motivation. Think gold should be your mantra, but to achieve it you must go through and live a gold life!

Amazing Book! Recently I have been trying to find the perfect book that best fits my interests. I am currently a track and field athlete at Iowa State University, so I was trying to find a book that will give me motivation to perform better athletically. At the same time, I wanted to educate myself and learn how to be more confident and prepared while competing. Having the right mindset is essential for every athlete. Right now I would consider myself to be in a good place in my athletic career, but I am always wanting to learn how to have a strong mindset. Having the right mindset is one of the most important and necessary things that an athlete must have. Without this, the athlete might not be able to achieve to his or her greatest capacity. Quality of a positive mindset As a Division 1 athlete, having the right mindset helps me not only to compete better and stay relaxed, but also helps me to enjoy and appreciate my competitions more. Often athletes are too worried about thinking how they can improve physically; for example, how they can run/jump better, what they can do different to achieve certain objectives. However, they are forgetting on how to improve their mindset. Having a positive mindset is what athletes often miss. This book has helped me learn how to set specific goals. Goals don’t have to be too easy nor too hard; they must be realistic and achievable. Trying to accomplish those specific goals has allowed me to stay focused and concentrated on my game. It has also taught me that when competing I must stay relaxed, so in this way emotions do not affect my athletic performance. Importance of reading a book Reading, no matter what its content, is going to influence our lives in a positive way. For example, it is like how exercising transforms our body, reading good content to help us transform our mind by finding a perfect balance in our emotional development. I would definitely recommend this book. It helps athletes to stay focused and relaxed and teaches them to enjoy every part of the game. Being able to know that Olympic athletes and/or professional athletes operate in this way, helps to understand that having the right mental game is what matters the most. Price The price of this book is very affordable. I paid $8.49 for the hardcover. The seller also offers Kindle. But, I honestly think that the price does not matter when it’s a valuable book.

“Champion yourself. We all experience similar struggles and deal with demanding challenges in our pursuit of excellence, regardless of the sport or fitness activity. To be a champion, your true best self becomes key to personal and athletic greatness. You know, as we all do, that only those performers who think gold and never settle for silver will continue to strive for and reach their highest, or gold, level. A champion makes greatness happen, despite what may seem impossible odds. Of course most of us are not Olympians or professional athletes. But all of us can acquire a champion’s mind-set. Any athlete can learn to think like a champion. Every one of us can be peak performers in the game of life by achieving our own personal best. We can strive to be the best version of ourselves. It is possible for us to stay ‘professional’ whenever adversity strikes. It is possible to ingrain mental fortitude that drives us forward. And it is possible to take a championship approach.”x ~ Jim Afremow from The Champion’s Mind Jim Afremow is one of the world’s leading sports psychologists who works with some of the top performers in all major sports. This is a great book—a collection of bite-size Big Ideas on how we can develop our Champion’s Mind covering everything from goal setting, visualization and self-talk to breath control, confidence and mental toughness. As I’ve mentioned in other Notes in our growing collection of sports +mental toughness books, I love sports books because sports are such a great metaphor for life. As Afremow puts it, we can all be “Peak performers in the game of life.” We can all be Champions. Here’s a fun little fact: Did you know the word champion comes from the medieval Latin campio(n-) which means “fighter”? Yep—which immediately makes me think of winning the ultimate combat Socrates talks about in The Gorgias: “I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can... And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same... I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.” I'm excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas: 1. The Vision - of a Champion 2. Mental Toughness - Let's define it. 3. Ugly buy Effective - + God bad days. 4. Sand in Your Hand - Squeeze it just right. 5. Good, Better, Best- How to evaluate performance. Here’s to winning the ultimate fight and becoming Champions of our lives! More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our ​*OPTIMIZE*​ membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

An excellent book by a leading sports psychologist, Dr. Jim Afremow. There's a lot of content in this book, but it's written so well that the concepts are broken down into useful chunks of information you can learn and apply. We can all better learn how to develop a championship mindset, elevate our performance, and get the results we're looking for. That's what this book will help us do. It's educational, inspirational, and a very practical, useable guide for the peak performer or those seeking to become peak performers. Essential reading to develop the mind of a champion for all coaches, athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and competitors. And, it's a book you can apply immediately to elevate your game. Read it, apply the information, and take your performance to the next level! Highly recommended for anyone wanting to improve their potential.

I bought this book for my son. He tore his ACL during his junior year football season, and had no offers going into college; yet he really wanted to play football at the next level. He was facing a summer full of camps to get in front of coaches and tryout for a walk-on position at a nearby SEC school. He spent his summer training--often at 5:30 am--working around his summer job hours. He did make the SEC team, but at one of the camps he was invited to camp at an FCS school. Immediately after this school's camp, they offered him a spot and kept in touch with him throughout the application process. This school wasn't even on my son's radar, but he is now enrolled and has begun working out with the team. I'm proud of the mature decision he has made. It's an excellent school with a highly-ranked football program, and there's a great opportunity for him to contribute. I give this background because I believe this book was part of what kept him going, kept him working until the final decision was made. When he was packing up to move to his dorm, I saw him put The Champion's Mind in his workout bag. His next goal is to earn a scholarship with his team, and while he has no control over that final decision, he has complete control over leaving them no choice but to offer it to him. I give it five stars because of my son's reaction to the book. I only had a moment to read the first chapter myself, because I wanted him to have it quickly. That first chapter contains a lot that I've already read and seen in the (too) many years I've been an athlete. However, I look forward to reading the entire book when my son comes home next summer, and I suspect that when I get further into the chapters I will find new nuggets and reminders of helpful things that I've forgotten. Bonus: I really enjoy the insights gained from following Dr. Afremow on Twitter!

It touched on all great topics but felt as if it was saying that if you do not follow exactly what he is saying then you will be unsuccessful. As a professional athlete, I did not learn anything from this book. However, there are some good takeaways if you are entering college athletics.

Ótimo livro!

Exclusive For a sportsman from any field.

A great book for the athlete or coach that wants that extra reiteration of what makes a champion tick or what to strive for to achieve excellence!

Ce livre est excellent pour les personnes qui ont envie de performer dans leurs sports ou dans la vie en général. Il donne de précieux conseils et il est riche en témoignages d'athlètes. Je recommande vivement

The book was in such good condition it was good as new! As soon as I started reading it, I was eager to jot down my own notes next to the author's valuable advice. Very grateful! :)