A new training guide, ‘The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion’ from Dr Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson, claims to be the first to solve 13 of the most common mental conundrums athletes face in everyday training and in races. Simon Marshall is a sport psychology expert who trains the brains of elite professional athletes. Lesley Paterson is a three-time world champion triathlete and coach. Together, this husband-and-wife team offers their innovative guide that is the first to draw from both clinical science and real-world experience with athletes.
The Brave Athlete is now widely available in bookstores; bike, tri, and running shops; and online.
The Brave Athlete reveals that we don’t have one brain-we have three: an ancient Chimp brain that keeps us alive, a modern Professor brain that navigates the civilized world, and a Computer brain that accesses our memories and runs our habits (good and bad). The book points out that these three fight for control all the time and that’s when bad things happen… ‘we get crazy nervous before a race, we choke under pressure, we quit when the going gets tough, we make dumb mistakes, we worry about how we look.’
In their book, Marshall and Paterson ask… What if you could stop the thoughts and feelings you don’t want? What if you could feel confident, suffer like a hero, and handle any stress? With this in mind, The Brave Athlete will help athletes take control of their brains so they can train better, race faster, and fully enjoy sports.
The Brave Athlete includes practical solutions to common mental challenges athletes face:
- I have thoughts and feelings I don’t want
- I wish I felt more like an athlete
- I don’t think I can
- I don’t achieve my goals
- Other athletes seem tougher, happier, and more badass than me
- I feel fat
- I don’t cope well with injury
- People are worried about how much I exercise
- I don’t like leaving my comfort zone
- When the going gets tough, the tough leave me behind
- I need to harden the f*ck up
- I keep screwing up
- I don’t handle pressure well
A selection of science-based tips that can help solve these problems is summarised at velopress.com/brain.
THE BRAVE ATHLETE: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion
Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson
Paperback with flaps. Full-color interior with worksheets throughout.
6? x 8 1/4?, 360 pp., $24.95, 9781937715731
www.velopress.com/brave
www.velopress.com/bravetour
www.braveheartcoach.com
