The Brave Athlete

By: Simon Marshall PhD, Lesley Paterson

Narrated by: Simon Marshall, Lesley Paterson

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Brave Athlete solves the 13 most common mental conundrums athletes face in their everyday training and in races. You don't have one brain - you have three; your ancient Chimp brain that keeps you alive, your modern Professor brain that navigates the civilized world, and your Computer brain that accesses your memories and runs your habits (good and bad). They fight for control all the time and that's when bad things happen; you get crazy nervous before a race, you choke under pressure, you quit when the going gets tough, you make dumb mistakes, you worry about how you look.

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? You can.

The Brave Athlete from Dr. Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson will help you take control of your brain so you can train harder, race faster, and better enjoy your sport.

Dr. Marshall is a sport psychology expert who trains the brains of elite professional athletes. Paterson is a three-time world champion triathlete and coach. Together, they offer this innovative brain training guide that is the first to draw from both clinical science and real-world experience with athletes.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson (P)2017 Tantor

interesting and practical

...the authors also did an amazing job reading the audio book version. Kept me interested and wanting to find opportunities to try their strategies. Also made me laugh out loud quite a few times.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Well narrated and informative,

Excellently written and very informative. Narrated very well by the author and his world class triathlete wife, and laugh out loud funny

Many facts for athletes mental and body strength.

Unique/ funny speaker/script

Facts covered in humor..nice. good. This was listened by a junior sports team coach. The book sports/examples were often about the same sports as my personal sports: swimming, running and cycling (triathletes) so it was easy to listen. However the facts and storytelling are so universal knowledge based that anyone even non-athlete will listen this easily if the occasional humor is ok inside the factual main talk.

too many silly jokes

they tried to make it light hearted, but is a distraction. the technical content is good, but the performance is not professional and the metaphors about metaphors make it a less pleasurable listening

Better Read than Listened To

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book would be a far better read because of the recipe-like structure of the book. Also, I found the metaphors and euphemisms used to take away from the science behind the book.

XTERRA triathlete World Champ and PHD marry the physical and mental aspect of sport

This book delivered on everything regarding the mental side of sport that you can apply to everyday life, training, and racing.  It was the  huge bonus I was searching for a book written by an XTERRA professional.  Dr. Simon Marshall takes the daunting task of describing our complex brains into three simplified categories:  the chimp, the professor, and the computer. They describe the brain in such a way that you can immediately see how each component is impacting your life, your training, and your racing and then take immediate action to adjust and become better.  Whether you are a rookie or a seasoned pro you should buy a copy or listen through audible if you are: new to racing, someone who loves racing, you want a breakthrough this season! It’s a must read!

Just finished...what an amazing book! Must read.

What an outstanding read. After reading this book I have grown not only as a athlete but as a person. the lessons I've learned are invaluable and I apply them daily the lessons I've learned help me in day-to-day life not just on the bike. Thank you Simon and Lesley.

More than a triathlon book

This book is a cornucopia of information on The psychology of endurance sports. It is triathlon centric but the revelations it holds can be applied to many challenges in life in general. It does have a good share of profanity sprinkled throughout but replied well to emphasize psychologically trying situations. It is about time someone dispelled common motivational phrases and cliches that are absolutely useless.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Hands down the best book I have found on the topic

What made the experience of listening to The Brave Athlete the most enjoyable?

Life - changing, from both a performance and general life point of view. A lot of complex information, provided in an easy to understand format. I have purchased a copy of this book to support the audio version, and even sent one as a gift to a friend. Its the first book I've ever felt compelled to write a review for, it was that good.

After competing in my first tri event last year I had a lot of questions / fears about stepping up from a half to full distance event, and having the mental fortitude to complete it. With the tactics and information in the book I feel a lot more confident that I will be able to train my mind over the coming months, as well as my body. The book certainly delivers on this front.

I have spent a lot of time researching / reading similar books and this is really the only one I found to contain a lot of relevant content, not just pushing a couple of simple points home.

I feel that it is going to have a massive effect in my personal life too, as I start to try and wrangle my professor and chimp brains !

What about Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall ’s performance did you like?

Its nice to hear the voices of the actual authors, it makes you feel like one of their athletes

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Awesome book for helping me work on mindset during training!

I am not an endurance athlete, or coach, but so many of the stories, techniques and advice in this book can be applied to my training! I feel like it's relevant to anyone looking to better their performance....athlete or not working on and understanding our crazy brains during challenging sessions/days/months definitely makes us better, stronger, and perhaps most importantly happier along the way! The sense of humour throughout also made it a super enjoyable listen :)

Great content and told in entertaining way

Really enjoyed this audio.
Enjoyed that it was narrated by the authors and that they were both experts in their field.
Explanation style was really good and content very interesting.
Would recommend.