The BS Of “Healthy Eating”

I hear this over and over from athletes of all levels, from the pros to the playground: “I can’t lose weight.” You can’t, or you won’t? It usually goes like this: About a month before training camp, a player comes into my office, slumps down into a chair, shakes his head in frustration and says, […]

Are you a Cooler, Closer, or Cleaner?

If you read my book RELENTLESS: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, you already know I categorize everyone into one of three categories: Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners. In my work with elite athletes, I have to know whom I’m dealing with, their mental strengths and weaknesses, how far I can push them, how far they’re […]

The Power of Failure

Everyone fails at some point. The question is whether is shuts you down, or drives you forward. In this brief excerpt from my just-released interview with InsideQuest.com, we talk about how failure can be  the most powerful tool in your arsenal, if you use  it correctly. Hope you’ll take a minute to watch. You can […]

Five Things a Real Competitor Never Says

It’s only one game. It’s only the preseason. It’s only practice. It’s only a mistake. It’s only an idea. That small word–‘only’–changes everything. Same for the word ‘just’: It was just one donut, just one missed workout, just one drink. It’s just a job. To me it all translates into: This isn’t that important, and […]

The Most Common Injury in Sports

I wrote about this a year ago, during an epidemic of NBA ankle sprains. Now, only one week into the NFL season, we’ve already seen double-digit lower leg injuries—calves, ankles, Achilles tendons, I’m not even including knees and feet here—that will cost big players some big time. Let’s be honest, very few people go into […]

The PHDs: Be Careful Who You Trust

“Fall guys?” Here’s my definition: The guys who cause your career to fall. For every star athlete, they are a reality; I call them the PHDs. Why? I wrote about this in my book RELENTLESS:  ————————————————————————————————————– Some years ago I worked with a star athlete who had one of the most legendary entourages in the history […]

Confidence is silent. Don’t say it if you can’t back it up.

When you tell everyone you’re the best, just be prepared: That statement comes with consequences. Because even if you only said it to kick yourself in the ass and elevate your own game, you definitely just elevated your opponent’s game. So you’d better be able to take your performance to the next level, because if […]

Is your trainer getting you results, or just getting you tired?

You know this image: Star athlete works out in front of the cameras, trainer sends it all over social media so you get to see 15 seconds of video and some photos showing him training like a psycho beast. You don’t know what he did the rest of the time, but for those few moment, […]

GET ON MY LEVEL…or get out of my way.

There’s no such thing as a meaningless game. Doesn’t matter if it’s the first preseason event or a midseason All-Star Game or the last game in a losing season, a champion shows up to play. I told this story in my book RELENTLESS, because it’s the perfect example of how the greats compete: During the 2012 […]

It’s Not Weak to Take a Day Off–It’s Necessary

It’s not a weakness to recognize your body’s need to recover, it’s a weakness to be so addicted to training and so scared to miss a day that your body can’t keep up with your obsession. A car will go farther on a full tank than on fumes; so will you.  Active rest and recovery […]