How can subtle changes in your physical awareness dramatically improve your performance and well-being? Today on the Mental Training Lab, I’m thrilled to welcome Mary Bond—renowned author, Structural Integration practitioner, and expert in physical intelligence—to discuss the power of posture and embodied movement. Forget the stiff, uncomfortable posture teachings of the past. Mary helps us reframe posture not as rigid alignment but as dynamic, playful, and deeply connected to our internal sensations and external environment.

In our insightful conversation, Mary reveals how you can leverage simple sensory practices to reconnect with your body, enhance your physical intelligence, and ultimately boost your overall performance. We explore groundbreaking concepts like tensegrity, grounding, fascia’s role in sensory feedback, and how integrating these subtle shifts can significantly impact your movement, resilience, and adaptability.

Join us and learn how becoming attuned to your body’s subtle signals can unlock more effortless performance, reduce tension, and provide a richer experience of embodiment in everything you do.

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Ever wonder how elite performers consistently achieve peak results without burning out? Today I'm diving in with Alex Auerbach, performance psychologist and CEO of Momentum Labs, to unpack his powerful three-stage framework: understanding yourself, becoming your best, and producing maximum results. Alex brings his expertise from working alongside world-class athletes in the NBA, NFL, MLB, Olympians, elite military units, and Fortune 5 companies to share practical insights on how to optimize your strengths, embrace discomfort, and use recovery as an investment in long-term success.

We discuss why relentless effort isn’t enough—why self-awareness, intentional recovery, and identifying your "signature strength" can propel you further, faster. Alex offers actionable strategies, like utilizing the VIA Character Strengths test and effectively seeking feedback. If you're ready to understand how sustainable excellence is built from the inside out, this episode’s got you covered.

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Today we’re working through the dynamics of team culture with Dr. Kensa Gunter. Does the culture shape the team, or do the people define the culture? Join us as we explore how these elements interact like a living, breathing organism, constantly evolving and influencing one another.

With Dr. Gunter’s experience as a licensed psychologist and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), we’ll dive into how creating a supportive, inclusive environment is not just beneficial but essential for nurturing psychological safety and fostering peak performance. Tune in and discover how you can cultivate a thriving team culture that champions well-being and development alongside success. 

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Unlike resilience, antifragility is about growing stronger from challenges and proactively seeking them out. To learn more about this tool, I went straight to the experts: co-founders of Antifragile Academy Adam Wright and Nick Holton. They share practical strategies for fostering psychological and behavioral flexibility, the importance of supportive environments, and how these principles can be applied to achieve not just survival, but thriving success.

Tune in to learn how to turn life’s stressors into fuel for personal and professional growth, and learn actionable steps to cultivate an antifragile mindset in your own life. For anyone looking to dive deeper into the principles of antifragility and how to apply them, I highly recommend visiting The Antifragile Academy’s website. They offer a range of resources from courses to coaching that can guide you on your journey to becoming not just resilient, but truly antifragile.

Learn more about The Antifragile Academy

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Today we’re stepping onto the course with PGA Tour pro Scott Stallings, a master of resilience who's turned his recent injuries into opportunities for personal growth. In this episode, Scott takes us through his intense rehab journey following a labrum and bicep tendon tear, and his ambitious goal of running the Boston Marathon. He also shares how his role as a coach for the University of Tennessee golf team has kept him deeply connected and engaged with the sport.

Scott also unpacked how he’s continued to adapt to evolving golf technology and shares training regimes that have significantly shaped his approach to both sport and life. He underscores the impact of mentoring young athletes, explaining how this experience has rejuvenated his love for the game and enriched his perspectives on performance and leadership.

Whether you're an athlete, coach, or anyone navigating through personal and professional challenges, Scott's insights on embracing discomfort and leveraging adversity for growth are incredibly enlightening. Get ready for a conversation filled with actionable insights on embracing discomfort, mentoring, and making the most out of every situation. Let’s get into it and find out how to play through the change and come out swinging!

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Perfectionism is a double-edged sword. It drives us, and can also derail us. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Marina Harris, a former Division I gymnast turned psychologist and performance consultant, who’s mastered the art of turning high-pressure expectations into healthy, high performance.

Marina brings a unique perspective from the front lines at Bloom Psychology Group, where she works with anxious and perfectionistic high achievers striving to balance their mental well-being with their ambitions. Today, she’ll share transformative insights on how closely mental health and performance are intertwined, and why a flexible, compassionate approach can be your greatest asset in managing perfectionism.

Whether you’re an athlete, coach, or anyone who’s ever felt paralyzed by the need to be perfect, this episode is tailored for you. Tune in to discover how you can start embracing your imperfections and transform the way you approach challenges—both on and off the field.

Let’s head into the lab and unpack these insights to forge a healthier, more sustainable path forward in our quest for excellence.

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Ever wonder how groundbreaking discoveries like penicillin, Post-it Notes, microwaves, and Teflon came to be? Believe it or not, they all started as accidents. But it wasn’t just luck—it was the mindset behind the scenes that transformed these unexpected outcomes into revolutionary innovations. Today, I’m going to equip you with tools to make this mindset a consistent habit.

We’re diving deep into how cultivating a spirit of curiosity and embracing incremental gains can lead to massive improvements in both your personal and professional life. I’ll discuss the importance of feedback loops, self-reflection, and the necessity of staying playful and experimental, even in the face of rigid expectations.

By adopting a laboratory mindset, you can foster creativity, resilience, and experience the compound interest effect of small, regular improvements—transforming them into significant long-term successes. So, in the true spirit of The Lab, let’s learn how to turn your life into a playground of possibilities and accelerate your growth.

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Al Lattell is a trailblazer in athletic leadership at Georgetown Athletics who is breaking the mold by pushing beyond basic leadership drills into something way bigger—building a culture that cultivates leaders for the long haul. He joined me on the show to share how he’s helping craft team cultures that set athletes up for success on and off the field.

We’ll cover everything from the power of visualization to why continuous learning and honest reflection are game-changers in leadership. So, whether you’re coaching a team, leading in the boardroom, or just hungry for some solid growth tactics, this chat’s packed with insights you won’t want to miss. So, get ready to unpack what it takes to craft a winning culture and develop true leaders, both in sports and beyond.

Al Lattell on LinkedIn

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Today, we’re zeroing in on the power of transitions—those seemingly small moments when we switch gears from work to home or task to task. Ever wondered how a simple routine could drastically enhance your day-to-day presence and focus? We’re diving deep into how mindful transitions can transform your daily effectiveness and reduce stress.

I share a clever trick my godfather used to separate his work and home life during the pandemic, and a breakthrough moment with a sprinter struggling to find his focus. Plus, I'll unpack a straightforward three-step process to master your transitions: Identify the shift, ramp up your present-moment awareness, and set a clear intention for what comes next. Whether you’re an athlete, professional, or anyone in between, you’ll discover how these small adjustments can lead to significant improvements in both performance and personal satisfaction.

Get ready to learn how to bring more intentionality and ease into every part of your day. It’s time to make those transitions work for you, not against you.

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It’s true - moments like ringing in the New Year serve as mental accounting periods that prompt us to reassess our goals and behaviors. But without taking time to slow down and process, we can lose a huge growth opportunity. I sat down with Jeff Siegel to explore the 'Fresh Start Effect,' where transitions can motivate new behaviors, and critique the consumerism and unrealistic expectations surrounding New Year's resolutions.

Jeff and I emphasize the value of taking purposeful pauses to reflect, being brutally honest with ourselves, and seeking support from our community. Tune in to discover how mindfulness and intentionality can help you navigate life’s pivotal moments and make conscious choices that lead to sustainable wellness.

Jeff Siegel | Website

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How often do we genuinely hear what our bodies are trying to tell us, unless we're hungry or in pain? In this solo edition of the lab, you'll learn how tuning into your body with the same openness and curiosity you’d offer a close friend can elevate every area of your life—from enhancing performance and improving recovery to enriching overall well-being.

I introduce a transformative practice called pendulation—a method that teaches us to oscillate our awareness between discomfort and neutral or pleasant sensations, cultivating presence and a deeper understanding of our body’s signals. It’s not just theory; it’s a practical skill used by top performers to optimize their health and performance. Ready to reconnect with the incredible intelligence of your physical form? This discussion could be a game-changer.

If you are interested in taking this practice one step further, I’ve created a guided pendulation practice that complements the technique discussed in today’s episode. To find your free download, head to mtl.academy and check this week's show notes!

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From gold medals to career crashes, the icons have done it all. How can tapping into their experiences accelerate your journey? In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Duncan Simpson and Dr. Greg Young from the Performers Podcast, a show that brilliantly mashes up sport autobiographies with performance psychology to pull out actionable insights that are as inspiring as they are instructive.

We unpack the lessons they’ve learned from the likes of Kobe Bryant to Mark Messier, and explore five key themes that have emerged from their study of the greats: resilience, goal setting, self-belief, the power of relationships, and the never-ending journey of learning. This isn’t just about sport heroes; it’s about translating their journeys into skills that can help us all to excel.

Learn how these stories can reshape our approach to challenges and redefine what it means to train for peak performance. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, or just a lover of great stories and psychology, this episode has something for you.

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We often hear that specialization is key, but what if there’s more growth in the gray areas than we realize? In this solo episode, I’ll explore the transformative power of stepping outside our comfort zones, with examples from cross-training for runners to actors taking improv classes. We’ll see how expanding our horizons can lead to unexpected breakthroughs in our primary fields of interest.

I dive back into the intriguing perspective shared by Dr. Brett Malone, a former astrophysicist turned biotech consultant, who believes that diversifying our training can dramatically enhance our problem-solving abilities and help address our blind spots. Plus, I’ll share a personal story about my high school days when I juggled wrestling with a newfound passion for hockey—a sport I was utterly unprepared for—and why it paradoxically fostered a phenomenal growth mindset.

Tune in to discover why sometimes, the best way to enhance your main performance domain is to venture boldly into new ones, and how trusting the non-linear path of diverse learning can open up new vistas of personal and professional growth.

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What’s the key to unlocking athletic potential? It’s not a paint-by-numbers approach to mental skills training! In this episode, sports psychologist Dr. Adam Naylor discusses the often overlooked foundations of sustainable high-performance mindsets. He shares the importance of flexibility, the critical role of a strong working alliance between coach and client, and how embracing the full spectrum of human experience—including stress and acceptance—can profoundly enhance performance.

You’ll learn why teaching mental skills isn’t always enough and how adopting a more holistic perspective can lead to significant breakthroughs in high-performance arenas. Whether you’re a coach, athlete, or anyone interested in the psychology of performance, this episode offers essential insights into the complexities of mental skills training and the necessity of building robust, trust-filled relationships for transformative growth.

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This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.  

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Leveraging your mistakes to maximize your growth is one of the core skills that elite performers have to master. In this solo episode, I dive into a transformative concept that has reshaped my approach to mistakes in sports and life. By embracing our errors loudly and clearly, we shift our perspective and begin to view these moments as invaluable data points that guide our path to improvement. 

I'll break down the four pillars of this mindset: awareness, practice, reflection, and, crucially, safety. Along the way, you'll hear about a long jumper struggling to translate practice success into meet performance and why lessons from my pep band days have resonated with me for decades. This episode is an invitation to  step through fear and embrace the messiness of growth with courage and curiosity.

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After a near-fatal fall that could have ended her career, trail running legend Hillary Allen not only returned to the sport she loves but also expanded her athletic pursuits into gravel biking with Scuderia Pinarello. Today, she joins us to explore the depths of resilience and recovery, and what it really looks like to bounce back.

With her master’s degree in neuroscience and physiology, Hillary offers a unique blend of personal experience and scientific insight into mental toughness and the psychology of endurance sports. You’ll learn how embracing challenges can transform adversity into life’s greatest victories, and gain practical lessons on maintaining balance and finding joy through the toughest trials.

Learn more about Hillary Allen Instagram | Website
Purchase Out and Back

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Master your mental game with the Mental Training Lab, hosted by Pete Kadushin. With 15 years of coaching experience and a PhD in performance psychology, Pete digs deep each episode to provide practical tools and expert insights so you can perform your best when it matters most. Enhance your focus, harness stress, and overcome challenges whether you’re an athlete, leader, or high-performer. Subscribe to learn how to elevate your game in work, play, and life.

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In today’s episode we’re joined by Dr. Ashley Cranney. Ashley is a licensed professional counselor and certified mental performance consultant, employed at West Virginia University as Assistant Professor of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology. She has been consulting with athletes and performers for nearly fifteen years, sharing her passion for performance enhancement with anyone who will listen. One of the many things that makes Ashley so great is that she’s worked with a wide variety of top performers across sport, dance, first responder, and military contexts. Another superpower that Ashley has is her ability to name complex concepts with clarity and simplicity, which really shines through in our talk here as she gets right to the heart of stress and performance.

I’ll be honest… we really only scratched the surface when it comes to what Ashely can offer, and I hope we’ll have a round 2 soon. This time around, we dive into the stress cycle, and specifically the six concrete behaviors you can use to help complete the stress cycle. Ashley also spends time talking about how the sport environment is designed, if we’re mindful of some of the pitfalls, to be biologically respectful. This one’s packed with specific tools we can use, and pairs really well with past episodes we’ve had on embodiment and presence. It was amazing having a rockstar like Ashley share so much in a potent window of time here, and I know you’re going to get something good out of this one… time to jump right in. 

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Today’s episode is about unpacking a bit of well meaning and ultimately bad advice. It’s advice that puts us in a no-win position where we are spending a ton of energy and attention on forcing our internal experience to fit into a narrow window of conditions. It’s also advice that inadvertently tells us we can’t expand that window to create more grace under fire and a sense of freedom within uncontrollable performance environments. And all of that happens even though it’s being shared with the best intentions in mind. 

As always, the show will close with some specific practices you can work on to expand your window of success and your capacity for big experiences so you can be more poised when it matters most!

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Today, we’ve got Dr. Adrian Ferrera (@dradrianferrera) in the lab, and I couldn’t be more excited. As you’ll hear soon - Adrian and I go way back, and it was amazing to get to hear so many amazing and applicable tools from an old friend. Adrian spent a lot of time unpacking the power of self-regulation, how awareness acts as the first step of the mental training journey, and how he gets parents and coaches to be his greatest ally as he’s working with teams and athletes. 

I got ahead of myself though. Who is Adrian? Adrian’s a licensed professional counselor and performance consultant. He’s directed both mental health and performance services at the University of Washington, Auburn, and West Virginia University, and before that he worked with US Army special operations at Fort Bragg. Look, he’s the real deal, having worked with pros, national champions, and world champions. He’s now ventured into the world of executive coaching. Simply put, he’s great at what he does, and he shared a ton of it with us today. To connect with Adrian, visit www.dradrianferrera.com!

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Today’s episode is going be a short exploration of our most important resource, which is the combination of time and attention. We’ll start with a short thought exercise, talk about the implications of low quality attention, and then wrap up with how you can be training your attention starting today. 

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My guest today is Dr. Jesse Michel. Jesse helps lead the Performance Psychology Program at Deloitte, where his team provides support and services to over 8500 principals, partners, and managing directors across the US. Previously, he spent four years as the mental skills coordinator for the Houston Astros, and another four years before that as the Lead Master Resilience Trainer at the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Training Center. Simply put, he has a diverse background and a sharp skillset, and he poured out a ton of pearls of wisdom in this conversation! 

In this episode, Jesse shares how he has changed his mind to focus more on the environments we create. He riffs on the art and science of coaching, providing some actionable tools for anyone in leadership positions to use, and then closes with a discussion of how important high quality attention is to peak performers across disciplines.

You can find more of Jesse here:

Jesse on LinkedIn

Jesse on Twitter

Mindset for Excellence

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Mace and Travis Macy join me today for a really special episode. Their new book, A Mile at a Time, is a well-written and unapologetic look at one family’s experience with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Travis and Mace use humor, vulnerability, and channel their willingness to do the hard, important things, to share the highs and lows of their journey.

Oh… and in case you didn’t know, both of these gentlemen are powerhouse ultra-endurance athletes! In fact, Mace and Travis, a year after Mace’s diagnosis, tackled Eco-Challenge Fiji - appropriately dubbed the World’s Toughest Race… a 10 day, 417 mile race over mountains, rivers, swamps, and oceans. Travis (@travismacy) has finished over 130 ultra-endurance races, and held the record for the Leadman Challenge (if you don’t know… you absolutely have to look it up).

Mace (@mmacy146) is one of the OGs from the ultra-endurance world, having competed in everything from the Ironman Triathlon to the Leadville 100, and participating in all eight of the original Eco-Challenge races. Both the book and this interview have a ton of teachable moments, and it was a privilege to spend time with both of these guys. I know, without a doubt, you’ll enjoy this one. 

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In today’s episode, Raymond Prior (@bts_mindset on twitter) comes back to tackle some of the common myths we hear in the performance psychology world. Honestly, one of my favorite games it so poke the bear and see if I can get Raymond riled up, and so I tossed him some cliches to see what would happen. I tried - and failed - to make this a lightning round… and the truth is there was a lot to dig into as we discussed things like “Just be positive” and “fake it til you make it”. Raymond’s book, Golf Beneath the Surface, is now available anywhere you find your books, and is worth the time if you take performing your best seriously! 

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Throughout the ages, there are a number of myths that invoke this image.  A commander and their army step onto foreign soil, and knowing that they are outmatched by the enemy, the commander makes a daring choice.  The army is ordered to burn their boats, leaving only two choices: victory or death.

Today's short episode examines the relationship between commitment and trust and how they're critical for our capacity to perform our best when it matters most. As always, there's also a quick discussion of how to train these qualities so you  can have access to them consistently!

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