The Playbook with Colin Jonov
Formerly The Athletic Fortitude Show.... Colin Jonov’s Athletic Fortitude Show has rebranded to The Playbook with Colin Jonov, evolving from a sports-centric podcast to a universal guide for mastering life’s challenges. While retaining its foundation in mindset and performance excellence, the show now expands its scope to empower everyone—athletes, entrepreneurs, professionals, and beyond—to live life to its fullest potential
Episodes
127 episodes
Discipline Over Motivation: How to Keep Commitments When Life Gets Hard | Kaitlyn Kenna
Kaitlyn Kenna and I start with caffeine withdrawal and end up somewhere much deeper: how discipline, identity, and self respect actually get built when things feel hard. We share what helps us train, recover, and eat with intention without gett...
The Dark Side of Leadership: Ambition, Family, and the Cost of Being “The Guy” | Zach Brandon
Performance and Leadership advisor, Zach Brandon, and I dig into why the traits that drive excellence can also sabotage it when we overuse them. We trade stories and mental models that help leaders, coaches, and athletes stay adaptable, serve o...
The Half‑Truths Holding Athletes Back: Lessons from 30 Years and 120 Episodes
I reflect on turning 30 and break down the lessons that keep showing up across sports, coaching, and life: every decision has downstream effects, and you always have more choice than you think. We challenge popular one-liners about performance ...
Strong Beliefs, Loosely Held: How to Evolve Without Losing Yourself- Josh Chambers
Josh Chambers and I talk about why “unorthodox” often becomes the new standard and how the best performers find an edge by refusing to protect their ego. We connect sports stories to leadership, identity, and habits so you can adapt faster and ...
What Coaches Get Wrong About Building Winning Teams: Greg Berge's 27-Year Playbook
We sit down with retired coach and school leader Greg Berge to unpack what actually lasts after the wins and losses fade. We dig into trust, culture, and parenting pressures, then land on a simple north star: people over plays, every day. ...
Mike Adams: PTSD, Identity Crisis, and Rebuilding After Football
We sit down with former NFL tackle Mike Adams to trace how a random act of violence pushed him into PTSD, identity collapse, and a fight to stay alive. We also unpack how yoga, breathwork, better habits, and honest connection helped him rebuild...
The Best of The Playbook: Justin Su'a- Why Success Feels Empty & How To Engineer Your Identity Beyond Achievement
From one of our top performing episodes of 2025, Justin S'ua and I break down why top performers can dominate on paper but feel empty, anxious, and never satisfied, then map out how to rebuild a healthier relationship with success. We tra...
Matt Rotheram- NIL Deals: The Gap Between Headlines and Reality
Matt Rotheram and I break down how NIL negotiations really work when the public numbers are noisy and the real terms stay private. We also talk about why fit, development, and a long-term plan can matter more than a slightly bigger college payo...
Coach Pat Narduzzi- How to Build a Championship Culture
Coach Pat Narduzzi and I break down why Pitt keeps players and coaches in the building while still producing high character pros and NFL Draft picks. We also get real about the transfer portal and NIL world, from tampering to agents to the hidd...
How Champions Build Their Mindset | Rance Mulliniks
World Series champion, Rance Mulliniks breaks down how winning changes the way we judge a career while reminding us how much of a title is outside any one athlete’s control. We talk about roles, ego, and the daily preparation that turns talent ...
Most People Use Their Past as an Excuse. The Best Ones Use It as a Blueprint. | Dr. Mitch Abrams
Dr. Mitch Abrams and I challenge the one size fits all story about divorce and child development, then get specific about what actually hurts kids and what helps them adapt. We also connect divorce dynamics to sports culture, showing how money,...
"Unsustainable" Only Gets Used When Athletes Start Getting Paid - Jay Bilas
Jay Bilas and I challenge the claim that NIL and the transfer portal make college athletics “unsustainable,” and we point out how the industry keeps finding money for everything except athlete compensation. We argue for player choice, smarter s...
You Will Never Outperform Your Purpose- Tim Cortazzo
Tim Cortazzo and I pull back the curtain on how supplements are made, why labels can be misleading, and what it takes to build a product we would confidently give to our own families. We also zoom out into the bigger theme of decision-making, w...
The Unconscious Competence Problem: Thinking Too Much Is Destroying Performance- Dr. Ismael Gallo
Dr. Ismael Gallo and I unpack why young athletes are losing movement fluency and how that loss shows up as injuries, stiffness, and underperformance. We argue for a return to exploration and constraint-led play, then break down how flow-based t...
Jim Malone - The Truth About What Separates Hall of Famers From Everyone Else
I talk with veteran strength coach Jim Malone about why authenticity is the fastest path to trust, buy-in, and better training outcomes in pro sports. We dig into how baseball strength and conditioning changed over the last 30 years, why one-si...
Jordan Colbert- You Will Never Perform Freely Until You Stop Needing the Outcome
Jordan Colbert and I break down what it really takes to go from small-school football to an NFL locker room where every rep feels like a tryout. Jordan shares how he learned complex defenses fast, handled cut-day stress, and rebuilt his mindset...
Jeff Schaefer- Everyone Wants the Big Leagues. Almost Nobody Wants What It Takes to Stay There
Jeff Schaefer and I dig into how a five-year big leaguer turns failure into fuel, why short memory beats loud emotions, and how role clarity plus relentless preparation create staying power. Youth sports culture, parenting, specialization, and ...
20 Lessons From 100 Conversations With the Highest Performers in the World
I share the 20 strongest lessons distilled from 100 conversations with world-class performers, from identity and courage to preparation, chaos training, and leadership. The goal is simple: build proof, narrow your worst days, and fall in love w...
Michael "The Fort" McKenry- 25 Lessons on Identity, False Labels, and Performing on Your Worst Day
Michael Mckenry and I break down how identity in sport is built by daily actions, not labels, and why chasing “optimal” conditions keeps athletes fragile. Practical tactics show how to perform under chaos, pick fit over hype, and use systems to...
How To Build ‘Rock’ Athletes- Trent Mongero
National High School Baseball Coach of the Year Trent Mongero and I trace the shared DNA of elite performance across music and sport, then drill into how discipline, intent, and humility turn average days into winning outcomes. Along the way we...
Brian Kight - 14 Hard Truths About Fear, Desire, and Discipline
Brian Kight and I challenge the myth that more information leads to better lives and show how courage, discipline, and clarity turn principles into practice. We map emotions to desires, reframe integrity as wholeness, and break down four identi...
Steve Springer - How To Compete With Confidence When Everything Is Going Wrong
Steve Springer and I dig into how to play “opening day every day” and why “I don’t give a crap mode” frees players from the weight of stats. The focus shifts to quality at-bats, team-first play, hunting speeds, and building confidence that surv...
Matt Farago- How to Make Your Voice Louder Than the Noise
We trace Matt Farago's broadcasting path from calling simulated NBA games to walking away from a dream tour to care for family, and how that choice reshaped his idea of success. Along the way we dig into empathy in media, preparation as an edge...
10 Lessons on Identity, Obsession, and What It Takes to Be Elite - AJ Shavell
Coach AJ Shavell and I argue that identity beats motivation under pressure and that real confidence is earned through evidence, not affirmations. We share how to raise your floor with small wins, balance gratitude with ambition, and build syste...
Dr. Julie Gurner: The Unglamorous Truth About Ultra Success
Dr. Julie Gurner and I weigh mortality against ambition and land on a clear thesis: courage is the keystone habit that lets you live on your terms. From chronic pain to scaling companies, we show how small wins, clear thinking, and the right ki...