Do you want to know what mental toughness is? And how we as trainers can teach it to our students and first responders? Do you want to know how to develop Challenge instead of Threat States in your students? And what is the relation between personality traits and developing mental skills? What are mental skills anyway? Listen to my conversation with Dr Adam Nicholls, professor of psychology at the University of Hull. Before you think he is only doing research: Adam is also an accomplished BJJ competitor and in 2021 he won silver at the British Open in gi and bronze at the 2022 no-gi British Open. He is the author of the textbook ‘Psychology in Sports Coaching’ . Listen to part one!
Time stamps/topics
Brazilian Ju Jutsu lessons
What are mental skills?
Can mental skills be learned and developed by anyone?
Mental skills and personality
Is screening personality traits useful in the context of performing under pressure?
What is mental toughness and is it still a good framework?
Maintain standard of performing under pressure
How to teach mental toughness
Assessing challenge and threat state differences
How to develop challenge appraisal
Is self-confidence important to perform?
Is self-confidence the same as self-efficacy and are these skills/ traits generalizable to new situations?
Transfer of mental skills to different situations
Books by Adam
Interesting research