Mental Performance Playbook

Gabe Rummel, The Athletes Health
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Sports
  • Updated Weekly

Every athlete trains their body, but how many train their mind? Mental Performance Playbook breaks down elite mental strategies used by top performers and gives you simple, actionable exercises to apply immediately. Hosted by Gabe Rummel, Mental Performance Coach, Founder of The Athletes Health™, and creator of it's Phronoic Gym™, where athletes train their minds like they train their bodies. Whether you’re looking to reset after mistakes, boost focus under pressure, or build unshakable confidence, this playbook has you covered.

  1. 1d ago

    Time Blocking for Athletes, How to Turn One Day Into Four | Ep. 183

    Practice already runs on a schedule. Warm-up, main drill, water break, next drill. Every block has a job. So why does the rest of an athlete's day feel like chaos? Welcome to Day 3 of 75 on the Mental Performance Playbook. Every day until January 1, 2027, we're dropping one whiteboard mental training session built for student athletes, parents, and coaches to use right away. Today's session is Time Blocking Performance. We start by mapping a real schedule on the whiteboard, mine next to a student athlete's. Early workouts, school or work, training, and homework at night. You'll see where the days line up and where the hidden time is that most athletes let slip away. Then we break down two mental exercises for owning your time. The first is day blocking, an idea I picked up from Ed Mylett. Split your 24 hours into four 6 hour days: morning, afternoon, evening, and sleep. Treat each one like its own full day, and one week turns into 28 chances to get better. The second is time blocking. Get a calendar first. Then block out exactly what you're doing in chunks from 30 minutes up to 3 hours, the same way a coach blocks out practice. Clear blocks build clarity, and clarity builds confidence and composure when it's time to perform. And yes, sleep still counts. Student athletes need at least 7.5 hours, and the best athletes you watch on TV take naps. Parents, start simple. Put practices and family events on one shared calendar so your athlete learns to manage their time now, before college or a job makes them learn it the hard way. Your challenge today is simple. Pull out a calendar and block tomorrow morning like it's its own full day. If this helped, share it with an athlete, parent, or coach who needs it. Subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's session, leave a five-star review, and drop a comment on what you want to see next. New mental exercises drop every day on YouTube at @gaberummeltah, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Free resources and training links are below. #timeblocking #studentathlete #mentalperformance #athletemindset #timemanagement Keywordstime blocking, time blocking for athletes, time management for student athletes, student athlete schedule, day blocking, Ed Mylett, how to balance school and sports, productivity for athletes, athlete daily routine, mental performance, sports psychology, mental training for athletes, mental exercises for athletes, sleep for athletes, youth sports, high school athletes, sports parents, Mental Performance Playbook

  2. 2d ago

    Expertise in Time, How Athletes Build Skills Faster | Ep. 182

    Every new skill feels hard at first. You think about every step, every grip, every movement, and your brain gets tired fast. That is not a sign you're bad at it. It's a sign you're early in the process. Welcome to Day 2 of 75 on the Mental Performance Playbook. Every day until January 1, 2027, we're dropping one whiteboard mental training session built for student athletes, parents, and coaches to use right away. Today's session is Expertise in Time. We break down a simple graph every athlete lives through. When you start a skill, your mental energy is high and your physical skill is low. The goal is to flip that. Over time, the skill takes over and the overthinking fades. The best athletes don't just put in more time. They put in smarter time, so they reach the top level faster. We walk through the Expertise Triangle: pattern, methods, and approach. Pattern is the routine and form you repeat. Methods are how you break the skill down and study it. Approach is how you put it all into action. Then we cover four ways to make every hour count. Motivation to learn, so you chase getting better and not only the result. Feedback, so you know what's working and what isn't. Correspondence to performance, so you can see if practice is actually showing up in games. Deviations, so you can spot what changed and keep what works. Your challenge today is simple. Pick one of those four and put it to work in your next practice. If this helped, share it with an athlete, parent, or coach who needs it. Subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's session, and leave a five-star review to help more athletes find the show. New mental exercises drop every day on YouTube at @gaberummeltah, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts at Mental Performance Playbook. Free resources and training links are below. Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553 #mentalperformance #athletemindset #sportspsychology #studentathlete #mentaltraining Keywords mental performance, sports psychology, athlete mindset, how to learn skills faster, skill development for athletes, deliberate practice, athlete expertise, mental training for athletes, student athlete mindset, youth sports mental training, overthinking in sports, muscle memory, feedback in sports, motivation to learn, mental performance coach, high school athletes, mental exercises for athletes, Mental Performance Playbook

  3. 3d ago

    Diamond or Dust, The P Cycle of Practice, Pressure, Perform, Produce | Ep. 181

    Two teammates, same drill, same coach. One treats practice like a playoff game. The other coasts because the big game isn't until Friday. Guess which one shows up when it counts. In this episode of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe Rummel grabs a pen and paper and breaks down the P Cycle, the four-step circle of success he has seen separate athletes more this fall than any year before. Pressure is coming either way. It can turn your athlete into a diamond or into dust, and practice is where they decide which one. In this episode you will learn: The four steps of the P Cycle, practice, pressure, perform, and produceWhy treating practice like a performance is what's driving results this seasonHow to put pressure on yourself at practice so game day feels familiarWhy the cycle is a circle, and what to do after you produceDiamond or dust, and why dust can still be rebuiltHow to find the missing step when an athlete isn't producingSimple questions parents can ask to get the practice conversation goingThis week, find the spot in the cycle your athlete can fill in, and plug in one mental exercise to train it. If this episode helps, follow, subscribe, leave five stars, and share it with an athlete, parent, or coach finishing their fall season. Free resources and training links are below. Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Keywords practice like you play, pressure in practice, how to perform under pressure, practice habits for athletes, game day performance, mental toughness, diamond or dust, finish the season strong, mental performance playbook, mental performance coach, mental exercises for athletes, sports psychology, student athletes, sports parents, youth sports, high school sports, Gabe Rummel, TAH, Top Athlete Habits

  4. Oct 12

    How to Learn Plays Faster, The Science of Memory for Athletes | Ep. 180

    New season, new team, new plays. The coach puts in three sets at practice, and by the car ride home half of it is gone. In this episode of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe Rummel heads back to the whiteboard to break down how memory works for athletes, from the moment information hits your senses to the moment a play runs on autopilot. Memory trains just like a muscle. The more reps and depth you give it, the stronger it gets. In this episode you will learn The path every memory takes, environment, senses, short-term memory, depth of processing, and long-term memoryWhy the brain takes in one thing at a time, and how to stack reps so a new play sticksThe forgetting curve, and why spacing reps over a few days beats crammingHow meaning and emotion lock memories in deeperThe visual sketchpad, using imagery to see the play and see yourself in itThe self-talk loop, talking through the play and listening back to yourselfThree extra boosts, elaborate on the why, test yourself on the sideline, and learn with intentionWhy walking through a play where you'll perform it makes it stickParents and coaches, pick one mental exercise from the board and hand it to your athlete this week. Lock it in now, so they can stop thinking and just play when the games start. If this episode helps, follow, subscribe, leave five stars, and share it with an athlete, parent, or coach. Free resources and training links are below. Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553 Keywords memory for athletes, how to learn plays faster, sports memory, muscle memory, depth of processing, working memory, forgetting curve, spaced repetition, mental imagery, visualization for athletes, self-talk, learning new plays, sports IQ, mental performance playbook, mental performance coach, mental exercises for athletes, sports psychology, student athletes, sports parents, youth sports, Gabe Rummel, TAH, Top Athlete Habits

  5. Oct 5

    The Golf Continuum, When Muscle Memory Turns Mental | Ep. 179

    Mental Performance Playbook Episode. Brought to you by TAH. You step up to the tee and tell yourself, don't hit it over there. And that is exactly where the ball goes. In this episode of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe Rummel pulls out the whiteboard and uses his own golf game to map the mental training continuum. Early on, the game is mostly physical. As the skill locks in, it becomes more and more mental. Clarity, Confidence, and Composure is how athletes handle that shift, in golf and in every sport. In this episode you will learn The mental training continuum, why physical training leads early and mental training takes over as you get betterHow muscle memory turns into brain memory, and why that lets you play on autopilotThe trap of thinking about what you already know, and why pressure pulls an automatic swing back into your headClarity, the mountain goal and seeing the shot, focus on the pin and not where you don't want it to goConfidence, one shot and one focus, using a single word to commit and let the swing happenComposure, the three-way replay to scratch a bad shot and replay it the right wayWhy most athletes want to start with composure, and what parents and coaches can build before and after itNext round, pick one word for every swing. After every bad shot, run the three-way replay. Train it, then trust it. If this episode helps, follow, subscribe, leave five stars, and share it with a golfer, parent, or coach. Free resources and training links are below. [Add links] Keywords: golf mental game, mental training for golfers, golf psychology, muscle memory, choking under pressure, overthinking in sports, swing thoughts, pre-shot routine, one shot one focus, three-way replay, bad shot reset, clarity confidence composure, mental performance playbook, mental performance coach, mental exercises for athletes, sports psychology, student athletes, junior golf, sports parents, Gabe Rummel, TAH, Top Athlete Habits Check out more! Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553

  6. Oct 3

    Pain vs Soreness, Know the Difference and Keep Performing | Ep. 178

    Mental Performance Playbook Episode 178. Brought to you by TAH. It's midseason. Legs are heavy, bodies are banged up, and every athlete is asking the same question. Do I push through this or not? In this episode of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe Rummel heads to the whiteboard and breaks pain versus soreness into four boxes, so athletes, parents, and coaches know what they are dealing with and what to do next. In this episode you will learn The one question that tells pain from soreness, is it a point or is it spread out?Pain's purpose, and the loop it creates, shallow breathing, less blood flow, more muscle tensionThe kinked hose, a simple way to picture what pain does to performanceZone training (relaxation training) and how it helps sleep, muscle tension, endorphins, and brain focusPhysical mental exercises, the big breath and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)Mental exercises, attention control, imagery, and mindfulnessHow to recover from soreness fast, move, hydrate, eat, and sleepWhat to do when you have to perform through it, keyword plus breath plus reset routineNext time something hurts, ask this. Is it one sharp point that happened in a click, or is it spread out and took time to show up? Sharp pain in one spot is a signal to tell your athletic trainer, coach, or doctor. If this episode helps, follow, subscribe, leave five stars, and share it with an athlete, parent, or coach. Check out more! Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553 Keywords pain vs soreness, muscle soreness, playing through pain, sports injury, athlete recovery, relaxation training, zone training, progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, breathing for athletes, imagery, mindfulness, attention control, mental performance playbook, mental performance coach, mental training for athletes, mental exercises for athletes, sports psychology, student athletes, sports parents, Gabe Rummel, TAH, Top Athlete Habits

  7. Sep 28

    3 Key Brain Areas to Master for Performance | Ep. 177

    Mental Performance Playbook Episode 177. Brought to you by TAH. In episode 177 of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe Rummel heads to the whiteboard and breaks down three key brain areas behind performance under pressure, pulled from his grad school work in sport and performance psychology. In this episode you will learn The amygdala, the alarm system for fear, threats, and emotionThe basal ganglia, where habits and muscle memory get wired inThe anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC), the conflict monitor that decides if you push through discomfortHow all three show up when an athlete freezes on a free throw, a PK, a catch, or a diveTwo mental exercises to take control, the reset breath and knowing your zone temp (Caitlin Clark near a 10, Kobe near a 1)Parents and coaches, you do not need to teach the neuroscience. Just hint at the reset breath and the zone, and it will quietly help all three. Pick one pressure moment this week and name which part of the brain is running the show. If this episode helps, follow, subscribe, leave five stars, and share it with an athlete, parent, or coach. Free resources and training links are below. [Add links] Covered in this order Welcome and why these three brain areasWhiteboard, amygdala (fear, threats, emotion)Basal ganglia (habit formation)aMCC (conflict monitor, effort and control)Example, freezing in a big momentMental exercise 1, reset breathMental exercise 2, your zone tempTie back to Clarity, Confidence, and ComposureKeywords brain and performance, sports neuroscience, amygdala, basal ganglia, anterior midcingulate cortex, choking under pressure, why athletes freeze, performance anxiety in sports, reset breath, breathing for athletes, mental performance playbook, mental performance coach, mental training for athletes, mental exercises for athletes, sports psychology, student athletes, sports parents, clarity confidence composure, Gabe Rummel, TAH, Top Athlete Habits Check out more! Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553

  8. Sep 24

    How To Dial In Peak Performance | Ep. 176

    Mental Performance Playbook Episode 176. Brought to you by TAH. Great practice, bad game, scouts in the stands. Any one of these can knock a student athlete off their game, even the good ones. In this episode of the Mental Performance Playbook, Gabe grabs the whiteboard and breaks down the dial. It's a simple way to picture how the brain and body rise toward peak performance and fall away from it, and how athletes can take control of it. In this episode you'll learn Why injuries, bad games, and losing a starting spot don't have to hold an athlete downWhy great practices, hot streaks, and scouts can get athletes stuck in their headsHow to flip each one into something to train, like new and improved, routine, and processThe one word that ties it all together, trust, and why the mind is harder to trust than the bodyHow to turn the dial on and find the right station for each practice and gameParents and coaches, use this language at home and at practice. Ask your athlete, "What station are you on today?" Want help building this into your athlete's game-day routine? Book a session with TAH at the links below. If this episode helped, follow, share it with a teammate or parent, and leave a 5-star review. Check out more! Website: ⁠https://www.theathleteshealth.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gaberummeltah/⁠ Free Athlete Assessment: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/free-mental-max-out-finder Free Parent Snapshot Questionnaire: https://www.theathleteshealth.com/tah-mental-max-snapshot Text us! (319) 349-9553

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Every athlete trains their body, but how many train their mind? Mental Performance Playbook breaks down elite mental strategies used by top performers and gives you simple, actionable exercises to apply immediately. Hosted by Gabe Rummel, Mental Performance Coach, Founder of The Athletes Health™, and creator of it's Phronoic Gym™, where athletes train their minds like they train their bodies. Whether you’re looking to reset after mistakes, boost focus under pressure, or build unshakable confidence, this playbook has you covered.

Information

  • Creator
    Gabe Rummel, The Athletes Health
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    184
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Gabe Rummel, The Athletes Health
  • Show Website
    Mental Performance Playbook

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