Peak Performance Principles Christyan Gudjenov

In this Profile, I got to sit down one of the most resilient people I've ever met, Angelina Joyce. She is a soccer star from Braintree, MA where she was a Captain of her HS Soccer team and received multiple leadership and excellence awards. She went on to achieve her dream of playing D1 soccer at UMass-Lowell. She was well on her way of achieving her next dream of trying to make the US National Team and playing Professionally, until her extensive list of injuries caught up to her. If you play sports, you know injuries are commonplace, but for AJ her specific injuries were anything but commonplace. Injuries are a part of every athletes journey, unfortunately many athletes are not prepared for the mental stress that comes with physical injury, and that stress causes a significant toll on their mental health. In this episode, AJ opened up about her mental health and gave us an insight into the toll injuries can take on an athletes mental health. She shared with us some great strategies for mentally handling rehab and specific actions we can take to continue progressing in our sport even though we cannot physically play.  If your an injured athlete or know an injured athlete, please share this episode with them. If you yourself are having concerns about your mental health or know someone who is, please reach out to a therapist or counselor near you. Just like going to the gym and getting a trainer boosts your physical abilities, working on your mental health with a therapist or counselor will boost your mental abilities as well. In order to succeed at sports and life we need to maximize both our physical and mental abilities. So if you or someone you know need help with their mental health, reach out to a therapist or counselor today. 

In this episode I got interview Justin Su’a. He is the Head of Mental Performance for the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s worked for the MLB and NFL for many years and shares some strategies for personal and team success. I hope you enjoy this episode! 

In this episode I got to interview Pete Naschak. He is a former Navy SEAL for over 20 years as well as the founder and principal of Senaptec, which is what originally got me interested in interviewing Pete. Senaptec produces equipment and expertise around human sensory performance (aka vision training).  Vision training is a huge area of improvement for all performers. Think about it, you use your eyes for pretty much everything when performing. So how do you target training your eyes? Enter Senaptec! They create specialized strobe goggles and sensory stations that improve your visual acuity and directly improve performance. They are utilized by dozens of MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA, Military, and many other organizations to enhance vision training and improve performance. 
Pete Naschak Bio:
Pete retired from the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams after a 21 year career, where he held various operational and leadership positions, lived overseas, and participated in military contingency operations throughout the world. Throughout his military and post-military careers, Pete has had direct experience and involvement with strategic planning, specialized training, and individual and team development in high performance, high demand, and austere environments. After retirement, Pete finished a Master’s of Science degree in Global Leadership, a qualification as a Project Management Professional (PMP), and a certificate in Global Business Management and Strategy. Pete provides specialized consulting services including product development, individual and team performance initiatives, and organizational development for top tier companies, teams, and individuals. Pete is the co-founder and principal of Senaptec, a human sensory performance technology company focused on delivering assessment and training tools for sport, military, medical, and educational entities. He currently volunteers as President of the Board of Directors for the Lone Survivor Foundation, which supports injured military personnel and their families suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and serious combat injury. (bio taken from http://www.performanceactivation.com/who)

I got to interview one of the best motivational and insightful speakers in the sport and corporate arena! Alan is an incredibly passionate and inspiring speaker! His book “Raise Your Game” is a Top 15 all-time book in productivity and mindset. In this interview we talked about the power of SELF-AWARENESS, importance of the fundamentals, parenting/youth sports, and we played a Bracket Challenge game that will not disappoint! Enjoy this amazing interview with Alan Stein Jr!

In this episode I’ll break down the two most important techniques you can simply and easily implement in your daily mental training routine. I’ll share some interesting research that shows the importance of these techniques from a psychological and neuroscience perspective.

In this episode I talk about a question I get asked all the time, “what is most important when doing mental training?” Also I broke my personal record for a plank while discussing the world record plank holder George Hood and how his story applies to these two words.