The Psychology of Elite Performance w/ Dr. Lenny Wiersma, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Andy Galpin – Barbell Shrugged #520

Dr. Lenny Wiersma is a Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, where he has taught since 2001. He is the Director of the Performance Psychology Lab at CSUF and has conducted research and/or worked with a variety of extreme sport athletes including big-wave surfers, extreme backcountry skiers and snowboarders, ultramarathon runners and cyclists, Crossfit Games athletes, and UFC fighters. 

He serves on the advisory board of the Nike Sport Research Lab in Beaverton, Oregon, as well as on the advisory board of XPT Extreme Performance TrainingTM. Dr. Wiersma is currently on the staff of UCLA Men’s and Women’s Water Polo teams as a sport psychology consultant as well as USA Swimming’s National Team, specializing in Open Water. 

He serves on the editorial board of The Sport Psychologist, is a former Associate Editor for Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and was the Co-Director of the Center for the Advancement of Responsible Youth Sport at CSUF from 2001-2014. He received his masters and doctorate degrees in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts and his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington.

In this Episode of Barbell Shrugged:

1. What can you learn from extreme sports athletes?
2. How do you get in the zone for optimal performance?
3. How do you mentally prepare for hard training or competition?
4. Physiological responses to stress and what to do about it?
5. How can you use both to get super jacked

Anders Varner on Instagram

Doug Larson on Instagram

Coach Travis Mash on Instagram