Tag Archive for: Mental Toughness

Craig Pickering

Craig Pickering’s top reads of 2025

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2025 was an interesting year for me from a reading perspective – I shifted to consuming more fiction books than ever before (more on this later). Overall, I started 34 books in 2025; this is less than my target of 52, but I think it reflects the stage of life I am at – with two young kids, it’s becoming increasingly common for me to fall asleep having read just a few pages. I’ve also got much better at stopping books that I’m not enjoying or don’t find relevant; when this happens, I can ask ChatGPT for a summary of the main topics, and get some podcasts from the author to understand the key arguments, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Below are my best reads from 2025 – hopefully you find some inspiration from them!

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Martin Bingisser

Tips on building a strong mind

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Our friend Wil Fleming released a new book in November: Strong Mind: A Weightlifter’s Guide to Focus, Confidence, and Resilience Under the Bar. As a former elite hammer thrower and weightlifter, a shockingly bad performance at the Olympic Trials changed Fleming’s outlook on the mental side of training. This has helped him significantly as a coach, and now he is sharing his learnings with others as well. He then joined us on last week’s podcast to dive into the topic as well.

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Martin Bingisser

HMMR Podcast Episode 326: Strong mind (with Wil Fleming)

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When it comes to strength, Wil Fleming is one of the top coaches in the world with his athletes having set American records and won world medals in weightlifting. But the key to strength isn’t just in the muscles, it is also in the mind. On this week episode Fleming joins us to discuss the mental side of training and lessons he has learned on developing a strong mind.

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Craig Pickering

Craig Pickering’s top reads of 2024

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As I wrote last year, I’m now the dad to two young girls, so finding time (and energy!) to read widely is becoming a challenge! Alongside this, I had the dual stressors of preparing a relay team to compete at the Olympic Games, and of being the Team Leader at the World Under-20 Championships. To provide some escapism from life, in 2024 I focused more on narrative non-fiction books, where I could get lost in the story as opposed of trying to focus on learning something specific. Fortunately, I did still manage to work my way through some more typical “learning” books, which provided some useful snippets for me to take into my professional life. Below, then, are my best picks from this year.

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Quarterly – Q2 2024

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Every quarter we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this edition we take a deep dive on various reserach about developing resilience.

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Craig Pickering

Craig Pickering’s top reads of 2023

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2023 was exhausting! Already a dad to a toddler (who went through a stage of waking up overnight and refusing to go back to sleep), my wife and I added a second child to our brood back in October. Suffice to say, I haven’t had the time or energy to read as much this year as previous years, but I still managed to sink my teeth into some books that have had a big impact on me. Here are my best picks from this year:

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Quarterly – Q2 2023

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Every quarter we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this edition we look at the latest research on resilience, pressure training, multidisciplinary teams, injury prevention, and much more.

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Monthly – December 2021

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Every month we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this month’s edition we look at failures in talent development, mental toughness, mental rest, using data in elite sport, nutrition, and more.

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Craig Pickering

Sports Science Monthly – June 2021

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Every month we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this month’s edition we look at research on transitioning from athlete to coach, developing psychological resilience, creating a safe learning environment, pacing, and much more.

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Martin Bingisser

Learning from the pandemic

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It’s now been a year since the pandemic started and lockdowns started around the world. The impact has been massive for everyone. And while I think we all wish we didn’t have to go through the experience, there is a thing or two we can learn from the past year.

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