Alex Hutchinson (Author of ‘ENDURE’) on the minds and its influence on performance

The CITIUS MAG Podcast

February 23, 2018

Alex Hutchinson joins the show just weeks after the release of “ENDURE: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.” It’s his latest book exploring the impact of the mind and how it influences our peak performances. How do we break through those physical barriers using our mind and muscle?

Alex does a great job of providing stories from his own background as a runner as well as extreme examples of incredible athletes and adventurers on how they were able to keep pushing when everything is telling them to stop.

Alex had a regular training column for Runner’s World for several years and has also been published in Popular Mechanics as well as the New York Times. In October, he joined OUTSIDE to continue publishing his Sweat Science column.

His byline may be familiar especially last year since he covered the Nike Breaking2 Project very closely for Runner’s World. We talk a little bit about that and some of his observations.

On this episode, we discuss:

– How the book came together over nearly a decade?

– Some of the challenges of writing a book in the sports science field

– Tim Noakes’ “central governor theory”

– Smiling and other body signals that help improve performance

– Self talk and how it can be beneficial and practiced

And much more…

You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review.

We are also now on Stitcher and now Google Play!

Listen to the latest episode on Soundcloud below:

ENDURE is out now and available wherever books are sold including Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.


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Chris Chavez

Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.