Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!

Dr. Chris Carr joins The Coaching Minds Podcast for a powerful conversation on performance psychology, mental health, and the evolution of mental training in sport.

Dr. Carr is the Director of Performance Psychology and Team Behavioral Health Clinician for the Green Bay Packers. Over the course of his career, he has worked with athletes and teams across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, MLS, IndyCar, Olympic sports, and college athletics.

In ...

Dillon Thieneman’s path from Westfield High School to Purdue, Oregon, and now the NFL was built on more than talent.

In this episode of The Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes sits down with Dillon to talk about the mental side of elite performance: growing up in a competitive household, learning from his brothers’ walk-on mentality, handling recruiting noise, preparing with detail, bouncing back from mistakes, and using ...

What do fighter pilots and elite athletes have in common? More than you think.

In this episode, Ben sits down with Boo Boucousis—former fighter pilot and entrepreneur—to break down how high performers train, think, and respond under pressure. From the cockpit to competition, the principles of execution, accountability, and mental control remain the same.

Boo shares how fighter pilots use systematic debriefing, real-time f...

What separates great athletes from everyone else?

It’s not talent.
It’s how they handle pressure.

In this episode, Dr. Tom Mitchell (former NBA sports psychologist for the Golden State Warriors) breaks down:

• The truth about nerves and performance
• How elite athletes reset after mistakes
• Why comparison destroys confidence
• The mindset tools used at the highest level

If you want to perform at your best when ...

In this episode of the Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes interviews Myron Burr Jr., who shares his journey from being an athlete to a coach and now an assistant city manager. They discuss the importance of mental preparation in sports, the lessons learned from veteran players, and the unique challenges of coaching young athletes. Myron emphasizes the significance of building relationships, understanding individual needs, and the t...

Baseball is a game of failure — and how athletes respond to that failure often determines who lasts and who fades.

In this episode of The Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes sits down with Tyler Rubasky, Head Baseball Coach at Anderson University, to talk about what it really takes to build mentally tough athletes in today’s college game.

Tyler shares his journey from player to assistant coach to head coach, how injuries s...

In this episode, we officially introduce Matt Hallock, the newest member of Mental Training Plan and the Co-Founder & Chief Performance Officer of MTP Biz—our new division bringing mental performance training to the corporate world.

Matt brings 25 years of corporate leadership, decades of experience coaching athletes nationwide, and a lifelong passion for serving and developing people. From managing Enterprise Rent-A-Car b...

Today marks a major moment for the Mental Training Plan.
After helping athletes in 90+ schools across 14 states perform at their best, we’re officially expanding into the business world with the launch of MTP Biz — a mental performance division built specifically for high-performing leaders and teams.

In this episode, Ben shares the story behind the decision to move into corporate America, the imposter syndrome that ...

Today, I’m joined by Jocelyn Bruch: Indiana individual state champion, Division I golfer at Purdue, national championship competitor, and now a professional who just returned from Q-School.

We dig into the real tools she used in competition — not theory — to calm nerves, trust her preparation, and perform when it counts:

• Diaphragmatic Breathing (16+ seconds, not 2!) to lower heart rate and get present
• FMR (Forced...

In this episode of the Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes, founder of The Mental Training Plan, breaks down the next layer of the Confidence Wall: how to train confidence like a muscle.

Learn practical, science-backed tools that help athletes hardwire belief into their body and nervous system through three powerful bricks:

1. The Breath Brick – how controlled breathing regulates the vagus nerve and restores focus.
2. The Reset Bri...

In this episode of the Coaching Minds Podcast, we continue our Confidence series and dig into three critical building blocks every athlete needs: identity, body language, and self-talk.

You’ll learn why confidence isn’t just earned through practice and reps — it’s also chosen by who you decide to be. Ben shares a powerful example from an NBA player who missed six straight shots but still had the confi...

Confidence doesn’t come from hype—it comes from work. In Episode #2 of our Confidence Series, we break down how athletes, coaches, and parents can build earned confidence through three critical “bricks”:

• Reps – putting in the work with intention
• Evidence – gathering proof of growth and wins
• Preparation – creating routines that build stability

You’ll hear stories from the field, p...

Athletes don’t lose games because of talent. They lose because of confidence.

In this episode, I’m sharing some big news:
The launch of my new book, Confidence: Tools to Build Belief for Athletes, Coaches, and Parents.

This is the first book in the Prime Five Series — a collection of tools, stories, and systems I’ve used with athletes from youth sports to state champions and even professionals.

Inside the ep...

In this episode of The Coaching Minds Podcast, we flip the script on performance by focusing on the other 12 hours of the day—rest and recovery. Ben Carnes sits down with Lori Oliver and Jill MacRae, co-founders of The Inactive Company and creators of the Inactivator Sleep Mask, to explore the science of sleep and why most people are doing it wrong.

With powerhouse careers at Spanx, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks, Lori and Jill know...

In this episode of the Coaching Minds podcast, we sit down with former Baylor pole vaulter Kierstyn Ballard to talk about the real journey behind the highlights — from early gymnastics to Division I athletics, injuries, identity loss, and choosing joy through adversity.

Kierstyn opens up about navigating mental and emotional challenges, her faith, and what it really takes to ask for help when things feel like they’re fal...

In this episode of the Coaching Minds Podcast, Ben Carnes sits down with Marc Nudelberg—former college football coach and founder of On The Ball—to explore the principles behind consistent, high-level performance. Drawing from his experiences at programs like Florida State and Cincinnati, Marc explains why simplicity beats complexity, how culture can make or break a team, and why most businesses are failing when it come...

What’s it really like to go through MTP Certification? In this episode, you’ll hear directly from Coach Danny Tippett — the very first coach to complete the program.

Danny shares:

• Why he decided to pursue mental performance training
• How the tools helped him coach his son, lead a middle school football team, and improve his own anxiety
• What the certification process was like
• How he’s now applying MTP tools in ...

If you're a coach who believes in the power of the mental game — and you're ready to start teaching it — this episode is for you.

MTP founder Ben Carnes breaks down exactly what MTP Certification is, who it’s for, and how it equips you to start leading 1-on-1 coaching and team workshops right away.

You'll hear:

• The story behind how the MTP system was built
• What makes MTP Certification different from any other ment...

What do you do when life changes in a single moment? Dave Randall knows. After surviving a life-altering medical condition while serving in the U.S. Navy, Dave could’ve quit. Instead, he rebuilt—body, mind, and mission.

Now a world champion hand cyclist and founder of Alive Day Apparel, Dave joins Ben to talk about identity, faith, pain, purpose, and what it takes to thrive after hitting rock bottom. This episode is a mu...