The Exponential Athlete Podcast

Studying excellence in sports and in life. What separates the greatest athletes, coaches, and teams from their competitors? What can we learn from these greats that we can apply to our own lives? This is a podcast made for elite professional athletes or others who want to reach the pinnacle of their field.

The #1 Lesson from 18,000+ Hours of Coaching Elite Athletes | #007

The #1 Lesson from 18,000+ Hours of Coaching Elite Athletes | #007

Kobe went public with his alter ego, the black mamba after winning the NBA Championship in 2009. What most don’t realize is that this alter ego was in the works since 2003. It was painstakingly crafted and iterated on with the help of a performance coach specializing in identity based performance.

Today’s guest is the man that actually constructed the Black Mamba with Kobe. As a coach, he has helped thousands of athletes, leaders, and public figures get out of their own way to reach their potential. Todd Herman has logged over 17,896 hours of one-to-one coaching, and his courses, and training programs, and businesses have transformed the lives of over 2 million people, not just pro athletes. His book “The Alter Ego Effect” was a massive eye opener for me into how changing our perspective can change our life.

In this episode, we learn how our imagination can be one of our greatest assets in improving our performance, the specifics of how Todd worked with Kobe to craft the black mamba, and what traits many of the high level athletes Todd has worked with share.

Why Most Great Athletes Have an Alter Ego | Deep Dive | #006

Why Most Great Athletes Have an Alter Ego | Deep Dive | #006

Kobe Bryant leveraged the Black Mamba alter ego to separate his play on the court from the chaos of his real life. Other athletes have also used this tool to maximize their performance and disassociate from their fears. In this deep dive, I pull out my favorite highlights from “The Alter Ego Effect”, a book by Todd Herman. This is no substitute for the book, but a simple distillation of some of what I thought were the most important parts and how they relate to the athletes we studied.

In the episode, we learn why people create alter egos, which athletes have used them successfully, and how you can create one to dominate your field of play.

Sports Analytics Expert: How Elite Athletes and Teams Use Math to Win | Interview | #005

Sports Analytics Expert: How Elite Athletes and Teams Use Math to Win | Interview | #005

Early in Kobe’s career, he was asked what he would ask Michael Jordan about basketball. He answered “I’d ask him how to incorporate math into the game”.

I couldn’t think of anyone better to ask about what that question means than today’s guest, Cory Jez. Cory has worked in sports analytics in basketball as the director of analytics for the Utah Jazz, in soccer as the Director of Sports Science and Analytics at FC Austin, and now in golf at TourIQ a company he founded where he is providing analytics insights for Professional golfers on the PGA Tour.

In this episode, we dive into how analytics are used to help teams and individuals win, what the biggest misconceptions about analytics are, and how anyone, like us, can benefit from applying analytics to our own domain.

2x NBA Champion Explains His Winning Formula | Interview | #004

2x NBA Champion Explains His Winning Formula | Interview | #004

The approach to winning is different for everyone. For Kobe, it was taking control of the game and making his impact known. For today’s guest, it was about selfless, often overlooked contributions that made everyone around him better. While his individual stat lines didn’t always turn heads, something special happened with every team that he was on. They started winning more and more. This eventually culminated in 10 playoff appearances and 2 NBA Championships over a 13 season NBA career.