The Athletic Brain: How Neuroscience is Revolutionising Sport and Can Help You Perform Better

By: Amit Katwala

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Synopsis: Sport changes your brain. The minds of elite athletes can pull off feats of anticipation and co-ordination that amateurs would find impossible. The athletic brain has been trained through hours and hours of practice - years of sweat and toil. But what if there were a shortcut to training your brain? Cognitive training tools offer the tantalising possibility of breaking the '10,000-hour rule'. Top-level athletes and teams are increasingly tapping into new knowledge of the brain to develop tools and techniques that can offer a shortcut to sporting success, or push the boundaries of performance beyond its current limits. Increasingly, these tools are becoming available to the ordinary amateur, revolutionising the ways in which anyone can improve their skills. Based on interviews with top athletes and the scientists working at the cutting edge of our knowledge, Amit Katwala provides a fascinating insight into the possibilities that are becoming open to us all. He takes us to see how Borussia Dortmund's 'Footbonaut' and touchscreen-based games in the NFL have been achieving excellent results. As with bestsellers such as The Chimp Paradoxand Bounce, by the end of this book, readers will look at sporting performance in a new light, and be able to apply these insights to their own lives.