The Inner Armor Podcast: Recent Episodes
Inner Armor Media
Neuroscience, physiology, and technology to help all of us, from professional athletes to ordinary people, perform at our potential.
Learn more: www.forgeinnerarmor.com
Listen to the recording from the Inner Armor CORE program webinar with Dr. Timothy Royer, Amy Royer and John Wierenga to hear more about Inner Armor's latest breathing program, Inner Armor CORE. Why Inner Armor?* Trusted by dozens of collegiate and professional coaches and teams * Proven success with hundreds of athletes and students * Deep understanding of automatic nervous system regulation
Learn how we've distilled 30 years of human performance expertise into an advanced and effective mobile biofeedback-guided breathing program backed by science and proven by results. Breathing research has consistently shown that slow diaphragmatic breathing can reduce anxiety and stress while improving critical recovery metrics like sleep quality and cardiovascular fitness. Recent studies have revealed something even more powerful: coherent resonant breathing is the most effective pattern for balancing the autonomic nervous system, building resilience, and optimizing performance. Our comprehensive 6-month program teaches you to master your breathing with just 5-10 minutes of daily biofeedback exercises. You will learn conscious breathing patterns that allow for regulation of the autonomic nervous system to: * Improve focus * Aid in recovery * Manage anxiety and emotions * Optimize performance
Here, we target the foundation of performance - your breath. By developing this fundamental skill, you'll achieve greater control over your nervous system to unlock your full potential. Tune in to listen to the owners of Inner Armor and Royer Neuroscience explain the training and science behind Inner Armor CORE. Take the first step toward forging your inner armor!
Join our discussion with Dr. Timothy Royer (Psy. D.,) and Amy Royer (RN) as they discuss their reason and motivation behind writing their latest book Tsunami - Building Resilience Against Anxiety and Depression!
The conversation dives into the rising tide of anxiety, depression and mental health challenges facing the world today. Dr. Tim and Amy share real-life stories from the over 35 years of experience in the neuropsychology and peak performance space.
Curious in learning more? The Tsunami book is available now on Amazon! https://a.co/d/6zeCDxN
Doc Royer says, "One of the greatest things is how well we can adapt and learn to function in different environments under different stressors. I wouldn't do my job if I didn't believe that people could learn and change and that the human brain and body are amazing, even in the worst situation. That it can learn new pathways can learn new responses. It can learn to be at its best in pressure situations. Change and learning are at our core, and that's how we exist; as we grow, it comes from that."
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Over the years, Dr. Royer has worked with dozens of top collegiate and NFL quarterbacks. In this episode, he shares what about their qualities and experience is transferable to our lives off the field. Later in the episode, he is joined by one of the NFL's top QBs, Kirk Cousins.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Dr. Royer discusses gut health with two of his family members: his wife Amy Royer, an expert in nutrition and gut inflammation, and his daughter Dr. Kate Wierenga, a cellular biologist and expert in Omega 3/6 fatty acids.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Dr. Royer explains what it means to be fully present, with your senses engaged with your surroundings and your brain and body coordinated and at capacity.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Dr. Royer explains that your brain is the most amazing thing in the universe, and that coupled with your autonomic nervous system (ANS) it's capable of incredible feats. But when it becomes deregulated, you can no longer perform at your potential. Doc explains how you must work to reestablish dynamic resilience.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Doc interviews his daugher-in-law, Grace Royer, who is a board-certified applied behavioral analyst, about the challenges and opportunities of working with autistic children.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Dr. Lisa Libertore is the co-founder of Luv Michael, a nonprofit organization in New York that is empowering autistic adults to live fulfilling and successful lives. Doc and Dr. Libertore discuss her approach to autism, the story behind Luv Michael, and her vision for changing how we all approach autism.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Inner Armor isn't just for sports or school: the business arena demands performance. In these "Business Brains" episodes, we interview leaders who have reached their potential by strengthening their brains and nervous systems. In this installment, we meet Sam Cummings, who has used the Inner Armor program for years to become a more effective leader and person.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Inner Armor isn't just for sports or school: the business arena demands performance. In these "Business Brains" episodes, we interview leaders who have reached their potential by strengthening their brains and nervous systems. In this installment, we meet Scott Weirda, who has used the Inner Armor program for years to become a more effective leader and person.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Inner Armor isn't just for sports or school: the business arena demands performance. In these "Business Brains" episodes, we interview leaders who have reached their potential by strengthening their brains and nervous systems. In this installment, we meet Tom Maas, who has used the Inner Armor program for years to become a more effective leader and person.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We've talked enough about the tsunami of mental disorders drowning our culture. It's time to propose solutions, and we have one to offer. In this conversation, we share a vision for a new nonprofit, Inner Armor Hope, that can provide an ANSR for vulnerable populations. And we need your help!
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We will soon have a new book about mental health and the autonomic nervous system. In this conversation, we explore the challenges of getting treatment for mental health disorders. What options are available? What can we expect from those options? Are there better options?
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We will soon have a new book about mental health and the autonomic nervous system. In this conversation, we discuss where and how mental disorders begin. What perpetuates them? Why is it so hard to "fix" them? The answer is ANSR (autonomic nervous system regulation).
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We have a new book coming out soon! This one will be about mental health and the autonomic nervous system. So Doc and Greg sat down and had a frank conversation about mental health. In this episode, they discuss the cataclysmic displacements in our society over the last 60 years that impacted our lives and autonomic nervous systems, leading to the tsunami of mental health disorders that are undermining our civilization.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We have a new book coming out soon! This one will be about mental health and the autonomic nervous system. So Doc and Greg sat down (actually sat down across a table from each other for a change) and had a frank conversation about mental health: what it is and isn't, the explosion of mental health disorders in society today, and "the four horsemen" of the mental health apocalypse.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
To improve at anything, you need feedback that measures your progress. That way, you'll know what you're doing that's working and do more of it. But to begin, you need a baseline, the starting point from which you develop your plan and track your gains.
The Inner Armor Performance Program begins with a baseline assessment of the autonomic nervous system, called the Performance Profile. In this episode, Doc Royer explains the metrics and mechanics of the assessment and why these are critical indicators of our health and performance.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
It's that time of year: everyone is heading back to school. What opportunities does that bring for personal and professional development? What does it take for students to perform at their potential? And what unique challenges does it present for growth, resilience, and mental health?
In the second of three installments, Dr. Royer speaks with Elizabeth Peddie, an elementary school social worker with 29 years of experience, about what "back to school" means for kids.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
It's that time of year: everyone is heading back to school. What opportunities does that bring for personal and professional development? What does it take for students to perform at their potential? And what unique challenges does it present for growth, resilience, and mental health?
In the second of three installments, Dr. Royer speaks with Gena VanderMeulen, currently an academic coach who taught high school for 31 years, about what "back to school" means for teenagers.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
It's that time of year: everyone is heading back to school. What opportunities does that bring for personal and professional development? What does it take for students to perform at their potential? And what unique challenges does it present for growth, resilience, and mental health?
In the second of three installments, Dr. Royer speaks with Gena VanderMeulen, currently an academic coach who taught high school for 31 years, about what "back to school" means for teenagers.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
It's that time of year: everyone is heading back to school. What opportunities does that bring for personal and professional development? What does it take for students to perform at their potential? And what unique challenges does it present for growth, resilience, and mental health?
In this first of three installments, Dr. Royer speaks with Neil Binnette, (M.A., LMFT), a counselor and therapist to the athletics program at Liberty University, about what "back to school" means for college students, particularly student-athletes.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We are facing a tidal wave, a tsunami, of mental health disorders in the United States (and much of the developed world). Anxiety, depression, substance abuse, PTSD, suicide–the numbers are staggering and growing. And like a tsunami, it threatens to overwhelm our systems and institutions. We don't have enough psychologists, counselors, and programs to manage all the cases. And so we resort to medications and self-medicating.
But what if we went upstream and helped people to regulate their autonomic nervous systems first? It wouldn't remove all life's stresses, disappointments, and tragedies, but it would strengthen us to become more resilient and require fewer medical interventions.
Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
In our last episode, Doc's business partner and wife, Amy, explored the connections between nutrition and neuroscience. In this episode, Doc interviews his daughter, Dr. Amy Wierenga, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Tother, they explore the causes and effects of inflammation in the body, how that shifts the nervous system into the sympathetic state, and the underlying chemistry of our red blood cells. Particularly, they look at how variations in the ratio of Omega fatty acids in our blood affect our ability to fight inflammation and how to shift our diet to improve that ratio.
The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Our nervous system isn't just an isolated network of electrical wires running through our body. It's dynamically integrated with every other system of our body, including our digestive tract. The state of our nervous system affects our digestion and vice versa.
In this episode, Doc welcomes his business partner and wife, Amy Royer, an RN and nutritionist. They do a deep dive into these bi-directional connections, exploring diet, digestion, inflammation, "leaky gut," sleep, and even what our poop can tell us about our autonomic nervous system and brain state.
The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
The Netflix Series Quarterback offers a fascinating look behind the scenes at the games, and lives, of three NFL quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota. Dr. Royer has trained Cousins since his college days (Kirk was a guest on our last two episodes), but Doc has worked or is working with 11 of the 32 starting NFL QBs (as of the time of this episode).
In this episode, Doc explains the science behind finding a player capable of playing this position in the NFL. What do they look for? What do they measure? What are the differentiators that indicate a player might make it in this role? And then, what does it take to develop their abilities? How does Doc and the Inner Armor system help them to reach their potential?
The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins (Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, and featured in the new Netflix series "Quarterback") has been working with Dr. Royer for 13 years, since he was the starting QB at Michigan State. Kirk pulls no punches: he says that without Dr. Royer, he wouldn't be where he is today. In this episode, Kirk talks about how the work he has done with Dr. Royer can benefit everyone, from children to adults in every field, achieve their potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins (Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, and featured in the new Netflix series "Quarterback") has been working with Dr. Royer for 13 years, since he was the starting QB at Michigan State. Kirk pulls no punches: he says that without Dr. Royer, he wouldn't be where he is today. In this episode, Kirk talks about what it takes to be a QB in the NFL, what it took to get there, and how Dr. Royer and Inner Armor have been an essential part of his journey.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We continue our conversation with Dr. Paul Gammage, exploring how visual acuity affects children's capacity to learn to read, and how different rates of ocular muscle development in children can often lead to misdiagnosis of learning disorders.
Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
One of the three pillars of the Inner Armor program is visual precision, which impacts neurological performance. In this interview with Dr. Paul Gammage, Doc explores how this impacts athletes at the highest levels, in very surprising ways.
Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We naturally adapt to our environment. Part of that adaptation is learning, both passive and active. We learn how to do or react, we learn what things mean, and why they are the way they are. But not all learning is positive: we can learn bad habits, misinformation, and to interpret things through faulty lenses.
In this second episode on learning, Doc and Greg explore how to use opportunities to learn for positive growth.
Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder isn't as prominent in the media as it was 20 years ago, but a surprising number of children and adults are still diagnosed with ADHD and are on medication to treat it. Doctor Royer spent years researching and treating ADHD. He discovered an epidemic of misdiagnosis, in which legitimate symptoms were misattributed to ADHD, and the stimulants prescribed were exacerbating the symptoms. In this episode, Doc and Greg explore what ADHD is and what it isn't, and how proper diagnosis can lead to more effective treatment of the presenting issues.
Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
We usually talk about "performing at our potential," but there is something more valuable than performance: thriving. In this episode, Doc and Greg talk about what it means to thrive as a human being. In fact, thriving might mean performing in all aspects of your life, not just in your sport or work. Can we "thrive at our potential?" What would that look like? How would we measure it? What stands in our way? And how do we begin reaching toward it?
Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.
Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.
The science that Inner Armor uses to improve human performance is built upon the work of pioneers in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and digital technology. In this episode, Doc and Greg discuss these innovators and how their work made possible the advances of the early 21st century.
Learn more at forgeinnerarmor.com
Our culture idolizes collegiate athletes. We watch them on TV, fans wear branded gear, and booster's donate billions to the universities. They appear to be in the prime of life, physically and mentally gifted, with promising futures. How do we avoid turning them into idols, or performers, and preserve and develop their humanity during these few years they are on that stage?
In the second of two episodes from the campus of Liberty University, Doc interviews Neil Binette, who oversees mental health and performance services for student athletes at Liberty. Neil shares that in his experience, conventional counseling becomes much more effective when the athlete has a better regulated nervous system.
Inner Armor helps everyone, from professional athletes, perform at their potential and live healthier, happier, and more successful lives.
Inner Armor Website
Student athletes face unique developmental challenges. In many ways, they at the peak of their physical prowess, but they are still learning and maturing intellectually, emotionally, and relationally. Moreover, they have multiple roles or jobs as full-time students and (often) nearly full-time athletes. How can colleges and universities help these young people to reach their potential without being crushed by expectations or engaging in self-destructive behavior?
In this episode, Doc is visiting Liberty University and interviews Chris Casola, Liberty’s Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Welfare and Performance. For years, Doc has worked with the athletics department at Liberty, helping to forge stronger student athletes and Chris has been a partner with Doc in developing strategies and methods. It was Chris who first coined the term dynamic resilience, which has become a cornerstone of Inner Armor's approach.
Inner Armor helps everyone, from professional athletes, perform at their potential and live healthier, happier, and more successful lives.
Inner Armor Website
In the second of two episodes on overcoming anxiety, Dr. Royer talks about the "alligators," or potential threats, that lurk around us. Often, they are right in front of us, blocking our path. But just as often, we exaggerate the threat level, allow them to dominate our thoughts and restrict our freedom.
Grounding ourselves in the tangible world, measuring our thoughts, and properly regulating our autonomic nervous system helps us to keep the alligators in proper perspective and find room to maneuver through the swamps of life.
Inner Armor helps everyone, from professional athletes, perform at their potential and live healthier, happier, and more successful lives.
Inner Armor Website
Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health issues of our time, especially for younger people. Your brain has an amazing capacity to analyze and conceptualize, which is how we accomplish so many fantastic things. But with that comes our ability to overthink, worry, and fear ideas that exist more in our minds than in reality.
In this episode, Doctor Royer shares a powerful antidote to anxious thoughts: come to your senses. Move your focus away from your imagination and ideas and ground it in the physical world around you. Pay attention to what you actually see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Unless you are being attacked by a bear or on a sinking ship, what's around you is almost certainly not as bad as what you're worrying about (and if you are in the midst of a bear attack, it's best to pay attention to what's going on). Be present, where you are, and begin building your world out from there.
Inner Armor helps everyone, from professional athletes, perform at their potential and live healthier, happier, and more successful lives.
Inner Armor Website
After winning ten collegiate titles and the NCAA national championship at San Jose State University, Tracy Hanson played on the LPGA Tour for 16 years, including 10 top-10 finishes and a career-low round of 63.
After retiring from the tour, she has dedicated her time to philanthropy and ministry, starting her own ministry mentoring young female athletes to achieve their potential. Recently, she has begun playing again, qualifying for the US Open in 2022 and some recent Senior LPGA events. Tracy began working with Dr. Royer near the end of her time on the tour.
In this episode, Tracy and Doc talk about forging her inner armor has helped overcome performance anxiety on and off the course.
Tracy Hanson Website
Inner Armor Website
After winning ten collegiate titles and the NCAA national championship at San Jose State University, Tracy Hanson played on the LPGA Tour for 16 years, including 10 top-10 finishes and a career-low round of 63.
After retiring from the tour, she has dedicated her time to philanthropy and ministry, starting her own ministry mentoring young female athletes to achieve their potential. Recently, she has begun playing again, qualifying for the US Open in 2022 and some recent Senior LPGA events. Tracy began working with Dr. Royer near the end of her time on the tour.
In this episode, Tracy and Doc talk about how she forged her inner armor and how it has improved her life on and off the course.
Tracy Hanson Website
Inner Armor Website
In our last episode we talked about what sleep is and why we need it. It turns out that those are very complex questions, because sleep is very complex. It’s not just shutting down the body and resting. In many ways, our bodies are as active during sleep as they are when we are awake, but the brain and body have an agenda, a structured set of tasks and processes that it must accomplish in sequence.
Sleep architecture refers to the basic structural organization of normal sleep. It is broken into phases and subdivided into cycles. The first priority is tissue repair and calorie restoration in muscles and organs. After that, energy is redirected to regenerating and reorganizing brain tissues and neural pathways.
So, when sleep is cut short, only the most basic bodily repair is accomplished. The brain and nervous system are shortchanged, leading to cumulative distress and disorder. That leaves us susceptible to disease. If we are serious about our health, much less performing at our potential, we must build on a solid foundation of restorative and regenerative sleep.
In this episode, Dr. Royer explains how our sleep is organized and how we can optimize it through lifestyle changes and discipline.
Inner Armor Website
Before the 1950s, most people believed sleep was a passive activity during which the body and brain were dormant. Over recent decades, science has proven that the brain and body are remarkably active during sleep. Muscles and organs repair and regenerate tissues. Toxins are cleared, and the immune system fights disease, restoring homeostasis. The brain reorganizes memory storage and restores neural pathways. Our sleep may be the most important hours of our day. Just as an airliner can't take off again without getting refuel and maintained, we can't function without sleep. In fact, it may be the most important hours in our daily cycle. Humans can live for weeks without food, but we will die within a few days without sleep.
And yet we shortchange it, overlook it, and sabotage it with our lifestyles. Not only does that undermine our recovery, it makes us susceptible to disease. If we are serious about our health, much less performing at our potential, we must build on a solid foundation of restorative and regenerative sleep.
In this episode, Dr. Royer explains why we sleep and why we must change our approach if we want to achieve health, success, and happiness.
Inner Armor Website
Throughout most of modern medical history, specific illness or symptoms were assumed to have specific causes. If your throat hurt, it was an infection or injury to the throat. But Hans Selye (1907 - 1982), who was nominated for the Nobel Prize 17 times, made important scientific research that gave new insights into the non-specific responses of an organism to stress (or “stressors”). Using experiments with laboratory rats, he discovered that placing an organism under general stress causes general illness, with broad symptoms not derived from any specific cause. In fact, Selye was the first to use the word “stress” in a medical context. He defined it as, “...something that, in addition to being itself, was also the cause of itself and the result of itself.” So Selye saw stress-related illness as a loop: the more stressed we are, the sicker we get, and the sicker we get the more stressed we are.
This led to the development of a model for the nexus of stress and illness: the General Adaptation Syndrome. Psychological, physiological, environmental stressors trigger the autonomic nervous system to shift the body into crisis mode through the release of adreneline. This causes profound metabolic changes that must be counterbalanced by rest and recovery. But when stress becomes chronic, the autonomous nervous system’s feedback and response loops become stuck. The results can lead to general loss of thriving, chronic illnesses, and severe metabolic disorder.
Breaking this stress cycle requires gaining greater control over the mind-brain connection, the brain-body connection, and the operations of the ANS. This means changing those feedback loops, providing positive feedback through technology. This is what Dr. Royer has spent his career doing, what he has helped thousands achieve, and what he created Inner Armor to do, so that everyone, from professional athletes to ordinary people, can perform at their potential.
Inner Armor Website
To perform to our potential requires us to actually show up. In fact, Woody Allen once said, “Ninety percent of success is just showing up.” But too often, we fail to show up and really be present, focusing on where we are, what we’re doing, and who we’re with.
Often what keeps us from showing up and being present is that we are obsessing about the past and the future. We get caught up in the “What Abouts?” (the past) and the “What Ifs?” (the future). One of the consequences of being caught in the past or present is that we burn up our two most valuable assets: our brain and our time.
We need to learn to shift our brains so that we’re operating in the present tense, not the past or future tenses.
How do we do that? How can Inner Armor help us to preserve our most valuable assets and operate in the present tense?
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Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website
It's Super Bowl Week! To prepare for watching the big game, Dr. Royer shares his insights into what it took for these two teams to get here, what they need to be doing in the days and hours before the kickoff, and what it will take to win.
Having worked extensively with NFL and NBA teams, as well as champions from other sports, Doc knows just how hard it has been for these organizations to survive the season and come out on top. Having helped pro athletes prepare for the biggest games of their lives, he knows what it takes to be ready, and what will allow them to perform at their potential for 60 minutes on the biggest stage in sports.
Listen to learn what to watch for on Sunday night, and how to prepare for the Super Bowls of your life.
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Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website
In almost every area of life, we must work to hard to perform at our potential. But too often, our performance falls short of our potential because the performance requires command and control of our body, and that requires a strong mind-body connection.
Because you are a fusion of mind and body, and your performance is determined by the efficiency and effectiveness of that connection. Your will has to be translated into action.
Physical or psychological training can improve aspects of human performance. But they leave out a hidden element that’s upstream, influencing our physical and psychological condition. It operates autonomously and unconsciously. But more than anything else, it determines how effectively and consistently you can translate your intentions into actions.
In this episode, Dr. Royer discuss how we can strengthen these hidden factors using neuroscience, technology, and training using Inner Armor’s performance-enhancing methods.
Episode Website
Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website
Our lives are not static, our bodies are not static, and so health and performance strategies cannot be static. And so, our goal is not to train or strengthen our organs or systems into an ideal state, but to dynamically adjust how our bodies work and perform relative to ever-shifting demands, circumstances, and stresses. This requires us to develop something called “dynamic resilience,” the ability to shift gears to always be in the “right gear.”
The Autonomic Nervous System (sometimes called the “involuntary nervous system”) is like an automatic transmission. But if it’s putting your brain into the wrong gear, you’re out of rhythm for the situation. These mismatches result in everything from mental lapses, missed instructions, vision problems, upset stomachs, sweating and shakes and tics, impaired motor control, exhaustion, to needing to pee at the worst possible moments. So, what can you do about it? How can you gain greater control over when and how your ANS shifts gears?
In this episode Dr. Royer discusses the neuroscience, technology and methodology that Inner Armor and Royer Neuroscience uses to help everyone, from professional athletes to ordinary people, perform at their potential more consistently.
Episode Website
Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website
The human body is a meta-system, a system made up of many systems. Our life, health, and performance depends on all these systems working together. But among all the systems of the body, the Autonomic Nervous System (sometimes called the “involuntary nervous system'') works like the operating system on our phones: our organ are like the apps, but the ANS is behind the scenes, managing power, turning them on and off, and controlling their interactions.
The ANS “upshifts” or “downshifts” the body to respond to situations, stimuli, and stresses. In a crisis, the ANS tells the body to speed up, to react, think, and process more quickly. But that comes at a metabolic price, and tissues and organs need time to recover. Normally, when the crisis passes, it tells the body to slow down and recuperate. But sometimes we get stuck in crisis mode. And when we do, our performance and health deteriorates.
Inner Armor and Royer Neuroscience work with athletes, executives, and students to better manage their ANS and their body’s cycles and systems so they can perform at their potential more consistently.
Episode Website
Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website
The human brain is the most amazing and wonderful thing we have ever discovered–in fact, it’s how we investigate and discover everything else, including the brain. Health, performance, and resilience begins in the brain. Even on your worst day, your brain is the most amazing thing in the universe. Everything else is downstream, so to improve our health and performance, we must understand the brain and build more resilient brains and nervous systems.
Doc shares the origins of Inner Armor and Royer Neuroscience. He began as a clinical neuropsychologist in a major children's hospital. He came to realize that we couldn't just treat behaviors, we had to go upstream to what caused the behaviors. This led him into neurobiology, physiology, and the science of human performance. He began using technology to isolate, analyze, and stregnthen the brain-body connection, and to improve the performance of other body system.
Episode Website
Inner Armor Website
Royer Neuroscience Website