#119 Melina Costanza — Elite Mental Training and Performance, Look Good Feel Good Play Good, Getting Hooked on The Outdoors, and The Nuances of Eating As a Top Athlete

The Testpiece Podcast

Melina Costanza is an 8x US National Champion. Sometimes as a youth, sometimes as a collegiate, sometimes in Open, sometimes in bouldering, sometimes in lead, sometimes both. Yes, last year at Open Nationals (2023) she won both Bouldering and Lead. She is set to compete in the 2024 Open Nationals coming up in a week, so after you listen to this podcast make sure to mark your calendars for October 14th and 15th and cheer her on!

In this podcast, Melina shares her extremely deep dive into mental training and how she translates that to her incredible performances in competition. It is an absolute masterclass on this topic that cannot be missed.

She also talks about her views on indoor vs outdoor climbing and how that’s recently changed and why.

Finally, Melina covers a sensitive, but important, topic. Eating as an elite athlete. Melina struggled with an eating disorder at one point and suffered a serious injury as a result. She has returned to sport since then, and done so successfully (see above, Nationals 2023 double gold). Melina shares how to best frame eating when you are an athlete.

Because let’s face it, weight management will always be part of the equation in sports. But it needs to be done the right way. It is not a simple black and white topic, even though media often makes it out to be, which is a disservice to those trying to figure out their path forward. Melina is making a huge contribution to the community by sharing how she navigates the nuances so that she can perform at her best in a sustainable way.

SHOW NOTES:

• Melina's Instagram
• Melina’s Favorite Hype Song, Runnin
• Melina’s Favorite Chill Songs, Taylor Swift
• Day One Journaling App
• Alex Johnson’s Testpiece Podcast Episode

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