I believe Yogi Berra said something to the effect that "90% of the game is 50% mental." Strossen explores the mental aspects of weightlifting and weight training and guides the reader to a mindset for success. Strossen's analysis is literate, readable, entertaining, and educational. Having trained with weights for the better part of four decades, I have fallen into many of the errors Strossen discusses. I only wish I had read "Ironmind" at the beginning of my training career rather than the end.

Strossen quotes an interview of Buster Douglas shortly after Douglas defeated Mike Tyson. Interviewer: "Buster, you kept him at bay with double left jabs, you leveraged your height advantage and kept tagging him with rights, you tied him up, you maintained that delicate balance of constant pressure [etc., etc., etc.] Was that your strategy? Is that what you planned to do?" Douglas: "I planned to whip his ass." Douglas had the cultivated a mindset for success, and "Ironmind" can help you cultivate it, too, not only in athletics, but in almost any field of endeavor to which you apply its principles.