Trenton Sandler's Relentless Pursuit

By: Jacob Infald

According to the Harvard School of Business, key traits of an entrepreneur include risk tolerance, comfort with failure, persistence, adaptability, and long-term focus. For Trenton Sandler, a middle distance athlete at the University of Arkansas, a content creator, and the co-founder of the recently launched app Relentless; he embodies the above traits and more as he looks to create engaging content and help athletes improve their mental performance, all while training to be an elite runner in the SEC. 

Sandler, who is typically already busy, is having an incredibly eventful summer. After competing unattached this past outdoor track season, Sandler announced he would be leaving Louisiana State University after three years in the program. After nearly a month in the transfer portal, Sandler committed to Arkansas for his final two years of eligibility.

Sandler also released his mental performance app, Relentless: Mental Toughness, this past May, and has continued producing content for his over 100,000 followers across Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram. 

While Sandler’s app is new, creating content is something that Sandler has been doing his entire life. Sandler said he can remember using a digital camera to make comedy skits with his friends growing up, before taking more formal short film classes during high school. Sandler said that as a fan of mainstream YouTube, and through his experience taking film classes growing up, he understands that to make running content more engaging for a larger audience, he needs to format it in a way that more people can understand. 

This can be seen through his “I Tried Temu Running Products…” video, one of his most popular videos on his Youtube channel with 171,000 views. A proven mainstream trend but adapted to have a running twist to it.

“There’s like 2 billion people worldwide that run,” Sandler told The Extra Mile. “So if you can make something that’s engaging to the average runner, that’s really well structured, and well explained, not just assuming they are a top NCAA athlete, that’s the name of the game right there.”

Sandler said that structure is what he believes separates himself from other running content creators. While high-level running such as the NCAA may be a niche market, Sandler said he recognizes that running itself is a lot more popular worldwide on a casual level than people realize. 

This was evident during Sandler’s series this past indoor season of wanting to break four minutes in the mile. It was a simple goal that was clearly defined, allowing for a larger target audience. While Sandler ultimately ended up missing his goal, running a 4:01 at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational this past February, he said it has actually become easier over time to post his shortcomings on the track.

“That was what drew me to Youtube; the goal of a short film is to try and make you feel an emotion,” Sandler said. “I think that running is kind of the same way in a sense, where if I include the vulnerable part of [missing] my goal, that’s where I’m getting the emotional reaction from the viewer, and that’s where I find the most purpose in my videos.”

After successively sharing the highs and lows of emotions during training and competing through his own videos, Sandler, along with co-founder Rahul Kumar, decided to create and launch his new app Relentless: Mental Toughness. Sandler said the inspiration from the app came from his own struggles as he felt like he lost his competitive drive in races during his first two seasons at LSU. After going to a sports psychologist through the school, and doing his own research, Sandler said he found another passion.

“We all know how to train our bodies daily,” Sandler said. “We are all able to lift in the gym daily and do X reps, but no one knows what to do for their mind, and it really is trainable. There’s so many studies that [say] your mind can make up to 15% of your performance variance. I just really liked that, and I was like, ‘how can I make this more accessible to more people?’”

The app uses the acronym MAC, standing for Mindfullness, Acceptance, and Commitment, to guide athletes through pre-recorded lessons that take just 3-5 minutes per day. Sandler said the long-term goal is to have unlimited content in the app to help athletes in all sports, not just running. Access to these lessons is $7.99 a month, but an athlete can also choose to add on individual sessions with their favorite coaches in the app.  

“On the coach’s side, their incentive is if one of these athletes really likes the coach’s teachings, and say they have [a big competition] coming up, and they really want to perform well..they can book a one-on-one call where they can talk through their individual circumstances directly through the app,” Sandler said. 

What makes Sandler unique as an entrepreneur is he said he does not want to sell people this app through his main channels. Sandler said his goal is for his content and this app to eventually be two separate things. Sandler even created new promotion accounts on both TikTok and Instagram to limit how much he talks about his app on his main channels.

“I’m pretty picky on when I do brand deals,” Sandler said. “I’m pretty picky on what I take so I don’t want to flip that just because it’s my app. I’d rather create content for the entertainment value, that’s the thing I really value with my consent is it’s not necessarily advice, but entertainment, so I don’t want to become a salesman.”

Sandler said it feels like he has three full-time jobs between being an athlete in the SEC, creating content on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and now running his new app. This is all on top of still being a college student as well. However, Sandler said it is difficult to get burnt out because he has surrounded himself with like-minded people.

“I would hate waking up to run everyday if I was running by myself, but because I have people to run with, I don’t get burnt out of that,” Sandler said. “Because I have a co-founder with [Relentless: Mental Toughness], every time we talk, we both get really inspired and get back to work on it. Just have people around you that are interested in the same things, and you will all inspire and motivate each other.”

Editor’s Note: Trenton Sandler and his team at Relentless: Mental Toughness, are always looking for qualified mental performance coaches to join the app. If interested, or if you have any questions regarding the new app, reach out to: admin@relentlessmentaltoughness.com

If you want to get in contact with Jacob, email either:

jinfald919@gmail.com / jinfald@ithaca.edu