Maximizing Sports Performance Through Mental Conditioning
 Also see "Coaches Guide to Mental Conditioning"

Facts:

  • At the elite athletic level, mental conditioning becomes one of the most important differences between top performers
  • Visualizations and affirmations can dramatically improve overall performance
  • All performance is self-fulfilling. You get what you expect as an athlete
  • Champions use their failures as stepping stones to success
  • Mental conditioning must be apart of your overall conditioning program because focus and concentration are learned and practiced skills

Primary Components of a Mental Conditioning Program

  • Autogenic Relaxation – autogenic also known as self-generated training has the power to actually alter your neural pathways as you change your behavior. Autogenic relaxation is a kind of self-hypnosis that enables you to root positive phrases and mental images in your unconscious. It brings your mind and feelings into harmony with your body as you take on and adjust to new behaviors.
  • Visualization – visualization is your ability to imagine in your mind certain situations. It not only includes visually seeing the events happening but also allows you to feel like you are almost in the situation. All five senses are present in the visualization including sound, smell, touch, etc. Visualization is a powerful tool when used in a positive matter. However, in many cases athletes replay negative events causing a negative effect on performance. The more vivid the visualization the more it attaches to your memory.

    Visualization must be practiced on an on-going basis to become effective
  • Affirmations– Affirmations are positive statements that you can use to replace your negative mind-chatter. Using affirmations can be a powerful way to transform many of your old attitudes and expectations into positive and vibrant ones.

    There are some very important points to remember when you are writing/creating an affirmation:
  • Always use the present tense when writing affirmations.
  • State your affirmation as if it already exists.
  • Always phrase affirmations in a positive way. It is very important that you affirm what you do want instead of what you don’t want. 
  • Try to keep your affirmations short and simple.
  • Choose/create affirmations that feel right for you. What works for one person may not work best for you.
  • Neuromuscular coordination – muscle/brain imprinting through controlled plyometrics, body and motor control training helps "train the brain" to react naturally and unconsciously when brought into a real playing situation. Slow motions that imprint movements that are consistent with the sport will improve overall efficiency.

How to integrate mental conditioning into your training routine:

  1. Focus and build on fundamentals. Especially at an early age (under 14) the major emphasis of sports training should be on practicing techniques and fundamental to allow an imprinting to occur. Rapidly instituting complex or specific training techniques before the basics have been mastered deter overall performance. A good example is how each level in Judo or karate learns progressively difficult techniques. Once one reaches a black belt master stage, techniques are not required since they now have been engrained into the subscious.
  2. Develop a personal list of affirmations and visualizations - develop a positive list of affirmation statements that will inspire and motivate you. Create visualizations that are positive and motivational and ones that are calming. These can be used in appropriate situations to increase motivation and energy or relief during a stressful situation.
  3. Practice relaxation exercises - Put your affirmations in writing and review them daily. By practicing on a regular basis autogenic training, progressive muscular relaxation and visualizations your sports performance is guaranteed to improve.
  4. Build rituals into practice and pre-game – establish a set of rituals that helps you focus. Moving all outside distractions away and narrowing your concentration. Every great athlete in every sport goes through the same routine before every performance.
  5. Practice techniques and rituals to develop confidence – use positive affirmations by posting on walls of your room for constant reinforcement. Control negative self-talk by saying "STOP" to your self the instant you become aware of a negative message.  
  6. Practice concentration – you can’t expect to achieve peak physical performance without training so why do you assume you will be at your top mental performance with no practice? Some exercises you can practice include:
  • Ball stare – practice focusing on a ball (one for your sport) and maintain concentration and focus as long as you can. Study it carefully, examine stitching, color, etc. Quickly bring your focus back to the ball every time you find yourself drifting.
  • Blocking Distractions – sit up close to your TV screen with the set on and no volume. Hold your thumb against the screen and focus only on the center of your thumbnail for about 10 seconds. When you can do this without being distracted by the pictures, increase your time to 20 seconds. When you can go a whole minute without being distracted, turn the volume up and try to focus for 10 seconds. Continue to increase your time until you can go 12 minutes without losing focus.

The Bottom Line

  • Losers are negative, winners are positive. You choose the attitude, the attitude creates the results
  • You must practice and train the mental aspects and techniques just like you practice skills and spend time on physical conditioning
  • Mental rehearsal is one of the most powerful mental skills you can use as an athlete to overcome setbacks, effectively handle pressure and lift the level of your physical game
  • At the elite sports levels, mental conditioning plays a more important role to overall success than physical.

References:

  1. Chang, John, Sports Psychology, Wright State University, 2001
  2. Bompa, Tudor, Total Training for Young Champions, Human Kinetics, 2000.
  3. Goldberg, Alan, Playing Out of Your Mind, Reedswain, Inc. ,1997
  4. Harvey, John, Total Relaxation, 1998
  5. Earle, Richard, Reduce your Body Age, 1998
 

Disclaimer            Privacy           Copyright