Being an elite athlete involves the rare combination of talent, hard work and a strong psychological profile. Sports psychology is filtering down from the elite to the masses and can have a great impact on your muddy race performance.
We’d all like to improve our performances and with a little insight into sports psychology we can condition ourselves how think like an athlete. A few small changes can help towards making those big, significant leaps in performance we all desire. We’re not all going to be world-beaters but a few mental changes can really enhance both performance and enjoyment within sports.
1. Remain positive and shut out negative thoughts
If you hit those monkey bars thinking “I really struggle on the monkey bars” the likely scenario is that you’re going to struggle on the monkey bars. Negative thoughts breed negative actions. A study on performance in sport (Wuff & Toole, 1999) found that when an individual is confident in their ability this serves to motivate them- Resulting in continued efforts to increase their performance.
Setbacks are a part of sport as they are life. Whether it’s injury, illness or family issues, they can all have an effect on our training and performance. For many, research has shown our level of anxiety can be reduced through a combination of mental imagery, relaxation, and cognitive intervention. These psychological methods not only aim to reduce an athlete’s level of anxiety as well as boost confidence levels.
Meditation has also been shown as a fantastic way to enhance relaxation and enhance an individual’s positivity. A landmark paper in positive thinking (Frederickson et al, 2008) found that people who meditated daily were much more positive in life.
Action: Think positive imagery and positive mental talk. Keep telling yourself you can do it and chances are you will eventually start to believe it. Consider meditation for its relaxing properties and ability to enhance your positive mindset.
2. Use their motivation from within to succeed
Athletes with high perceptions of competence and self-control tend to facilitate intrinsic motivation which leads to enhances development in abilities through the overcoming of obstacles as a result of persistence and positive feedback. This has great implications to obstacle racers who as athletes tend to love task orientated goals. It’s not about the winning but becomes related to the process of winning. The quest towards mastery of a skill or performance overtakes that prized medal or headband at the finish line for the elite.
Motivational levels can be further enhanced through the perception of rewards as informational and educational, which can subsequently lead to improved self-confidence and determination. When an athlete reaches a high level of autonomy (where skills become ‘natural actions’), this can also further enhance confidence and motivation. Despite the impact of many a pushy parent it is intrinsic motivation that is one of the greatest potential contributing psychological factors to an individual’s success.
Action: Consider what factors made you want to run or race over obstacle courses and look towards how you could train to develop mastery in your performance to further enhance your self-confidence and motivation.
3. Think big and plan for 2015
While we were growing up we had big dreams: whether it was to be a professional footballer, fire-fighter, or to fly to the moon. Setting big goals helps the elite to succeed but big goals are not just for the elite. The key to all goals are that they have to be SMART. Before goal achievement can be considered they firstly have to be clearly defined in terms of their difficulty, measurability, specificity, proximity and personal orientation.
Specific You need to know when your goal has been achieved to be able to classify your success in relation to your abilities. Consider what you could achieve. Completing your first 10km run in less than an hour or being able to get across the monkey bars at Spartan Race are very specific to our racing needs,
Measurable If you can measure your success you can prove that you’ve achieved your goal. If you can’t establish a finite yes, or no to confirm you’ve achieved your goal it’s not measureable. Finishing within a certain percentile within your races is a very measurable form of analysing your performance.
Attainable goals Should challenge an athlete with some degree of difficulty in their execution. Moderate to difficult goals can be used to empower an athlete over longer timeframes whilst short term goals should be utilized to systematically realise long term goals in the form of taking steps up a staircase. Studies have shown that performance related goals are significantly more achievable than outcome goals (Zimmerman & Kitsanus, 1996) and an athlete must take steps to achieve said goal. Stating that you’re going to win a World Championship might be a great long term goal but the first of a series of smaller goals may be to successfully qualify for the event.
Realistic goals Must be set to ensure the athlete accepts the goal. Athlete belief in their ability to achieve a goal is important in the ownership process. In developing athletes a goal may be set by a coach or parent whom the athlete may never truly accept. In these cases the goal is likely to never be achieved.
Within a timeframe that allows an athlete to closely monitor their gains and whether they are being successful in achieving their targets? Short term goals should always work towards long term goals.
Action: Consider your goals for next season in a SMART way and make any relevant adjustments to help make your goals attainable.
4. Work on your weaknesses and play to your strength
Pro and elite athletes are constantly analysing their performance. After every obstacle, drill, WOD and after they’re run their race. They will analyse their actions in a view to determining what’s going right or wrong and what needs to be practiced for further improvement. Performance analysis can lead to improved technical and tactical knowledge, improved decision making and improved athlete confidence. A simple way to do this is to break down aspects of performance into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in terms of your overall abilities.
One of British sports modern day success stories is cycling. Previously with the national track cycling team and on to the professional Team Sky, its principle Dave Brailsford worked on the basis of “aggregation of marginal gains” where small improvements to a number of elements create a significant increase in performance as a result of making small adjustments to weaknesses and further developing riders’ strengths
Action: Break your performance down in a list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your performance. If you’re not fully aware of your weaknesses ask a coach or teammate and be prepared to improve in every aspect of your performance possible. Asking a coach or teammate will often give you an answer you might not necessarily want to hear so be prepared for their honesty. Use these aspects of your own performance to work on your own aggregation of marginal gains”.
5. Learn to deal with injury and setbacks
No matter how mentally tough we are it’s inevitable that within our sporting life we experience setbacks. Whether it’s being unable to complete a balance beam whilst leading a race or suffering from injury. Everyone deals with the stress of injury in different ways. It is important to come to terms with the setback before taking drastic action.
In a recent study Meggs et al (2014) found that an athlete’s motivation and emotional resiliency (aspects of their mental toughness) stem from an individual’s self concept. Successful athletes are able to regulate both emotion and behaviour through self-organisations. Successful athletes will be able to turn negative self concepts into positives.
Action: Next time injury or setback stands in your way consider it as a natural part of the training and performance development process and use your training or recovery time wisely.
References
Frederickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Jolynn Pek., & Finkel, S. A., (2008) Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 95(5): 1045–1062
Meggs, J., Ditzfield, C., & Golby, J. (2014). Self-concept organisation and mental toughness in sport. Journal of Sports Sciences, 32 (2), 101-109.
Wuff, G., & Toole, T. (1999). Physical assistance devices in complex motor skill learning: benefits of a self-controlled practice schedule. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70 (3), 265-274.
Zimmerman. M. J. , & Kasantus. A. (1996) Self-regulated learning of a motor skill: The role of goal-setting and self-monitoring. Journal of Applied Sp