3-elements-of-an-athlete

The complete athlete has mastery of not only their techniques and physical fitness but also their mental health and mental fitness.

how-to-gain-confidence

Confidence is a pillar of being able to compete at a high level. But, confidence is not just something you have built from past results, it is something we can learn to build.

So, where does confidence come from? It comes from having a prearranged plan with techniques for the upcoming task that mitigates risk.

We use our plans to know what to execute on and as we achieve our goals we slowly build confidence. But, we must first build our plan into our routine.

principles-of-training-your-mind

Learning to train your mind is not something that is built on pseudo-science or esoteric principles. It is actually very simple and can be so easy to build into your everyday life.

The 3 pillars on which mental training is built are:

1) Breathing

2) Visualizing

3) Routine

Breathing

By focusing on square breathing we are bringing our focus internally on ourselves which allows us to shut out the outside world and all of its distractions. It brings the heart rate and anxiety down and can let us tune into that "mental chatter". Once we become more aware of the destructive negative mental chatter we can use our breath as a trigger to acknowledge it and focus back on what matters.

Visualizing

how-to-gain-confidence

If you can't visualize yourself doing it, how could you ever do it in real life? Important words to remember! Visualizing is one of the strongest tools in our mental training toolbox, but we must be careful with how we use it - it must be used for good!

When we visualize we want to visualize what we want to happen. The perfect race, the perfect meeting, the perfect pitch. We also want to hit on as many senses as possible in our visualization. The deeper we go into our visualizations the more and more beneficial they become.

You should feel mentally tired after a good visualization practice.

how-to-gain-confidence

Remember, as with almost anything else we need to consistently train our minds to see improvement. Champions aren't just born with that "Champion's Mindset" they work at it every single day.

Mental Training Ahead of a Race Weekend

how-to-gain-confidence

We need to be sure to put in work ahead of a track day or race weekend so when we show up we know what we want to execute on.

To get ready for a weekend we want to focus on:

1) Setting goals and ensuring our plans and goals match up.

2) Building our anchors. Practice finding the mental state you want to find on track by working on your breathing or trigger words to find it.

3) Visualization. Remember we want to visualize achieving the goals and carrying out the plans that we set in step 1.

4) Sleep! The mind & body are one and sleep is a foundation of peak physical & mental performance.

Mental Training During a Race Weekend

how-to-gain-confidence

During the race weekend, we build our mental training around these four principles:

1. Session Goals

We want to set many goals every time we are on track and ensure they fit in well with our larger longer-term goals.

2. Get Out Of Your Own Way

When you are ready to go out and execute, give yourself permission to take a step back and just go out and execute YOUR plan. Don't let anything else influence the plan you have set for yourself.

3. Visualizing

Use visualization to help run through your plans and understand how to execute on what you need to, to achieve your goals.

4. Breathing

Use your breathing or any of your triggers and re-focus triggers consistently during the weekend. Use it before every session and while you are on the race track.