Get Competition Ready with Three Mental Toughness Tips
Get Competition Ready with Three Mental Toughness Tips
As several club gyms around the country are gearing up for state championships, a qualifying competition which stacks up gymnasts and teams against one another to determine top finishers. It can be a time of intense pressure for both athletes and coaches. On the flip side, it’s also an opportunity to check in with yourself as a person and as an athlete. For coaches, it’s a chance to build an athlete’s character. So how do you take a bit of the pressure off and get mentally tough for competition? Gymnastike sat down with Dr. Alison Arnold, Founder of Headgames and the peak performance consultant to USA Women’s Gymnastics for a few tips to train the mind, body and spirit so you can unleash the gymnastics you know how to do.
Let’s examine the root of why a gymnast may not be successful in competition. The athlete is physically prepared but perhaps not mental prepared. According to Doc Ali it’s often the fear of failure, a common problem and one of the biggest issues with gymnasts. Many are perfectionists and have that desire to please others.
Tip #1 Get in your competition bubble
Nothing outside of your bubble should control your internal state. Not your coach’s mood or a bad warm up or even your own perfectionism beast. Here are some tools to help get your emotions under control and get into the bubble.
Mind: Using your breath, you want to breathe in confidence, get to a relaxed and calm state and use positive self talk to keep negative thoughts out of the mind.
Tools: Say your trigger statement with intensity, thoughts such as, “just like practice or I got this!” Think of the perfect coach inside your head. Say the corrections your coaches give you in your mind every practice, every turn, and every routine.
Body: fierce face and body language
Be 100% present and ready to perform. Leave whatever drama you have at the door and use the gym as a way to channel energy in a more positive way.
Tools: Turn on your gymnast swag, practice your competition body language in your line-up, make eye contact and smile at your coaches in practice. These tools will then come more natural the day of competition.
Spirit: Check in with yourself or your spirit to get a clear purpose and remain aware of the big picture. Ask yourself, “why do I do gymnastics?” It may be, “to qualify for State championships.” What is my heart telling me? To “hit for my team,” or “hit four for four this meet.”
Tools: A vision board is a great way to post inspirational quotes to keep you motivated. YouTube has a slew of gymnastic montage videos to pump you up before practice.
Tip #2 More robo, less emo
Doc Ali uses the term ‘more robo, less emo.’ The mind needs to be more robotic and less emotional. Gymnasts all have cue words or mental choreography they recite during their routine to keep them on track during practice.
Tools: Perform walk-throughs with arm sets and say cue words out loud that are rhythmic and sharp to the element. In competition a gymnast who is ‘more robo less emo’ will begin with, breathe, get into their competition bubble, salute and then words like, “press, look, breathe, tight.”
The goal of this drill is to be very robotic so hopefully the emotional muscle memory will kick in when the gymnast ignites their cue words in competition. Remember the more practice is like competition the more competition is like practice.
Tip #3 Flip from over trying to trusting
Children these days have an incredible amount of pressure put on them to achieve. Often times they are looking at the kid next to them to compare themselves. They may see a coach give this athlete attention when they perform and want that same attention too. The child begins to lose who they are as a person. The fear of failure may begin to settle in with that athlete, putting too much pressure on themselves which leads to over trying, which leads to underperforming. Let’s take a look at a couple tools coaches can use with an athlete that is over trying and how to take a bit of the pressure off from the outcome.
Tools: Get the athlete to focus more on what they can control. Their effort, attitude and how calm and relaxed they can stay during a competition. Train your athlete to self talk in a manner that allows them to trust their gymnastics. Have the athlete flip any pressure thoughts and get back into trusting. Words such as, “I got this, or I trust myself just go all out and the rest takes care of itself.”
Focus on character building and not performance outcomes. Instead of telling your athlete, “Great, you won this meet,” try encouraging words like, “I’m proud of how you never gave up this meet,” or “You smiled even though you had a bad warm up.”
The next time you start feeling those competition jitters remember to breathe, get into your competition bubble, more ‘robo less emo’ with cue words to lock down the mind and flip the over trying beast to trusting the fierce competitor you know how to be.
Check back next Monday with more mental toughness tips when we discuss getting back in the game after an injury.
To work on your mental toughness with Doc Ali for two weeks free use this code: http://www.headgameswebcamp.com/2weeks
Let’s examine the root of why a gymnast may not be successful in competition. The athlete is physically prepared but perhaps not mental prepared. According to Doc Ali it’s often the fear of failure, a common problem and one of the biggest issues with gymnasts. Many are perfectionists and have that desire to please others.
Tip #1 Get in your competition bubble
Nothing outside of your bubble should control your internal state. Not your coach’s mood or a bad warm up or even your own perfectionism beast. Here are some tools to help get your emotions under control and get into the bubble.
Mind: Using your breath, you want to breathe in confidence, get to a relaxed and calm state and use positive self talk to keep negative thoughts out of the mind.
Tools: Say your trigger statement with intensity, thoughts such as, “just like practice or I got this!” Think of the perfect coach inside your head. Say the corrections your coaches give you in your mind every practice, every turn, and every routine.
Body: fierce face and body language
Be 100% present and ready to perform. Leave whatever drama you have at the door and use the gym as a way to channel energy in a more positive way.
Tools: Turn on your gymnast swag, practice your competition body language in your line-up, make eye contact and smile at your coaches in practice. These tools will then come more natural the day of competition.
Spirit: Check in with yourself or your spirit to get a clear purpose and remain aware of the big picture. Ask yourself, “why do I do gymnastics?” It may be, “to qualify for State championships.” What is my heart telling me? To “hit for my team,” or “hit four for four this meet.”
Tools: A vision board is a great way to post inspirational quotes to keep you motivated. YouTube has a slew of gymnastic montage videos to pump you up before practice.
Tip #2 More robo, less emo
Doc Ali uses the term ‘more robo, less emo.’ The mind needs to be more robotic and less emotional. Gymnasts all have cue words or mental choreography they recite during their routine to keep them on track during practice.
Tools: Perform walk-throughs with arm sets and say cue words out loud that are rhythmic and sharp to the element. In competition a gymnast who is ‘more robo less emo’ will begin with, breathe, get into their competition bubble, salute and then words like, “press, look, breathe, tight.”
The goal of this drill is to be very robotic so hopefully the emotional muscle memory will kick in when the gymnast ignites their cue words in competition. Remember the more practice is like competition the more competition is like practice.
Tip #3 Flip from over trying to trusting
Children these days have an incredible amount of pressure put on them to achieve. Often times they are looking at the kid next to them to compare themselves. They may see a coach give this athlete attention when they perform and want that same attention too. The child begins to lose who they are as a person. The fear of failure may begin to settle in with that athlete, putting too much pressure on themselves which leads to over trying, which leads to underperforming. Let’s take a look at a couple tools coaches can use with an athlete that is over trying and how to take a bit of the pressure off from the outcome.
Tools: Get the athlete to focus more on what they can control. Their effort, attitude and how calm and relaxed they can stay during a competition. Train your athlete to self talk in a manner that allows them to trust their gymnastics. Have the athlete flip any pressure thoughts and get back into trusting. Words such as, “I got this, or I trust myself just go all out and the rest takes care of itself.”
Focus on character building and not performance outcomes. Instead of telling your athlete, “Great, you won this meet,” try encouraging words like, “I’m proud of how you never gave up this meet,” or “You smiled even though you had a bad warm up.”
The next time you start feeling those competition jitters remember to breathe, get into your competition bubble, more ‘robo less emo’ with cue words to lock down the mind and flip the over trying beast to trusting the fierce competitor you know how to be.
Check back next Monday with more mental toughness tips when we discuss getting back in the game after an injury.
To work on your mental toughness with Doc Ali for two weeks free use this code: http://www.headgameswebcamp.com/2weeks