Gone are the days when athletes were expected to achieve success solely by working on their physical prowess. Focus on mental wellness and fortitude now hold an equal position in elite athletics. The latter is generally more complicated, however. As humans we know that a regime of cardiovascular and resistance training, perpetual practice, nutrition optimization, and physiotherapy interventions are crucial to physical improvements in sport. While the process is indeed scientific and certainly requires a lot of work, it’s easier to comprehend for most. But how are humans to attain mental performance enhancement to the point that it manifests in athletic goal attainment? How to we tap into the power of our minds to increase speed, strength, stamina, agility, and ultimately become championship caliber material? It’s not as ethereal as one may think. Please keep reading.
Overview of Mental Performance Enhancement to Attain and Sustain Status as an Elite Athlete
Performance Enhancement Through Improved Mindset
In sports psychology, mindset references competitive performance and athletic coping skills. Mindset coaches train athletes to attain mental toughness that will elevate and evolve their minds to take their physicality, skills, and careers to the next level. Admittedly, the term mindset in sports gets tossed around like the ol’ pigskin. Its ubiquitous use runs the risk of genericization in the manner of which a proprietary term becomes widely perceived as a common noun. But in reality, when applied as intended there are very palpable applications of mindset for the court, track, or field.
An athlete with an advanced mindset will have learned to envision challenging scenarios that commonly occur when engaged in competition, and develop a more positive and productive response to those scenarios. For example, a mindset coach may ask an athlete to envision a referee making a call that goes against them. Traditionally, the athlete may have been inclined to take the call personally, blame the referee, respond with anger, and subsequently incur a penalty (i.e. technical foul) and/or let the instance negatively impact their mental and physical performance for the remainder of the competition. Under mindset training, the same athlete will visualize the scenario over and over again, but will focus to interject a calmer, level-headed, and targeted response to the ref’s call that will lead to an explosive (in a good way) performance. After envisioning this, it can be repeatedly applied in the physical realm to the point that it becomes a constant part of the athlete’s mental repertoire. Not only can this increase the odds of winning, an athlete’s teammates, coaches, referees, sponsors and other “stakeholders” (as applicable) will take notice of this more mature and constructive display of athleticism. Such a thing has positive reverberations on an athlete’s amateur and professional career.
The above scenario is just one example of how mindset training can be applied. Training can also change an athlete’s perception and response to seemingly insurmountable odds of defeating a competitor who on the surface is stronger, faster, and statistically superior. It can also evolve the way an athlete perceives what can or cannot be accomplished (i.e. a certain amount of points scored) within a set amount of time left in competition. Simply stated, mindset training will provide an athlete with the mental tools required to overcome something that they once deemed to be out of their control.
Of course, like with physical conditioning, mental performance enhancement through mindset training cannot be done effectively and sustainably on one’s own. No amount of YouTube tutorials can take the place of professionals who are trained and experienced in the discipline. At least not when it comes to elite athletics. One expert in mindset coaching and training stands out above the rest – Momentum Labs. The Momentum Labs team is compromised of performance psychology consultants who have decades of experience in optimizing the mental performance of athletes from the USA’s major leagues, including the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, MLS, WNBA and and NWSL in addition to collegiate athletes (i.e. NCAA) and Olympians. View additional information on Momentum Labs here, or read ahead first to learn about the next critical layer in mental performance enhancement.
Performance Enhancement by Removal of Mental and Behavioral Barriers
For mindset training to be truly effective, mental and behavioral barriers must be cleared from an athlete’s path. Athletes face unique challenges when it comes to their thoughts, feelings, and emotions that typically exceed those experienced by the general population. For instance, they have an innate anxiety and insecurity about career longevity that those in other professions can’t quite relate to. But before they even arrive at a professional level, elite young athletes face other distinctive challenges that can lead to burnout before their spotlight is allowed to shine. These include pressure from dependent family members, pressure from collegiate/professional scouts, and pressure from current or prospective sponsors. View more on the unique challenges to the mental health of elite young athletes. All of this is on top of the common mental and behavioral health issues they already experience which include the following:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Stress
- Anger
- Compulsive sexual behavior
- Problem gambling
- Problem gaming
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse
Understanding all of this, it’s clear that any mental performance enhancement program for athletes must incorporate counseling and therapy support. Kindbridge Behavioral Health is America’s preeminent provider of such services to elite athletes. View more about our mental health services for athletes platform.
Performance Enhancement Through Flow State
When taken together, improved mindset and the ability to overcome mental/behavioral health hurdles will optimize athlete performance. Beyond this, what we’ve detailed above also clears the way for flow state attainment.
Most people involved in athletics are familiar with the flow state concept, but we’ll add clarity. The phrase “flow state” in sports is used to describe when an athlete is unreservedly hyper-focused on their game-play while functioning at an optimal level. Athletes who have experienced flow state report feelings of being completely detached from all other distractions, be it opposition or screaming fans, and are instead locked-in on the task at hand. They experience an ethereal sense of control over their movements and an altered perception of time and space even though they are aware that they are attainting peak performance.
There is a lot of nuance involved in how to reach flow state, however, research has found that increased mindfulness and removal of distracting negative emotions facilitates an environment conducive to its attainment. Unless there comes a day when flow state can be bottled in a supplement form, the best way to facilitate this environment is by doing the work with a mindset coach and mental health counselor.
Does everything above connect to what you envision for yourself as an elite (or aspiring to be elite) athlete? Then you’re ready for what’s next! Better yet, you’ll be pleased to know that two of America’s top resources for improving mindset and breaking through mental barriers have partnered to provide you with the ultimate athlete performance enhancement program. That’s right, Momentum Labs and Kindbridge have come together. You can read more about this exciting new collaboration right here and then reach out via the contacts provided below to ask about a customized strategy for your unique goals.
Let’s Talk About Optimizing Your Performance
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