The Mental Edge … Fact or Fiction?

Not many of you know who I am so I thought I would take a few moments to introduce myself. My name is Olivia, but everyone calls me Liv! I am a Western Mass native and grew up right around the corner in 16 acres in Springfield. I received my undergrad from ELMS College in Chicopee and I am currently working on my master’s degree in psychology, more specifically sports psych. From as long as I can remember I have been an exercise enthusiast, and an athlete, so becoming a trainer was right in line with my passions and my love for helping others move and feel better.

So how did I land myself at CPC? Well about 3 and a half years ago I moved back to Springfield after living in Easthampton for a while, and I was determined to find a gym that offered TRX classes. I still remember walking into my first class, which was a Saturday boot camp. This particular class offered the intensity and craziness I was searching for but I still wanted more TRX time, which inevitably led me to Sarah’s Tuesday night class TRX fusion. And needless to say I was hooked. I remember having a conversation with my mom and my exact words were “I think I found my kind of people, just as crazy and passionate about training as I am, and I love it.” Since those first few months CPC, the Staff, the clientele, and how the classes were conducted became to me the standard of what this profession was supposed to look, and act like. I knew just by surrounding myself in this culture it would help me grow as a trainer an athlete, and within my profession.

CPC was also where I started my love for endurance sports, more specifically triathlon. I completed my first half distance ironman at Martha’s Vineyard last September, and despite the jellyfish stings all over my face, feet, and hands, the massive swells, and the lack of knowing just how important it was to dry your feet before running 13 miles .. I did finish that race. Sure I trained, but training for the physical demand of the sport does not help you against jellyfish that’s for sure. So what does?

 Very real skills that can be taught and used regularly by yourself and clients are visualization, attention control and, relaxation techniques. When I say visualization I mean visualizing the game or race day. Breaking each part of the game or race down and planning out what a successful game or race would look like.

Attention control are techniques used when race or game day is not going to plan, for example what can be said, done, or thought to keep your mind in the game when everything is going wrong. For me this is a saying that sounds a little bit like “just keep f*@$ing going!” feel free to be more creative!

Finally relaxation techniques are important to aide off race/game day anxiety and can be as simple as deep breathing, meditation, or listening to a specific song pre sport.

But how do we work on this or get the buy-in from our athletes or clients? Here are some steps you could be taking:

Step 1: Develop a self-regulation process for yourself or your athlete. This means set a goal for game or race day and create a training plan to get you to that desired goal. This also means evaluating current skills and areas of improvement, and observe other athletes performing in your sport of choice. Within the self-regulation process you also want to be working on positive self-talk or what I find very helpful is creating a Mantra, and no I will never tell you mine because it's embarrassing but it works in moments of self-doubt!

Step 2: Assess strengths and weakness with yourself and client/athletes. Being realistic about abilities and areas of improvement provides a true self inventory and base to improve upon.

Step 3: Analyze the demands of the sport and determine what skills (both mental and physical) to use and when. Talking about what could go wrong and preemptively finding solutions can help ease an athlete’s mind when things are not going to plan.

And Finally …

Step 4: As a coach or a trainer it is important to emphasize the importance of mental skills. If as a coach or trainer you are not working on your own mental health and training why would your athletes do so?

By working on these simple techniques and implementing them into your training and game or race day can ultimately be the difference between finishing or not finishing, winning or losing, and rising to your full potential or not! Remember the mind controls the body, not the other way around.

~Liv