Mental Training for Athletes: How to Achieve Success in Sports
As an athlete, you might think the strength in your quads or your ability to throw a football far is your most important attribute. You'd be wrong, though -- it's your mind.
Mental conditioning is worth just as much as long drills on the field or practice shots on the green. As an athlete, you value your body and what it can do and your mind plays a big role in keeping you fit.
What you think about and how you think about it are the keys to success on and off the field. Here's the crucial mental training for athletes anyone who plays sports should practice.
Focus Up
An athlete's ability to disregard any distractions and keep their eye on the ball is essential. It can also be one of the most difficult.
Practice with distractions. Do mental concentration sprints where you train yourself to do only one task for a set amount of time.
Visualization
Out of all of the mental skills an athlete needs, visualization is a big key to your success. Muhammad Ali would see himself winning a match before it had even begun to ensure a great outcome.
In fact, a study recorded weight lifters getting 13% stronger just by visualizing their workout. Tap into this power by creating a vision board and looking at it often to keep your goals in sight.
Learn from Failure
When you lose, it's OK to take a moment to be upset. To win the next round, you need to be able to bounce back and learn from your defeat.
The best athletes know that every loss is just an opportunity to learn what they could've done better. Find ways to educate yourself and study what you can improve.
Manage Anxiety and Other Emotions
Being upset over a loss isn't the only thing you'll feel playing sports. You might feel anger, excitement, anxiety, and more.
These feelings all come with the territory. Learn to manage them by making them work for you.
For example, when you feel anxious, trick yourself into thinking you're really just excited. When you feel yourself getting mad, take a deep breath and see what you can do to strategize.
Down Time
You need to rest your muscles to make sure they recover, right? You need to give your a brain a break, too.
Try to keep stress at a minimum. If you find too many thoughts about an upcoming game crowding your mind, agree to worry about them for five minutes and then let them go.
Take a break in order to come back to the game even stronger.
Success with Mental Training for Athletes
As you can see, being a great athlete is as much about your mind as it is your body. Take these mental training for athletes tips and use them to up your performance.
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