Mental Training is a hugely important and unfortunately under-utilized piece of the training puzzle. Just like you fuel your body with healthy food and exercise, your mind also requires nourishment in the form of positive, focused thoughts and mental training tools. When you train your mind you learn to use your mind to work for you as opposed to against you and by doing so TRANSFORM your skating! Here are 6 examples of how mental training will impact your performance.
Mental Training Decreases/Eliminates:
1. Uncertainty around Goals – you learn to get really specific about what you want to achieve on the ice. You develop a crystal clear vision of what you want to accomplish the day of competition and how you are going to make it happen.
2. Bad Practices – you learn how to make your practices more productive, purpose-driven and positive by using tools like the practice goal setting template. Practice takes you one step closer or one step further away from achieving your goals, so it is important to make each count!
3. Negative Mindset – you learn to control your thoughts by first bringing awareness to what you are saying to yourself in those moments of struggle on the ice. From there you learn how to reframe those thoughts from negative to positive, eventually making ‘positive thinking’ a habit.
4. Nervousness before Competition – you learn techniques (ie. visualization, self-affirmations) to take control of your performance and get yourself ‘in the zone’. When you feel in control, you feel powerful and your performance benefits greatly!
5. Disappointing Performances – you spend time after competition learning to identify the factors that contributed to the performance, whether successful or disappointing. Identifying these factors gives you the opportunity to replicate them or find solutions to create a better performance next time.
6. Distractions – you learn how to ‘check your baggage at the boards’! This involves learning to detach from the outcome of a past element, practice, or performance, letting it go, and moving forward focused only on what you are doing now.
Find out more about the Mind-Body Performance Coaching Program.
Until Next Time,
Keep Your Mind in the Game!
Hi, I'm Rebekah. I help skaters improve their performance by strengthening their mindset. Please check out my blog, sign up to my mailing list, or follow me on social media for inspiration. 