SW Athletics Cross Country Championships February-12-2020

Ed Bird and Ryan Symington of Dorchester Athletics Club were representing Dorset Schools and finished in the top 5. Well done and many congratulations

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Be Inspired ... Be Inspiring The science of Success is a balance of: Techical Skill + Physical Fitness + Self-Belief + Tactical Strategy = Successful Performance Mental Strength February 3, 2020 When to Train Your Brain Train your brain more often than you train your body. For many sports, over 90% of success is produced from mental preparation and effort. Daily, train your brain in the quiet of your free time and before each training session. Then before you compete, use the power of your trained mind to visualise your successful performance and prepare your subconscious to control your processes. Subconscious control gives speedier and more accurate reactions. Consciousness can only think of one thing at a time, so give it something useful to do such as focusing on your breathing. In this way it connects with your mental training and supports your subconscious as well as feeding your muscles. "Remember your focus determines your reality" Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars episode 1 February 2, 2020 Visualisation Visualisation or mental rehearsal is a powerful way of preparing for an event. It starts with having experience of the event in real time, so, for instance, competing in an athletics event at a familiar venue. Remember the Internet allows us to see venues we haven't visited before and in this way become familiar with them. Visualising your performance prepares your mind, body and soul for the coming event. You start with quietening your thoughts. Sit or lie down in a quiet space, close your eyes and breathe normally. Focus your concentration on your breathing and the action of inhaling, feeling the soothing inbreath; and then exhaling slowly until the breath disappears. Repeating naturally. If thoughts appear in your mind allow them to pass through without any analysis, say "Hi thought" and away it goes, blown away with each exhalation. As your thoughts disappear, keep focusing on your breathing and your mind gradually becomes quieter and a space onto which you can imprint a film of you successfully performing your technical and tactical processes. So now let's develop the film; see yourself arring at the venue of the event. Breathe in the familiar atmosphere and exhale any anxieties. See yourself competing as you move towards the start and go through your setup. Then at the sound of the [gun for track] [horn for field], see yourself successfully going through your technical processes and tactical strategy, which you have been training to use. It is important to only reproduce your training performance when visualising competition performance; this is because you need to believe in the realism of the image you create in your mind. Visualisation is about success, it is a powerful way to improve performance, hence you must only visualise success to provide only positive mental imprints. Breathe and remind yourself with self-congratulation that it is like you to perform well. You are the success you believe yourself to be. January 31, 2020 There is no Try Continuing the theme of positive thinking and positive self-talk. It is important to realise the impact of negative thoughts. Negative thoughts imprint something we are wary or afraid of happening. These thoughts increase the likelihood of the negativity occurring because as already discussed our brain interprets all thoughts as impulses to be done. Any analysis of negativity increases the probability of that negativity repeating. To use an example of a competitive shooter who narrowly missed scoring a perfect score of 600 by scoring 2 nines. When asked what happened? He replied I don't know and it does not improve my performance by thinking about them; I am better off focusing my thoughts on how I scored 58 tens because this improves the likelihood of me scoring 60 tens in the future. From this we learn that reframing our thoughts towards our successes, the positive performance of our process, is beneficial for our continued growth towards becoming a Champion. We are focusing our thoughts towards achieving improving performances. Remember to congratulate yourself on things that go well; then plan your training to improve those things that need improving. Remove all negative thinking and avoid negative analysis. It doesn't matter that something went awry; but it does matter that you only reflect positive memories that create positive imprints. Whenever anyone asks about your performance, say it went well because I am pleased with ...; then say I'm using what I've learned to train to improve my performance. As an experiment, from this point forward always speak positively about yourself and the things you do and achieve. You will feel more positive and smile more easily. "Do or Dont do, there is no Try", Yoda January 30, 2020 "Do Do" not "Don't Do"   From the outset we need to realise that the brain cannot comply with a Don't Do command because it interprets these as a Do Do.   For example, if you're told "Don't think of Elephants", the effect is the same as being told "Think of Elephants".   Consequently, we realise that our brain wants to give us that which we ask of it in terms of performance.   Therefore, to allow the brain to usefully improve performance, you need to tell it what you want to have happen. But this isn't a wish list.   In order to be effective you need to tell your brain whenever you do something well, you need to congratulate yourself, so that your brain learns to give you more of whatever pleases you.   You need to use positive self-talk when you perform any part of your process well, such as: "Well done Chris, lengthening your stride made you go faster".   So, Do celebrate your successful processes; and in the spirit of staying positive, plan to train your solutions for everything else. January 29, 2020 Who are You? How do You see Yourself? How you see yourself will determine the extent to which you are capable of achieving your Goals. This is true with anything you aim for be it competitively, educationally, vocationally, etc. To be a Champion you must believe you are capable of being a Champion. You must train with a purpose to improve specific aspects of your performance and use your performance improvements to build your mental image of yourself as a competitor and champion. So the question should be: How do You want to see Yourself? Then you train to become this person. Archives February 2020 January 2020  Victor's Win First, then Compete. Champions are a combination of their Technical Skills, Mental Strength, Physical Fitness and Tactical Ability. Your Self-Belief must be equal to your Skills, Abilities and Performance in order to Win. Every Champion has a display of their best achievements; often called a Wall of Fame; it allows the athlete to remind themselves of their current ability and the goals they're aiming for. Celebrate your successes and train your solutions; always looking forward to something you want to have happen.  This is an exploration into creating Mental Strength; it is based on my competing and coaching experiences. I am happy to share my knowledge with Dorchester Athletic Club athletes and answer any questions it raises; either in person on training days or asynchronously. For Individual coaching to develop Mental Strength email Chris    What winning looks like   Click images for full page versions