mental game
Feb 12 2019
How to improve your mental game

4 tips to build the mindset of a champion

In my experience in sports, I’ve seen this happen too many times. Athletes that have great potential. Potential they’re able to show in training, in friendly matches, ergo, low-pressure settings. However, when it’s time to perform under the bright lights…that potential is nowhere to be found. 

For too long, people have resorted to changing training methodology, coaches and what-have-you to no avail. So, this post is intended to show these athletes and their coaches that what needs to change is their mental game. 

I won’t be using those lame motivational quotes that are thrown around all over the place, no. I’ll be turning those into facts you can actually work on and improve. Because how the hell do I even know if I’m being mentally tough? So here are a few tips for you to practice on – the same way you would with your snatch – and stop crumbling under pressure.

1. Leave no room for doubt

What I mean by this simple yet appallingly accurate statement is that you need to free your mind of useless information. The so-coveted “laserlike focus” is nothing more than concentrating solely on the task at hand. Not even the competition at a larger scale. What movement should be performed? Who do I need to stay in front of? Automatic negative thoughts such as “What if I miss the catch on the jerk?” What if I burn out too quick?” will never come in handy. NEVER.

Think of what you can do, what you can control. Make sure your inner monologue is useful for what you need to be doing. Paradoxically, thinking about not being nervous, will make you more nervous. 

2. Believe in yourself

Possibly one of the corniest sentences ever built in our language, but it’s the most important. You can work as hard as you want. Train more than anyone ever. Because, guess what? I KNOW there are athletes that train more than you. To the point where they’re burnt the fuck out. And they’ll never win the Games. 

At that level, all athletes have the physical capability to win the Games. It can only come down to personal differences, the ones that are dictated by the mind. You need to become 100% sure that you’re more capable of overcoming obstacles than any other. You need to know, deep down, that you are the home-run hitter. If there’s an event that has your name on it, you have to go for the win. You’ll have plenty of events to be conservative, identify potential situations for you to shine and go for broke. 

Performance follows confidence, and not the other way around. You have success stories in your past; use them to boost the self-esteem. You’d be surprised how motivation peaks when it’s headed toward a powerful goal. That’s the magic of competition. You’re so focused on winning or beating whoever’s in front of you that you forget about the pain. Use your own self-worth as a motivation booster and run away with it!

mental game

3. Actively set yourself up for failure 

Don’t do this in competition, duh. But do it in training. A lot. You need to find the things you suck at and do that most of the time. Not only to earn explicit knowledge that will improve your performance and movement, but also to learn how to cope with failure. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. 20 unbroken ring muscle-ups and running a 5k in under 20 mins is a piece of cake in comparison. 

Mat Fraser learned how to sprint, training with high-school track athletes. He got his ass beat. Repeatedly. What happened in the Games? He smashed the Suicide Sprint. Before that, he had been ridiculed in 2015 in both sprints. And went on to be ridiculed even more by 14 year-olds. People that stay in their comfort zone and do more of what they’re great at instead of improving their faults, will never be good enough. Not just physically. But mentally as well.

4. Find the coping method that works best for you

Over the duration of a competition, you will undoubtedly be faced with curveballs. It’s happened since the dawn of time. Given the unpredictable nature of the Games, you might crash and burn in an event and need to find the optimal mental state right away to perform at the next one. You need to be efficient when mentally transitioning from one event to the next. 

Some people need humor. Others need social support. Maybe you need to be alone for a while, wallowing in self-pity. Whatever strategy it may be, get it done and do it fast. Because if you throw that crap under a rug and expect it to disappear, have I got news for you… You’ll inadvertently be weighing yourself down with the weight of past mistakes and things you could have done differently. Those people that say “I just didn’t feel like myself”, “Something was off but I didn’t know what it was”? Clear symptom of inefficient coping. If you suffer any kind of setback. Deal with it emotional and rationally as soon as possible to continue on. The competition won’t stop for anybody. 

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presión
Feb 5 2019
Rendir bajo presión: ¿nadas o te ahogas?
presion

El rendimiento bajo condiciones de presión es algo que se ha estudiado ampliamente en la Psicología Deportiva. Los mecanismos cognitivos, fisiológicos y comportamentales que subyacen a los bajones de rendimiento son de interés para deportistas de élite. Fruto de esa investigación, surge un conocimiento que nos es útil a todos los que practicamos deporte. En cualquier momento nos puede ocurrir que rindamos por debajo de nuestra expectativa. Es importante que sepamos analizar las causas para impedir su ocurrencia en el futuro.

En este sentido, el impacto psicológico de ese primer desencuentro competitivo puede llegar a romper a un atleta (Sutton y McIlWain, 2015). A Rich Froning le pasó en la final de los CrossFit Games de 2010. Y a Tia Clair-Toomey en la final de los CrossFit Games de 2016. Ambos fallaron en su estrategia para abordar la final y sucumbieron a la presión. 

Tras un período necesario de reagrupamiento mental, volvieron con fuerzas renovadas a la competición. Ambos pasaron a ganar títulos en los Games de forma consecutiva. Froning convirtió las escaladas de cuerda en uno de sus movimientos estelares. Tia pasó de ser consistente entre las 5 primeras, a dominar y masacrar a la competencia en cualquier evento. 

El objetivo de este artículo es sumergirnos en los aspectos psicológicos que explican estos defectos de rendimiento. Será entonces, cuando pasemos a ver cómo controlar el efecto de esos mecanismos para que actúen en nuestro favor.

presion
Rich Froning en los CrossFit Games de 2010. Fuente: Blog de los CrossFit Games.

¿Por qué nos ahogamos bajo presión?

Antes de entrar en el cómo, necesitamos un por qué. La presión deportiva ejerce una fuerte influencia sobre el rendimiento pero cuáles son las especificaciones. La literatura científica al respecto, apoya dos corrientes teóricas: teorías de auto-focalización y teorías de distracción (Sutton y McIllwain, 2015). 

Teorías de auto-focalización

La premisa de estas teorías es que las situaciones competitivas facilitan la aparición de un exceso de autoconciencia. Esto, conlleva un intento deliberado del deportista por controlar procesos motores que, en condiciones normales, están automatizados. Consecuentemente, aparecen los errores de ejecución. Otros modelos (Baumeister y Showers, 1986) añadieron factores mediadores: contingencias de refuerzo y castigo, complejidad de la tarea, nivel de habilidad, entre otros. Masters (1992) dio un paso más al aseverar que el conocimiento explícito de la habilidad es lo que interfiere con la ejecución. Cuando el atleta percibe que es indispensable lograr un rendimiento excelente, intenta controlar su ejecución usando conocimiento explícito.

La piedra angular de estas teorías es el concepto de la autoconciencia inducida por la presión. En etapas tempranas del aprendizaje de habilidades deportivas, el procesamiento controlado es necesario para monitorizar y perfeccionar. Con el tiempo, la maestría evoluciona hasta el punto en que ya no es necesario ejercer este nivel de procesamiento; se convierte en una habilidad automatizada. La autoconciencia consigue devolverte a esos estadios iniciales. Paradójicamente, el intento consciente por ejecutar una habilidad automática produce un efecto indeseado: el fallo.

Teorías de distracción

“El rendimiento bajo presión genera preocupaciones sobre la situación que compiten en memoria de trabajo con las operaciones de control que gobiernan la ejecución de la tarea, complicando esos procesos y, consecuentemente, el rendimiento.” (Sutton y McIllwain, 2015) Para estas teorías, el aspecto fundamental es la limitación que restringe la actuación de nuestra memoria de trabajo (encargada de almacenar y elaborar información de forma temporal). 

Cuando realizamos cualquier tarea en un contexto deportivo, nuestra memoria operativa está bajo grandes exigencias. Necesita analizar y actualizar información que le llega de la competición a la vez que monitoriza nuestro movimiento. Los recursos de los que dispone son escasos ya para empezar. Si incrementamos la demanda introduciendo pensamientos negativos o preocupaciones, los recursos destinados a permitir el rendimiento bajan aún más, llevando a errores de ejecución.

presion

El que nada, no se ahoga

Ahora que ya sabemos lo que ocurre cuando nos ahogamos bajo presión, es hora de cambiar el enfoque. ¿Cuáles son las características de un rendimiento clave bajo presión? Todos conocemos alguna situación. El futbolista que mete un penalti decisivo para darle la victoria a su equipo. O ese atleta que, en su último intento, consigue levantar un peso que le da los 100 puntos. Swann et. al (2017) investigaron estos mecanismos para construir un modelo integrado de los estados mentales que se dan durante estas situaciones (he escogido unos pocos pues considero que se solapan muchos constructos de los que exponen)

Confía en tu entrenamiento

Estoy segura de que lo has oído antes, pero la ciencia apoya esta afirmación. Tanto procesos automáticos como controlados son requeridos para un rendimiento óptimo. Necesitas saber cuándo poner tu memoria operativa al límite y cuándo no.

Como sabemos, habilidades deportivas que acaparen muchos recursos de tu memoria de trabajo, incrementan las posibilidades de fracasar. Pero habrá situaciones que dependan de tu capacidad cognitiva para adaptarte a un evento incierto. Uno como “Chaos” (CrossFit Games 2018) requiere de todo lo que tu memoria operativa pueda ofrecer. No sabes ni las repeticiones ni los movimientos así que necesitas ir actualizando tu estrategia de forma continua si quieres esos 100 puntos. Eso significa que tu memoria operativa va a tener que trabajar a destajo para energizar procesos de ejecución, solución de problemas y toma de decisiones. Es un riesgo calculado que habrá que asumir en algunas circunstancias.

Por el contrario, habilidades motoras automatizadas sólo se verán perjudicadas cuando la autoconciencia inducida por presión haga acto de presencia. Un ejemplo de esto puede ser un evento de repetición máxima. Tú ya sabes cuánto puedes levantar. Lo has practicado millones de veces en una variedad de escenarios. Claro que tienes que jugar un poco con la estrategia pero cuando se trate de levantar, no puedes dar pie a la duda. Tu cerebro sabe muy bien cómo ejecutar el movimiento. Déjale hacer lo que tiene que hacer.

Mantente optimista y evita el pensamiento negativo

Del dicho al hecho… lo sé. Pero sigue siendo importante que lo tengas en mente. El diálogo interno, como vimos en otro post, guía nuestro procesamiento emocional e interactúa con nuestro rendimiento. Si lo mantenemos libre de negatividad, duda y baja confianza, nuestra tasa de éxito incrementará de forma significativa.

Percibe el control en tu ejecución 

Otro aspecto comúnmente asociado a atletas que rinden bien bajo presión es una elevada percepción de control. Una ejecución exitosa depende de ellos mismos y nivel de concentración. Sin distracciones. Intenta apuntar tu locus de control hacia dentro en entrenamientos. Reducirás la incertidumbre cuando llegue la hora de competir. Si sabes lo que vales, tu rendimiento cumplirá con tu expectativa.

Christensen, W., Sutton, J., & McIlwain, D. (2015). Putting pressure on theories of choking: Towards an expanded perspective on breakdown in skilled performance. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 14(2), 253-293.
Swann, C., Crust, L., Jackman, P., Vella, S. A., Allen, M. S., & Keegan, R. (2017). Psychological states underlying excellent performance in sport: Toward an integrated model of flow and clutch states. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 29(4), 375-401.
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Feb 5 2019
Performing under pressure: choke or clutch?
choke under pressure

What is commonly known as “choking” in sports, has been extensively studied in Psychology. The cognitive, physiological and behavioral mechanisms underlying breakdowns are of interest when trying to peak performance in elite athletes. At some point, any athlete will be faced with poor performance in competition. Understanding the mental aspects associated with failed execution will make the difference between coming back stronger or slowly falling into mediocrity.

In this sense, we find that the psychological consequences of that first setback is what makes or breaks an athlete (Sutton & McIlwain, 2015). Let’s take for example Rich Froning’s epic fail on the rope climbs in the 2010 CrossFit Games. Or Tia Clair-Toomey’s strategic error during the finals in the 2016 CrossFit Games. Both individuals misjudged the situation at hand and dropped the ball under pressure.

After a much needed period of self-pity and frustration, they bounced back in notorious fashion. Both went on to win several CrossFit Games’ titles in a row. Froning made rope climbs one of his best movements. Tia went from being consistent near the top, to being alone at the summit for any and every event.

The goal of this article is to immerse in the psychological aspects that explain breakdowns in performance. Then, with that knowledge, I’ll discuss how to control the effect of these mechanisms to our advantage, leading to improved execution under pressure.

choke under pressure

Why do we choke under pressure? 

Before jumping into the how, we need the why. Pressure exerts a strong influence in performance but what are the specificities? The body of literature in this regard strongly supports two streams of models: self-focus theories and distraction theories (Sutton & McIllwain, 2015).

Self-focus theories

The main premise of self-focus theories is that situations where performance is evaluated lead to self-consciousness. This makes the athlete try to control motor processes that must be left automated, resulting in impaired performance. Other models (Baumeister & Showers, 1986) have added mediating factors to this theory: reward and punishment contingencies, task complexity or skill level, among others. Masters (1992) went a step further and claimed that explicit knowledge of the skill is what interferes with proper execution. When the athlete considers that it is paramount that he performs well, attempts to control execution using explicit knowledge (the how-to) surface.

The cornerstone of these theories is that self-consciousness is induced by pressure. When in early stages of skill acquisition, controlled processing is necessary to monitor and perfect the skill. Slowly, the mastery evolves to the point where it is no longer necessary to exert this level of attentional processing; it becomes an automated skill. Self-consciousness brings you back to stage one. Paradoxically, consciously attempting to execute an automated skill produces an unwanted effect: failure. 

Distraction theories

“Performance pressure generates worries about the situation which compete in working memory with the control operations that govern task performance, impairing those processes and, consequently, performance.” (Sutton & McIllwain, 2015) For these theories, the fundamental aspect is the limitations that restrain our working memory. When executing any task, our working memory will be under heavy demands. We need to analyze the information we receive from the competition at the same time we are executing the movements. Resources for our working memory are limited as it is. If we try increase the demands by introducing negative thoughts or self-focus, resources are spread too thin, distraction ensues and we hinder our performance.

choke under pressure

From choke to clutch

Now that we know what happens when we choke under pressure, it’s time to switch our focus. What are the psychological characteristics of “clutch” performances? The kind of athlete that hits a winning 3-pointer in the last second or the one that nails the top lift in the last attempt.  Swann et. al (2017) investigated these mechanisms to build an integrated model of the mental states that occur in clutch performances. I’ve selected but a few to keep it short and concise.

Trust your training

Pretty sure you’ve heard that before. But science supports the statement. Both automatic and controlled processes are required for optimal performance and you need to know when to put your working memory to the limit and when not to.

As we know, sports skills that take up a lot of space in working memory, will be more subject to failure. “Chaos” (2018 CrossFit Games) is the kind of event where you need to rely on your working memory and hope for the best. You know not the rep scheme or the movements, you will be needing to come up with strategies non-stop if you wanna make a run for 1st. That means your working memory needs to divide its resources between task execution and problem solving along with decision-making. It’s a calculated risk that you must take in order to go the extra mile.

In contrast, motor skills that are controlled by automated processes will only be likelier to fail in the event that pressure-induced attention impairs these processes. An example of this would be a 1RM event. You already know how much you’re able to lift. You’ve practiced said lift a couple million times in a variety of settings. Of course you gotta play the numbers game, but you need to just stand up to the bar and rip it off the floor. Your brain knows damn well how to perform the movement, just let it do what it needs to. 

Stay optimistic and avoid negative thoughts

Easier said than done, right? I know. But it’s still important to keep it in mind. Self-talk, as discussed in another post, will guide our emotional processing and monitor our performance. If we keep it safe from negativity, self-doubt and so forth, our rate of success will increase significantly.  

Perceive control of your execution in training and competition

Another aspect that is seen among athletes who had a clutch performance is a higher perception of control. Successful task execution is in their hands. It depends on their level of focus. No distractions. So, point your locus of control inside in training and competition. You will reduce feelings of uncertainty when competition time rolls around. If you know your worth, you performance will be up to par with your expectations.

Christensen, W., Sutton, J., & McIlwain, D. (2015). Putting pressure on theories of choking: Towards an expanded perspective on breakdown in skilled performance. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 14(2), 253-293.
Swann, C., Crust, L., Jackman, P., Vella, S. A., Allen, M. S., & Keegan, R. (2017). Psychological states underlying excellent performance in sport: Toward an integrated model of flow and clutch states. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 29(4), 375-401.
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