optimismo
Jun 24 2019
Optimism and pessimism in sport

«[fear of not being capable enough] Anytime I have that fear I’m willing to go to a darker place to make up for that.»

Mat Fraser – interview with Nutriforce

Is your glass half-empty or half-full? I know. It sounds cliché and its annoying for both optimists and pessimists but we can’t deny the fact that we all have a tendency. Popular belief is that optimism is the hero and pessimism is the villain but is the bad guy really that bad?

Before we go any further, introductions ensue. Optimism and pessimism are generalized stable tendencies to consider life events as either positive or negative – respectively – (Carver and Scheier, 1985). These two authors elevate these variables to the category of «personality trait» so we are born with one of these two labels.

Causal explanations we usually give to life events build a pattern. This pattern considers three main dimensions: permanence, amplitude and personalization (Abramson et. al, 1974). We define causes according to their time domain as permanente or circumstantial (permanence); as universal or specific according to their reach (amplitude); and as internal or external (personalization). There are many combinations but explanatory styles are relatively stable.

So, we have the athlete that puts on 10 more lbs although he missed his previous attempt because he knows he’ll get it this time – the optimist – and then we have the athlete that’s been doing assisted pull-ups for months because he doesn’t think he’s able to link kipping pull-ups without the band – the pessimist -.

If they fail, the optimist will tend to give a circumstantial, specific and external explanation of the situation. The pessimist, on the other hand, will consider this failure as permanent, universal and internal. Success would be considered permanent, universal and internal for the optimist; and circumstantial, specific and external for the pessimist.

Ergo, the optimist internalizes success and externalizes failure while the pessimist acts does the exact opposite.

What does science say about optimism and pessimism in sport?

Tia-Clair Toomey took pessimism too far in 2016 and repeated a second-place finish on the podium. Source: CrossFit Games.

Lately Positive Psychology is on the up and up in the scientific community. It’s been studied in an academic and sport setting to analyze its relationship with other health variables. Early findings suggest that cognitive style can predict pre-competitive anxiety both in men and women (Wilson, Raglin and Pritchard, 2002).

In relation to optimism, numerous studies have reached similar results when linked to sport performance. When athletes with higher scores in optimism receive negative feedback, they proceed to improve their performance when performing a given task a second time (Seligman, 1990; Martin-Krumm et. al, 2003 and Ortín et. al, 2011 in Ortín-Montero et. al, 2018).

Mental fortitude has been positively associated with higher scores in dispositional optimism and with active coping strategies (mental imagery, thought control, logical analysis) and negatively with avoidance strategies such as distancing, mental distraction or resignation (Nicholls et. al, 2008).

Pessimism, on the other hand, can be defined as defensive pessimism and depressive pessimism. Defensive pessimism appears as a strategy to avoid negative evaluation others may make about our performance in order to protect our self-worth.

Depressive pessimism is seen in individuals who establish «unrealistically low expectations in tasks that undergo some form of assessment» (Martin et. al, 2003). These low expectations allow for some advantages:

  • more awareness of negative situations that may affect performance and better prepare these individuals against their appearance
  • increased ability to persist in a task regardless of potential failure
  • since advantages are so low, goals are more easily achieved allowing more personal satisfaction

Managing optimism and pessimism in CrossFit

As we’ve seen, both dispositional optimism and pessimism have advantages in sports. Now let’s see how the make the most out of our personal resources.

No more pessimism-phobia

Against our better judgement, science is pretty clear: pessimism is no villain. In fact, it can allow for rather successful and positive results. I’m sure you’ve heard a pessimist say they prefer to think everything’ll go bad so they’re mentally prepared for whatever outcome…turns out it works just as well as thinking life’s a prairie.

Keep in mind you should always stay away from extreme behaviors. Going too far with optimism can put you in situations where success rate is way too low and extreme pessimism can become an obstacle when trying to tap your true potential.

Set the challenge based off your own expectations

Attributional style shown by optimists and pessimists «can influence their confidence and persistence in seeking a goal or a challenge» (Ortín-Montero et. al, 2018). In this sense, optimists actively look for challenges in the box while pessimists settle for small and constant steps forward.

We all know what our cognitive style is so follow your instinct. If you like a good challenge, get after it! If you’d rather play it safe in case you crash and burn, go ahead! Both athletes will find the stimulus you’re looking for in your training session.

Careful with who you blame…

Once you finish the WOD, we all love to point fingers. Success or failure calls for a shitload of attributions; don’t go too far! Try to keep it real. Sometimes we’ll do 60 double unders unbroken without knowing how. Other days we won’t be able to string more than two double unders… and we won’t know why! No, it’s not the rope. It’s not the wind. It does no good to externalize the blame so concentrate on what you can control.

Gordon, R. A. (2008). Attributional style and athletic performance: Strategic optimism and defensive pessimism. Psychology of sport and exercise, 9(3), 336-350.

Martin, A. J., Marsh, H. W., Williamson, A., & Debus, R. L. (2003). Self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, and goal orientation: A qualitative study of university students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(3), 617.

Nicholls, A. R., Polman, R. C., Levy, A. R., & Backhouse, S. H. (2008). Mental toughness, optimism, pessimism, and coping among athletes. Personality and individual differences, 44(5), 1182-1192.

Ortin-Montero, F. J., Martínez-Rodríguez, A., Reche-García, C., de los Fayos, E. J. G., & González-Hernández, J. (2018). Relationship between optimism and athletic performance. Systematic review. Anales de psicología, 34(1), 153-161.

Wilson, G. S., Raglin, J. S., & Pritchard, M. E. (2002). Optimism, pessimism, and precompetition anxiety in college athletes. Personality and individual differences, 32(5), 893-902.
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flow state
Abr 21 2019
Going with the flow to optimize performance

For too long has Sport Psychology driven its efforts towards anxiety, stress, depression, anger, fear, etc. All these variables have been heavily studied. However – and in sync with the WHO’s health definition – well-being is not just the absence of illness but the presence of wellness.

In this sense, if we wish to peak performance we need to manipulate not only the negative factors but also the positive ones. Researchers have asked themselves which cognitive variables characterize an optimal mind state, one that allows for a picture-perfect competition. The most established theory is the one postulated by Csikszentmihalyi, who called it: the state of flow.

State of flow: the mental state that leads to success

Csikszentmihalyi (1990) described «flow» as a mental state in which mind and body are fully intertwined. We are completely absorbed by the activity that’s being performed and we pay no mind to anything else. The environment, our inner discourse or any negative experience ceases to exist.

It can occur with any particular activity; its common theme is that it’s a «precursor to joy and it’s associated with other experiences such as fun and enjoyment.» (Jackson, 2000). A state of flow can lead to positive affect which, consequently, brings happiness.

Csikszentmihalyi described 9 dimensions in the state of flow:

  • Balance between skill and challenge. Both skill and challenge must be at high levels; otherwise it will result in apathy regardless of being balanced. If the challenge outweighs perceived skill, anxiety may appear. If skill is perceived to be higher than the challenge, the individual may relax way too much or even feel bored.
  • Merging of action and awareness: this is basically becoming so involved and engaged that you become one with the activity at hand, losing notion of everything else. The movements feel effortless.
  • Clear goals and unambiguous feedback: when in a state of flow, goal-setting and feedback serve each other in a continuous cycle that energizes and directs one’s actions. The feeling is that the course of action becomes crystal clear in the athlete’s mind.
  • Total concentration on the task at hand: often our minds navigate through many different thought processes while performing any activity. To attain optimal performance, it’s paramount that we remain laser-focused on every aspect regarding the task. When in flow, this concentration occurs unconsciously.
  • Sense of control: athletes experience a complete sense of control over their actions. This doesn’t mean that everything they’re doing is perfect. It’s more like a general notion that they will ultimately succeed, being able to perform without fear of failure (Jackson, 2000)
  • Loss of self-conscience: as previously mentioned, athletes lose track of internal dialogue revolving around negativity, self-doubt, inadequacy or what-have-you.
  • Transcendence of time: you know how they say that time flies when you’re having a good time? Well, same happens with the state of flow. You’re so consumed in the activity that perception of time becomes a blur and what felt like 5 minutes was actually an hour.
  • Autotelic experience: Csikszentmihalyi coined this term by uniting two Greek words: auto (self) and telos (goal). What he refers to is an activity that is done because it provides its own reward: enjoyment.

How to reach the state of flow

state of flow

In relation to sport, flow has been described as a major enhancer for performance since it’s deeply related to high intrinsic motivation, absence of negative self-talk and total focus on the activity at hand. As we’ve seen in previous posts, these are main ingredients for success in sports.

However, reaching the state of flow is something that comes naturally to certain individuals (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997) but may take some time for others. The key is to discover what variables predict its appearance and how we can create situations where flow can show up naturally.

1. Work on intrinsic motivation

Murcia, Gimeno & Coll (2006) studied the relationship between motivation and states of flow using the Self-Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000) as a theoretical framework. They replicated findings from other studies that related intrinsic motivation with the presence of state of flow: ergo, internal motivation can predict states of flow in athletes.

2. The role of athlete engagement and needs satisfaction

Going back to Self-Determination Theory, the premise is that humans have basic psychological needs for autonomy (perception of self-directedness), competence (ability to succeed in one’s sport), and relatedness (sense of belonging with teammates and coaches alike), which must be satisfied to experience optimal well-being, i.e., engagement, flow, …

Hodge, Lansdale & Jackson (2009) defined athlete engagement as «an enduring, relatively stable sport experience, which refers to generalized positive affect and cognitions about one’s sport as a whole». For further understanding of this concept, engagement can be considered an effective method to prevent burnout in athletes.

Both these concepts work together in an interesting fashion. Firstly, needs satisfaction predicts athlete engagement and both needs satisfaction and athlete engagement predict dispositional flow (Hodge, Lonsdale & Jackson, 2009). So, in order to facilitate the appearance of flow we must begin to impulse our sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness in order to increase engagement in our sport.

3. Create opportunity

Last but not least, we must put yourself in situations where states of flow can arise spontaneously.

  • According to the flow characteristics we’ve just learned, we know that the task must be challenging enough that you have to bring your A-game.
  • We also know that clear goals and objective feedback are a «must»; give the workout a proper purpose! Don’t just write down a few movements in whatever rep scheme and let it rip with no further reasoning.
  • Know your why! Keep in mind that intrinsic motivation is key when developing states of flow. Josh Bridges said it best: «(the daily grind) if you don’t continue to enjoy it and have fun with it, you’re gonna go away really quickly».
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow. New York: Harper and Row.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding flow. New York: Basic.
Hodge, K., Lonsdale, C., & Jackson, S. A. (2009). Athlete engagement in elite sport: An exploratory investigation of antecedents and consequences. The Sport Psychologist, 23(2), 186-202.
Jackson, S. A. (2000). Joy, fun, and flow state in sport. Emotions in sport, 135-155.
Murcia, J. A. M., Gimeno, E. C., & Coll, D. G. C. (2006). Motivación autodeterminada y flujo disposicional en el deporte. Anales de Psicología, 22(2), 310-317.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68.
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self confidence
Abr 5 2019
Lack of self-confidence and its effect on performance

I’ve been inspired by two particular situations prior to writing this article. Firstly, a usual reader asked me to write something about how to manage fear and insecurity in athletes. After that, I read a story on Instagram about how insecurity can affect personal relationships.

So, in honor of the circumstances, I’m taking up the challenge. First and foremost, I’ll start the best way I know: defining insecurity. But this is no psycho-babble, so I need a construct that has a solid scientific base. And so it is, that insecurity is nothing but a lack of self-confidence.

How can we define self-confidence?

It seems pretty straight-forward but the reality of the situation is that it’s stirred up quite a commotion in the scientific community. Given its conceptual similarities to self-esteem or self-concept, there is no universal definition for self-confidence.

Bandura (1977) defined it based on perception of self-efficacy. He considered that self-efficacy – the perception we have of our capability to execute a course of action that will lead us to a given outcome – measures self-confidence in relation to specific tasks (not seen as a global construct).

Vealey (1986), on the other hand, conceptualized self-confidence in relation to sport as “the belief individuals have regarding their ability to be successful in sport”. This model is highly appealing to me since it includes a measure for “trait sport confidence” – applied to sports in general – and “state sport confidence” – applied to specific sport situations (Lenney, 1992).

Let’s see it through an example: as a coach, we ask two of our athletes to perform a 15” box jump. First, we ask if they feel fit to complete the task.

  • Athlete A, showing an elevated state sport confidence for this particular task, confirms she can do it. Her self-confidence leads her to performing the box jump with no issue.
  • Athlete B, has a decent trait sport confidence but does not have the state sport confidence in her ability for box jumps because she hasn’t done them since she gave birth to her first son. Her lack of self-confidence paralyzes her and she doesn’t even give it a go.

As we can see, Vealey’s model gives us more information. Now we know that the movement at hand isn’t the only thing that matters, but also past experiences of success or failure when understanding where lack of self-confidence stems from.

Self-confidence and its effect on performance in sport

self confidence

Since it’s one of the most influential psychological variables when it comes to performance, it’s been studied in numerous sports: soccer (Catala et. al, 2016; Gonzalez-Campos et. al, 2017), gymnasts (Leon-Prados et. al, 2011), handball (Ortin-Montero et. al, 2013), triathlon (Sanchez et al, 2012), among many others.

The common thread is that higher levels of self-confidence have a modulating effect over states of anxiety, making performance easier (Sanchez et. al, 2012; Ortin-Montero et. al, 2013; Gonzalez-Campos et. al, 2017). In conjunction with other variables such as an elevated intrinsic motivation (Catala et. al, 2016) and optimism (Ortin-Montero et. al, 2013) it can lead to a more favorable emotional state prior to competition.

How to work on fears and insecurity in CrossFit

Our regular crossfitters will show fear and insecurity quite often. However, once we understand how the brain works, we learn which buttons we need to push to effectively cope with any circumstance. Our brain is an active agent in the sense that it processes past, present and future information at lightning speed in order to mold our behavior. It’s important that we give it interesting data.

We’ve seen that self-confidence is highly dependent on past success. So, it comes down to this: if I’ve done it once, why not twice? The brain will bring up experiences stored in our long-term memory to heighten our self-confidence. So, logically, what we need is to be successful.

If you’re scared of any overhead movements, simplify it. You can do that by either lowering the weight or changing the implement (instead of an Olympic bar, use the dumbbell or even a medball). If you’re scared of handstands, start with pike pushups. That way you’ll get used to being in an inverted position. Get confident with smaller gestures and slowly progress from there.

As a matter of fact, I’ll tell you that the biggest secret to this sport is mastering the technique. Being afraid to a certain extent may be convenient because you’ll necessarily be working a lot more on technique at lower instensity which will build a more solid foundation.

“Fear is a friend who’s misunderstood” (as John Mayer would say). Self-confidence will always be there to say: hey, we got this. Stop thinking so much about what fear is taking from you and think more about what self-confidence can give you.

Bandura, A. (1977).
Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
review, 84(2), 191.
Carretero, C.
M., Murcia, J. A. M., Coll, D. G. C., & Gimeno, E. M. C. (2013).
Motivación, dirección de la autoconfianza y flow en judokas de alto
nivel. European Journal of Human Movement, (31), 1-16.
González Campos,
G., Valdivia-Moral, P., Cachón Zagalaz, J., Zurita Ortega, F., & Romero, O.
(2017). Influencia del control del estrés en el rendimiento deportivo: la
autoconfianza, la ansiedad y la concentración en deportistas. RETOS.
Nuevas Tendencias en Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación, (32).
Lenney, E. (1977). Women's
self-confidence in achievement settings. Psychological
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León-Prados, J.
A., García, I. F., & Lluch, Á. C. (2011). Ansiedad estado y autoconfianza
precompetitiva en gimnastas.(Precompetitive anxiety state and self-confidence
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Mesón-DOI, P.
C., Puente, C. P., Furlong, L. V., Arias, N. J., & Serrano, Á. F. (2017).
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Ortín-Montero,
F. J., De-la-Vega, R., & Gosálvez-Botella, J. (2013). Optimismo,
ansiedad-estado y autoconfianza en jóvenes jugadores de balonmano. Anales de psicología, 29(3), 637-641.
Sánchez, J. C.
J., Gómez, R. P., Dueñas, K. G. N., & Gómez-Millán, M. R. B. (2012).
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