Performance in Sport

Your performance in sport will be affected by many factors. The most prominent is your subconscious mind. Over the years, more attention has been directed towards the workings of the subconscious mind and how it can enhance or even at times limit performance in sport.

The mind and body are very much intertwined; in fact, everything starts in the mind. So if an athlete wishes to improve their performance, they must take the subconscious mind into account, as well as technical skills, etc. Why the subconscious mind? It's where change takes place. All our unconscious habits are stored in the subconscious mind. Change the habit and thought patterns in the subconscious mind and you will easily increase your performance. Below are three tips to help you improve your performance in sport.

Cleansing breathe
In the heat of competition or training, it is very easy to allow your mind to get tangled up with negative responses to poor results. For example, you may have just played a poor choice of shot in tennis, going down the line, when you should have gone cross court. If you're not careful, you could become caught up thinking about the lost point, over and over again, putting yourself down. There are people who are very capable of dismissing the mistake and learning from it. If you're not one of those gifted with that ability, try the following.

Imagine the bad shot (or poor result) as a gremlin of sorts (or a symbol that has meaning for you); picture it well in your mind. Now take a good deep breathe in (from your stomach), for a count of four. As you breathe out through your mouth (again for a count of four), imagine blowing that gremlin away, out into the distance, until you can't see it. You'll probably find this lifts your mood immediately and you'll be able to quickly forget the poor shot and think about the next important one.

Monitor the chatter
If we had speakers attached to the side of our heads, which allowed others to hear our internal conversations inside our minds, we'd all think each other as crazy! None the less, we chatter inside our minds all day and it's no different when playing a sport. You can't help it but you can control it.

Internal dialogue has great use when attempting to increase your performance in sport. However, it can also be detrimental. Like the athlete above who temporarily allowed negative dialogue to dominate his thoughts, we too can fall into this trap.

Instead, use powerful, helpful cue words and phrases, which when spoken inside your mind, will evoke good feelings and prepare you for what is required. Make sure they are relevant to you and your sport. They could be words like "relax", "focus", "go slow", etc.

Practice these during training and you'll find that you can easily create a bond between the cue words/ phrases and the physiological reaction you experience. This is particularly useful in sports where it is not courteous or permitted to speak aloud and when you don't have time to stop and go through a practiced routine. Learn to monitor your internal dialogue and you'll vastly increase your effectiveness. You know, researchers have even discovered that you can affect the way you listen just by adjusting your jaw; try it out next time you're talking with friends or listening to music!

Be body wise
I gave the ridiculous example above of having speakers at the side of our heads but actually, this isn't ridiculous at all. Next time you compete become consciously aware of your opponents' body language. Their inner thoughts are being transmitted through their body. Even those that are able to seemingly control their emotions will be leaking information, which you can use to your advantage.

However, as much as they leak information, so do you. However, that's ok, you just need to ensure you leak positive information. Become aware of your posture as you're reading this. Are you seated or stood up? If seated, are you slouched? Are your shoulders hunched? Do you have a frown on your face? Is your chest lifted or sunken? What's your jaw-line like? Are you gritting your teeth? When you walk, do you walk with purpose, or just shuffle along? Now put a smile on your face.

By now, you're probably very conscious of your body language and may have made adjustments. How did you feel when you did that? No doubt it changed your mood. Adopt positive, body language and it will affect your thoughts, which in turn affects your body, etc.

So, increasing performance in sport isn't all physical. A very high percentage is how you use your mind to get the results you want and desire.

Chris Thomas of You Too - Mindbody Fitness, is a Sports Mind Coach who uses powerful techniques to help people change unwanted subconscious behaviours and rid themselves of limiting beliefs & decisions that prevent them from achieving their goals in life.

The techniques used work on a deep subconscious level, thus the changes become a part of their new resourceful behaviour. Whether you are involved in sport, business or wanting to improve your personal effectiveness, Sports Mind Coaching will help you get the results you desire and deserve.

Chris also runs workshops on various topics. Some topics covered are: Presentations/ Working with Groups, Control Stress, Motivation, Confidence.