Mental Warm Up
Let’s say you jump up from hanging out under your team’s tent for the past couple of hours and walk straight onto a track to run the 100 meter dash at the state track meet. The sky’s the limit, but what do you think might happen?
Let’s say you hop off the bus and go throw a baseball game or jump onto a basketball court completely cold.
Again, what do you think might happen? Are you going to injure yourself? Will you have a slow start? Are you going to have your best game ever?
A whole list of things could go wrong in these scenarios, but I’m guessing a central theme is that (most likely and for the majority of people) you simply wouldn’t perform up to your potential because you came in cold and unprepared.
When you skip a warm-up, when you fail to prepare, it makes your body more at risk to sprain muscles and it places unnecessary stress on your heart and lungs. It can take the body about three minutes to realize it needs to move more blood to your muscles (Duncan, 2018).
As athletes, we put a lot of emphasis on a physical warm up and many have been taught how to warm up well. However, many athletes have never been taught how to incorporate a mental warm up. So here are a few ways to prepare mentally:
Awareness
Think about some of your best performances and some of your worst. Try to draw awareness to what your energy level and emotions were like before some of these performances. Did you have high energy, were you calm and relaxed, were you somewhere in between? What emotions did you experience? Were you angry, happy, worried, excited? Maybe you’ll recognize a few similarities.
Take a moment and identify your ideal energy level before some of your past best/worst performances.
Take a moment to jot down some emotions that accompanied some of your past best/worst performances.
Once you have awareness and know what energy level and emotions have accompanied your best performances you can create routines to help get you to this zone.
Now that you are a bit more aware (if you paused to reflect!) of how relaxed or energetic you need to feel before a game to perform at your best; now identify what might help you get to this energy level. Do you need to use breathing techniques to relax? Do you need to listen to hype music? Do you need to listen to calming music? What goes into your routine to get you to this point?
And what about those emotions you jotted down? Ask yourself how you can attempt to get back to that place. What makes you feel happy, angry, excited, etc. and build routines to create those emotions. Maybe it’s finding a quiet corner, talking to others, journaling, thinking about specific situations. Find what works for you!
Goal Setting
Determine what your goals are. Not only the outcome (“I want to win.”), but more specifically how will you make that happen? What can you do today…right now? What do you have control over? What are the little things that will support you in achieving the outcome goal? In regards to technique, what will you do to perform at your best?
Imagery
Imagine yourself performing well. Not only visualizing it, but fully experiencing it with imagery. While performing at your best, what do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? What do you smell? What do you taste? Watch yourself through your mind performing at a high level and consistently.
Ditch the Unhelpful Self-Talk
Consider how negative thoughts impact you. What does your self-talk sound like? In my experience working with athletes, negative self-talk does not often lead to confidence. If this sounds like you, ditch the negative and focus on the effective thoughts. I will give my best effort. I am prepared. I have the skills necessary to perform well in this game. I am able to stay focused when the pressure is on. I am mentally strong. I have achieved great things and will continue to do so. I am a great shooter. I am a great teammate. You have your weaknesses, I have mine…it’s a part of existence. However, in the moments leading up to the game, feel free to not be BFFs with the negativity.
Physical warm ups may look different from one athlete to another. In the same way, figure out what works best for you. Maybe it’s incorporating all of these pieces. Maybe it’s focusing on one or two. Either way, spend some time becoming aware of what works for you and how to build a routine to prepare your mind for performance just as you prepare your body!
Want to learn more about how to prepare your mind for performance? Reach out to Brooke Fuller today. Book a consultation or submit a contact form if you have questions!!
