16 Week Face of America Training Plan & Guide | Page 11
If standing, stand with your body erect, feet
approximately shoulder-width apart, arms and
hands relaxed down at your sides.
Focus on lower abdomen, which should be like a
small balloon.
Take in a slow, long, deep breath in through
nostrils, imagining the balloon inflating slowly.
You will fill the lower lungs first, and then your
shoulders will rise as you begin to fill your upper
lungs.
Hold a few seconds, then slowly exhale through
the mouth (pursed lips), and imagine the balloon
gently deflating.
Repeat at least 10 or more times when performing
the exercise.
You should feel more relaxed, perhaps loose and
a little lighter.
Practice this technique throughout day, especially
when you catch yourself feeling stressed or
anxious.
With practice, you’ll become cognizant of your
breathing when it becomes shallow – indicating
anxiety or stress, and be able to perform this
breath control technique to aide in relaxation,
focus, and attention.
Eventually, you’ll develop the “habit” or
automatic response, and subsequently be able to
achieve relaxation more quickly.
Control
Elemental to successful performances, control is the
foundation of mental training, physical training, and
competing. Without control, outside influences draw
upon one’s focus and finite energy stores, thus,
facilitating a loss of self-control on several levels. A
lack of control diffuses concentration and leads to
sub-par performances. The following can aide or
contribute to increased athletic control:
Realistic performance oriented goals are well
established and revisited.
Rapport and two-way communications between
coach and athlete are strong and effective.
Mental training is a key component of the
program.
Athletes recognize signs, symptoms, or cues of
stress, anxiety, and negativity, and subsequently
utilize the appropriate techniques or make
adjustments to mitigate unnecessary tension.
Consistent control of thoughts leads to more
consistent behavior (i.e., thinking and being
positive).
A learned awareness that you are in control of
your thoughts and actions, whereas other aspects
such as the weather and who shows up to the race
are outside of our control.
Concentration
Cue Words (Self Talk)
This is a learned skill that is very perishable if not
practiced or attended to routinely. This is especially
true for endurance athletes who are bombarded by
irrelevant cues and stimuli throughout the course of a
race. Their ability to concentrate on the task and
associated technique(s) at hand is critical to optimal
performance. Nideffer and Sagal state that
“Concentration is often the deciding factor in athletic
competition (Nideffer & Sagal, 2001).” Lack of
concentration (e.g., thinking about what you’ll eat
after the race) has an accumulating affect, whereas
several drifts in concentration often lead to faltering
technique and intensity, resulting in slower training
and racing performance.
Cue words, sometimes referred to as key words, are
simply words to refocus, regain control of proper
technique, to motivate, to inspire, or to initiate action
such as making an explosive move on competitors.
Some common example cue words to aide in calming
or “bringing it down a notch” are “breathe,” “relax,”
“steady,” “calm,” “loose;” whereas, “attack,” “go for
it,” “that’s it,” “commit,” and “strike now” are words
used to psych up or “take it up a notch.” Cue words
can be very powerful and effective tools for athletes
to incorporate into their daily mental training
repertoire.
11
TP2 – Todd Parker Training Programs LLC, © All Rights Reserved