People who do just fine during regular workouts suddenly can’t do things during a competition. Even people who are just participating for fun! This is a mental game problem…they need guidance on where to focus and how to assess “success” in a competition environment.
People get too amped up and race out of the gate, burn themselves out and barely make the timecap (or are only a few reps short).
People who routinely short their movement standards in practice don’t know how to adjust to compete within the rules. (such as not getting their chin over the bar for a pull up, or not getting hip crease below knee crease for any squat-related movement) Yes, this is a training problem, but it can’t be solved now…so how do you adapt for the competition?
What can you do about it?
There are simple sport psychology techniques that directly impact and improve these common problems. So, instead of trying to figure it out on your own, and possibly doing it wrong, we’ve got the right info for you.
How will this course help?
This course will give you specific techniques you can quickly apply in your coaching to help optimize your athletes’ performance. Click on each question to learn more.
Performance profile frameworks are simply a way to get overall understanding of individuals (and yourself!). They give you insight to how you or your athletes will do in these competition environments. Not everyone is great at performing in a competition environment. And even if you’re participating in the Open “for funsies” (that’s the technical term, btw), the environment is different and you’ll quickly learn how well you perform.
The way performance goals for competition are phrased and focused can be a make or break factor for you when the clock starts – they help you focus on the right stuff, so you can perform optimally *almost regardless of how things play out. There is much of a competition that you have NO control over, but counts when it comes to who wins and loses. For example, your competitors fitness, skill, preparation…and even the type of movements, the time allowed, time of day you’re competing at…the list goes on and on!
In competition environments, our stress and energy activation are going to be higher than during a practice or training session. The higher energy around us in turn heightens our energy. This literally impacts your focus – we start to “narrow” our focus without even trying. This can cause us to miss critical details that can have negative consequences (such as missing a detail of the workout briefing so you perform a movement wrong and have to re-do reps)
First of all, you’re right. You absolutely can. The problem is we have seen over and over again the critical moments for athletes come down to their confidence being shaken, which has a negative cascading effect on their ability to perform. They shut down, give up, play too safe, are unable to push themselves even though they have fuel left in the tank. Building a strong foundation of confidence from the beginning is a safety net – you might not think you need it most of the time, but you’ll sure be glad it’s there if you’re on the edge.