10 Mental Performance Tips for CrossFitters
Sports Psychology for Elite Fitness
1) Figure out what exactly motivates you and embrace it fully and continually. Write it down and share it with others. Constantly remind yourself what motivates you.
– My motivation is Jesus Christ. His love for me is what motivates me to bring Him glory in everything that I do.
“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)
2) Have some goals, mostly short-term; performance oriented ones that can be measured. “I want to finish “Annie” in under 7 minutes by September of 2012.
3) Smile and Laugh, more often. This isn’t war; it is simply playing with odd objects with your friends. Enjoy it!
4) Implement deep, diaphragmatic breaths throughout your training. When everyone else is struggling to recover… you will be controlling your flow of oxygen and helping slow down the lactic acid build up (the muscle BURN!!)
5) Have an optimistic mindset. Really, what benefit is it be negative? Or to speak negativity to yourself? “I have prepared myself and I’m going to crush this 1 RM Snatch”
6) Focus on the skill/movement at hand. In that moment pick a cue word, reducing the complexity. “Up”, “Shrug”, “Hips”, “Pop”, “Down”, “(during rest) 3…2…1….Go!”
7) Keep notes in your journal about how you felt that day. What did you do well? What needs to be improved upon?
8) After a max effort, your form is a little ugly (or really ugly). When you’re done….strip the weight (most of it or all of it) and knock out 3 perfect, clean reps. Then go high-five someone.
9) Spend some time prepping your mind before or during a warm-up. Set your intentions. “Why am I here? What do I want to accomplish today?”
10) Seek Coaching. Ask questions and grab some individual sessions; be open to tips and advice.
A big thanks to Dawn Fletcher, MA, CSCS and owner of Fletcherfitness.com for providing some of this info. Thank you to the sports psychologists for forging the discovery of these ten mental attributes in their studies as well.
–Coach Ben Davis