Week 4: Training Programme - Improve Somatic Anxiety

Post title: Training Programme
Week no. 4
Date: 11/04/14

Aim of week: to improve somatic anxiety to further improve performance.

Hi Performer X, thank you for filling everything in last week and getting them back to me so quickly with your results, I hope that they have helped you to reduce your anxiety levels and to improve your performance. 

Why I have chosen to improve somatic anxiety.

This week we are going to try and improve your somatic anxiety. I have chosen this because even though your somatic anxiety levels are good, I feel that if we were to further improve this then your performance is likely to improve further because you are more relaxed when competing, as during some competitions you may feel tense because you are nervous.  

Somatic anxiety is the physiological and affective component closely associated with physiological arousal, e.g. increased heart rate, sweat production, etc.

It suggests that as there is an increase in somatic anxiety then there is a slight increase in performance. For example, if at the end of the first section of a cheerleading competition you/your team have the most points therefore making you be at the top of the leader board, then your somatic anxiety will increase slightly but your performance level will increase faster because you are wanting to stay at the top. (For graph - vertical = performance, horizontal = somatic anxiety).


As you can see in the diagram (opposite) there is a fall in performance, this is when the somatic anxiety still increases leading to a decrease in performance. This is do with the body and how it reacts to certain situations. For example, if at the end of the second round you have been knocked down to second place then your somatic anxiety will increase but your performance will decrease, this is because you are trying to get back to the top of the leader board but because you are trying so hard you aren’t actually performing to the best of your ability.

Technique – what it involves.

So, as I said we are going to improve your somatic anxiety and to do this we are going to use something called, “Progressive Muscular Relaxation”. This helps performers achieve their Ideal Performance State (IPS) in training and in a competitive situation by using Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) techniques. This will benefit you because it will help you gain the suitable physical activation state especially if you ever experience muscle tension revealing somatic anxiety and connecting this with poor performance.

Using the PMR technique will help you in a competitive situation and within training session, this is because you will be able to relax your body whenever you feel tense and agitated. You will be able to use PMR is three different ways;

1)      As a deep relaxation tool for learning and preparation

2)      As a control relaxation tool for pre-competition

3)      For the moments requiring composure (calming down) during performance

Tasks: Below are 3 tasks that I would like you to complete this week, these tasks should be carried out every day and I would like you to record how you felt after each task and monitor progress and the differences each day.  

Exercise 1:

Task 1; find ten minutes worth of calm, relaxing music that you enjoy listening to. These will be used within the following tasks.

Task 2; I would like you carry out a ten minute relaxation session focusing on each muscle groups which you feel you use most within dance (this mainly tensed to be all muscle groups). You should tense and relax each muscle group, doing this will make it less likely for your muscles to tense up when in a competitive situation.

Task 3; once you have got the hang of how task 1 works, try introducing tensing and relaxing the muscle groups using different degree angles e.g. tense the muscle 50% and then relax the muscle, then tense the muscle 75% and relax the muscle and again to 10% and relax. This will be useful for specific muscle groups where heightened awareness of tension levels is vital, for example, for a dancer one might be the biceps and triceps, when doing a lift within a routine.

Each week of doing this you should reduce the time length that you do it, for example, this week you will carry these tasks out for 10 minutes, next you might reduce this time to eight minutes as the less time it takes for you to become relaxed the quicker and easier it will be for you when I a competitive situation. During your second week you should do this relaxation immediately after exercise, to reduce the chance of your muscles becoming tense as often.

Exercise 2:

If would like to think about your last competition that you did and think about how tense your muscles were and how it impacted your performance, then compare that to an upcoming competition that you are preparing for and see if there is any difference in your performance and whether the above tasks make a difference to how you feel and perform. Please could you record these and send them to me.            

Good luck with this, I am looking forward to seeing your results.