Week 7: Training Programme - Mental and Physical Activation

Post title: Training Programme: Mental and Physical Activation
Week no. 7
Date: 02/05/14

Aim of week: to increase mental and physical activation

Hi Performer X, thank you for completing last week’s tasks, I hope that you are now imagining yourself being in certain situations and that this imagery is improving. Ensure that you keep practicing imagery as it is a very useful way of improving your confidence as you are imagining yourself being on that dance floor and imagining your performance and emotions on the day that you won that trophy.

Why I have chosen to increase mental and physical activation

This week instead of trying to calm you down and reducing your anxiety and arousal levels, we are going to work on increasing your arousal levels. Sounds funny that we have spent all this time reducing arousal levels and now we are going to increase them again but there is a reason behind it and that reason is because you need some sort of “hype” before you compete because this will increase your motivation and adrenaline levels.

What it involves – technique

Creating the optimal mental and physical activation state is important because increasing your arousal levels will help with handling pressures so they are appropriately activated for competing. There are many ways in which you can increase your arousal levels, you can do all these techniques the night before competing, immediately before competition and during performance and should be done on a regular basis. 

The first way that you can increase your arousal levels is by repeatedly taking short, sharp and shallow breaths. Whilst doing this you might want to think of additional things that you can do, for example, tightly closing your eyes and carefully think and focus on selected images, this part is very similar to last week’s imagery as you are picturing things in your head. You can also make your breaths noisy and more staccato, this will help you find a rhythm and as a dancer this is normally how dancers prepare themselves by finding a rhythm. Also, going back to week 5, using positive self-talk, will increase you arousal levels. So whilst taking these short, sharp and shallow breaths, add anything that naturally increases their arousal levels.             

If you find that this type of breathing is not sufficient to get a highly mentally and physically activated response then try quicker breathing and trying short vigorous exercise for example shuttle runs, this may work better for some people as it will get their heart rate to increase therefore increasing their arousal.

Another way in which you can increase your arousal levels is by using three other key tools which will increase your alertness and interest when competing, these are imagery, music and self-talk. To answer the question is going through your head, yes you have already worked on imagery and self-talk to increase your confidence, but you can also use them to increase your arousal levels. For imagery to increase your arousal levels do exactly the same as you have been practicing, recalling a situation and remembering how you felt etc. You will also do exactly the same for self-talk. For music on the other hand, it is good if you make a playlist of all your favourite songs that get you “hyped” up, you should listen to these before you train and before you compete, preferably this music should have a strong melody and fast tempo.

Two types of arousal

There are two types of effects that arousal can have, these include physiological effects and the psychological effects. The physiological is somatic, it is all about the body and how arousal affects the body before and during performance, whereas psychological is cognitive, all about the mind and how arousal affects the mind before and during the performance. 

Effects of arousal

Arousal can have effects on the mind and body. The effects that it has on the body (physiological) is that the nerve transmission time is quicker, your heart rate increases, your breathing rate will increase as well as your blood pressure, your body temperature and sweat production will increase, your muscles will become tense and you will get butterflies in your stomach.

The effect arousal has on the mind (psychological) is different to the effects that it has on the body. The effect arousal has is a quicker reaction time, an increase in motivation, awareness and focus/concentration. Your self-talk also increases (your knowledge of self-talk will help to further increase your arousal levels).

All these affects will help your performance because they are preparing you for competition.  

Inverted U 

 

This diagram shows that as arousal increases performance increases but if the arousal increases further than the optimal point then there is a decrease in performance.

To make it easier, even though you want to increase your arousal so that it will increase your performance you cannot increase it too much otherwise your performance will not increase it will do the total opposite and will in fact decrease your performance level. So you must be careful when trying to increase your arousal              

Tasks; please complete the following tasks.

1. Practice each way of increasing your arousal level, the best way to practice this is to do it just before you go to training so then you can see the effects that it has on your body and mind.
2. Once you have tried each technique in a training session choose your favourite that you feel works for you and helps you become aroused so that you are ready for training and for competition.
3. Once you have chosen your preferred way of increasing your arousal level, you should then practice it at least three times a day so that when you come to a competition you can “hype” yourself up and prepare yourself.  
4. After each time you have practiced you should follow one of the procedures from previous weeks to help reduce your arousal back to its normal level so that you don’t become over aroused and allowing it to affect your performance.

I look forward to seeing your results.

Week 6: Training Programme - Improving self-confidence using imagery

Post title: Training Programme: Using imagery to further improve self-confidence
Week no. 6
Date: 25/04/14

Aim of week: to increase self-confidence through the use of imagery

Hi Performer X, thank you completing last week’s tasks, since you have completed the tasks you should have felt more confident when performing whether it has been in training or in a competitive situation. You should keep using self-talk as it is a very good way to improve confidence and not just your confidence within your sport but in day to day life too.

Why I have chosen to further improve you self-confidence.

Just as last week, we are going to work to improve your self-confidence levels, this is because you scored such a low score for you self-confidence on your CSAI-2 questionnaire that you completed and I believe that it is important to have a good level of self-confidence because it means that during a competition you are more confident about going on to the dance floor to perform your piece and it means that your anxiety levels will be lower.

What is imagery?

Imagery is best described as a method of using all the senses to create/re-create an experience. Imagery to sport psychologists is mental practice but is more commonly known by everyone as visualisation and it means creating pictures in the mind of an event, for example, just before you go onto the dance floor paint a picture in your mind of when you won, in this picture there should be many things, such as, how you felt at the time of each performance, how you felt each performance went, how you performed, what the atmosphere was like etc. this will help you with your self-confidence because being able to paint a picture in your mind of when you won will help you believe that you can do it and you have nothing to worry about.

Why is imagery used and why does it work?

Imagery is used for many reasons but is mainly used to see successful performances and focus on key factors which contribute to the success. It is known for many athletes to use imagery before taking part in an event or even just before they are about to perform because, imagery can be used to programme the body for successful execution. For example, the famous high jumper Dick Fosbury was well known for spending minutes before he jumped to imagine himself successfully jumping over the bar, this is because there is a mind-body connection which occurs whether you actually perform a task or just think about performing the task. So for you, Performer X, just before your section starts and you go on to the dance floor, you should paint a picture in your mind of the perfect performance, whether it be a past performance that you have done or a performance you have seen someone else do etc. you need to set the scene.

Types of imagery and the benefits of each

imagery training There are two types of imagery, internal and external.

External – external imagery, also known as visual perspective, is probably the most common type of imagery as external imagery is where you watch a video of yourself doing something in particular e.g. a golf swing. So for you as a dancer you would video yourself doing a particular dance move e.g. a pirouette and then you would watch it back to ensure that you are releveing properly and not just rising to demi pointe, that your other leg is in the correct position etc.

 

imagery training

Internal – internal imagery is where you would picture the image in your mind of the surroundings. This type of imagery is as if you are looking at something through your own eyes so you can see and feel the movement that your body is making. So for you will imagine yourself being at Blackpool Tower and everyone around you, the atmosphere and how you felt.     

 

 

 

imagery training

 

Left, are the benefits of internal and external imagery.

 

 

 

 

 How is imagery used?

Imagery is used best when the 3 R’s are followed: relaxation, realism and regularity.

Relaxation – you need to have a relaxed mind and body so that you can feel your body moving and so you can feel your emotions and all the emotions are that you are about to feel. This relaxation stage should act like an eraser so that all your worries and thoughts are wiped away. By erasing all thoughts means that it will be easier to concentrate on image/thought at a time without distractions of something else cropping up into your thoughts.

Realism – this means that when you are creating the imagery in your mind that you create it so realistic that the brain believes that the body is actually executing the skill. When you are painting this realistic picture you need to make it as clear as possible so that when you come to actually executing the in a competitive situation then your body and brain will feel as if it has been in this situation before and it knows how to respond and react to the situation. There are approximately 4 things that you need to take into consideration when creating the perfect realistic picture;

Clarity – making the picture easy to see so that the vividness and control of the image can be enhanced.

Vividness – this is to bring in as many of your senses as possible, so you want to incorporate your hearing and smell as well as your sight, this is so you can get the full impact of the picture and the situation that you are creating. For the situation to be as vivid as possible you also need to take into account all your body movements so you can re-create them because you know what it is supposed to feel like when executing the skill, e.g. in a golf swing, how your body is supposed to twist and what muscles where contracting at that time.    

Emotional feelings – visiting competition sites before a competition or remembering what the site was like if you have been there before so that your body and mind can refresh itself/get used to the site – how it looks, what the smells are, how to get around, what the atmosphere was like the last time you were there, etc.

Outcome – you need to be able to imagine a positive outcome because if you think more positively then you are more likely to succeed but if you think negatively then you are more likely to fail and it works the same with imagery, if you imagine yourself making a mistake and missing your target then this is more likely to happen when in the competition but if you think about doing everything right and hitting your target then this is more likely to be the outcome.

Regularity – you must practice this approximately 5 times a day for 3-5 minutes whilst in a quiet place so you cannot be interrupted. This is the only way that you are going to improve on this as it isn’t something that you can achieve straight away; it takes much practice and must be done on a regular basis. If you don’t spend 3-5 minutes 5 times a day on this then you will result in a poorly developed memory trace and inconsistent execution. However, too much time will result in fatigue and boredom leading to a decrease in concentration and will not help your performance or confidence in the long run.  

Tasks; please complete the following tasks.

1. Firstly, I would like you to think of a situation that you have been whilst in a competition. You can choose your own technique; whether it is external or internal that will help you deal with it.
2. Once you have done task one, I would then like you to imagine yourself succeeding in this situation, ensure that you use the 3Rs as this is an important factor into making your imagery skills successful and helping them with your performance.
3. After a few days of carrying out task two I would then like you to fill in the table (below). This table allows you to rate yourself on your imagery tasks and will help you see if you are improving in imagery and performance.

I would like you to continue to practice these imagery tasks and feel free to fill out the table on a regular basis if you feel that it will help you improve. Remember to practice 5 times a day for 3-5 minutes.

I look forward to hearing back from you.