Mental Training Story

Hello All,

It’s Johnny, Injury Prevention Coordinator at FLO Fitness and I’m very excited for our new Mental Training Program that we will be starting up in the fall with our athletes. As I write to you, Chris Flo is working on the last few details of our program. We hope to not only help our athletes reach their goals physically but also mentally.

At FLO we strive to be the best we can be by obtaining as much information and education as we can in all different areas, whether it be in fitness, business, sport medicine, mental training, breathing and etc. In the last couple months the FLO family has concentrated a lot in mental training. In midst of our group conversations we all decided to try some of the techniques we read about with some of our athletes and the results we got were amazing.

I had the pleasure of working with one our swimmers. He was preparing to compete in one of his main swimming competitions of the summer. I should add that this particular athlete is very hard working (somewhat of a perfectionist in everything he does) and highly motivated. A week before his competition we started to trapper off in everything we did with him and that’s when I decided to start to add the mental training techniques that I read. It only occurred to me after he asked me if I knew of away for him to become relaxed because his anxiety and nerves were getting to him. The first thing that occurred to me was VISUALIZATION, which was one of the main concepts talked about in the books that I read.  

So this was my reply to his question, “ Wake up every morning and find a quite places. Lie on the ground facing up and close your eyes. At this point I want you to focus on your breathing, this will help you clear up your mind. After that envision yourself in the pool that you’ll be competing in, it’s very important that you not only see yourself at the pool but also try to envision how the air in the pool is going to smell and how it feels, literally make yourself feel like you are there.  When you establish that state, practice your warm up exactly how you are going to do it, followed by your start of the race (it would be very beneficial if you practice your strategy for the race at this current time). Try to visualize how you are going to execute every stroke. This will make you feel like your actually there. Finally, just picture yourself executing every stroke and winning.  Do this everyday. “

He reported back to me after doing this mental exercise that this was the best he has ever felt before a race and that he feels very relaxed and confident. Unfortunately, he missed his time trail by a second and although he had a couple times to try to advance and reach the time, his ego got the best of him.  He felt like his strategy was wrong so he had to change it. Problem with this is that the only way to successfully change a strategy is only through practice and it was already game day. He had practice his original game plan a lot of times before his competition, not only physically but also mentally.  I was losing him; better yet he was losing himself. I tried to bring him back to present state by reminding him of why he was there and what his goals were, but it was too late he smelled victory and wanted it at all cost.

After getting back from his competition, he reached out to me and said that he felt that he didn’t prepare well enough physically.  I looked at him and smiled and this is how our conversation went:

Me: What was the original plan for this competition?

Athlete: Winning the time trail, why?    

Me: And what did you tell me after your first miss at your goal?

Athlete: That I was so close and that I was beating all these college athletes until the last 25 meters of the races. That I was going to switch my strategy and not only get the time but also beat all the college swimmers.

Me: You want to know what I think kid?

Athlete: Yes

Me: You lost because you wanted to loose.

Athlete: What do you mean Coach Johnny? I was very close but I’d get really tired towards the end so I’ll start to sink and my shin were fatiguing fast.

Me: Those are all excuses kid and you are using them to justify what really happened. Here is what I think really happened and this is all based off of what you have told me. You were very nervous to start, which is normal. At the start of the races you saw that you were in the lead and beating all the college kids in your heat. You got so excited that you started to push yourself hard to stay in the lead, which caused you to forget about your strategy. That was your first mistake, after realizing that you could hang in with the college kids you forgot about your original goal and started to change your strategy to beat them instead of beating the time, therefore encompassing debut within your mind. It is easy to put blame on something that could be analyzed and critiqued such as physical performance, when in reality it is the mind that controls all that we do. Although, I do agree that there are a couple things that we need to work on physically, they are minuscule to what we need to work on mentally. As far as, strategy I think it’s something that you need to talk to your swim coach about. You understand?

Athlete: Okay! Thanks Coach. I get it now, just one question.

Me: Yeah! Ask away.

Athlete: Can we work on my mental game as well as my physical? 

 Me: (with a smile I said) I guess you don’t get it. Class just finished kid. Been working on it since before your competition. Haha!

Athlete: Haha! Okay cool Coach, you got me. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Although, this mental training story/experience is not a successful one, there are a lot of positive things that the athlete and I myself could learn from. I look forward to continue to work with all our athletes to help them reach their goals. Stay tune as we start our Mental Training Program and share more reflections, experiences, and updates of our athletes.