Have you ever experienced “the zone”?
(No, not the Twilight Zone.)
“The zone” is a term athletes use to describe the time when they are competing or training and feel completely in sync with what they are doing – no disruptive thoughts, nothing stopping them from being their best and reaching their full potential, feeling unstoppable.
That’s being in the zone. And being in the zone gives you all you need to reach peak performance.
Ready to experience the highs of peak performance?
Step One: Stop, Identify Your Mental Obstacles Blocking Your Peak Performance
Ask yourself this question: “Why aren’t I in the zone every time I train and compete?”
If you reached peak performance before, then by all means you are capable of doing it again. Why don’t you reach that state of the zone every time you get on your bike, skateboard, snowboard, surfboard, or whatever sport you are training in?
The reason: There are mental obstacles holding you back.
This does not make you soft or weak. It’s just a reality for all athletes, and really, for all people. Everyone has their own set of unique mental hurdles that they have to deal with. Perhaps yours is worrying about completing in front of people and that you’ll mess up, or that dealing with anxiety that causes you to tighten up when you preform. Maybe when you do make a mistake, you get so angry that you blow up the rest of your performance.
There are a hundred possibilities, and you know yourself best. Practicing mental training will help you move past these obstacles, and create a clear path they will allow you to beagle to leave them behind and move into a higher level of effectiveness.
Step Two: Learn and Practice Mental Training Exercises
When you are developing the specifics of a physical training program, the exercises and components will largely depend on what you are trying to achieve. Similarly, the specifics of a mental training program will vary based on what obstacles you’re working to overcome and what your goals are.
There are many different mental training practices you can incorporate into your routine, and you can customize your training to fit your specific needs.
Here are three examples:
Personal Mantra or Phrase
A personal quote or mantra sounds simple, and it is. Often enough, a short quote used as a personal mantra can help keep yourself centered and calm when dealing with difficult situations – chaos, anxiety, or failure. “I am the storm” is something that some people who have gone through difficult times use to show that they are bigger than the problems they are facing. Create or find your own that fits your personality and situations you are facing.
One of the easiest things to do is to slip into negative self-talk when you make a mistake or when situations outside your control are terrifying. You’ll never reach the zone if fear clouds your mind – peak performance requires complete focus and belief.
Visualization
Visualization, also known as mental practice for performance – is a mental practice that more and more athletes are including in their performance training. Visualization is the practice of picturing the activity you’re going to do before you do it, in your mind. Every detail, thought, feeling and aspect of successfully completing the activity.
The key here is to focus on the process of achieving the result you desire, not the result itself. Instead of focusing on seeing yourself on the podium or the perfect BMX stunt, focus on going flawlessly through your routine and going through every motion perfectly then focusing on the end result.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is merely is focusing completely on what you’re doing in the present moment – and nothing else! While that can be a challenge, the constant practice of mindfulness will make you more focused while training, and untimely more successful as you will be able to focus completely on the task at hand. You’ll expand your attention span and when you need to keep a calm and distraction-free mind, you’ll be able to lock into the zone faster and for longer times.
Step Three: Create Your own Pre-Competition Routine
“The zone” is when completing or training feels effortless. But the zone can be elusive – how do you enter the zone consistently? You should create a consistent structure for the lead-up to performance. It sounds simple, and it really is – you just need to curate something that works for you.
It’s literally your personal recipe for success.
Your routine could be varied to fit the situation: if it’s training or working out, a 10-minute routine of doing some warm up exercising, listening to something motivating, and meditating for a few minutes and being mindful. Perhaps your competition routine is a big longer, involving several steps that keep you calm and focused, as you are “in the zone”.
The goal is to be absolutely locked in when the clock starts.
For some athletes, the pre-competition routine starts from the moment they wake up and involves getting the right amount of sleep, hydration, nutrition, and mental preparation.
It minds sound silly or “fluffy” if you aren’t familiar. But if the best athletes in the world use this in their daily preparation, they must be doing something right.
Step Four: Working With a Mental Trainer is a Game-Changer
All athletes have a team, regardless if they complete in a team sport or as an individual: some have physical trainers, nutrition specialists, therapists, workout buddies – and mental trainers/mental coaches. Working with a mental coach can be the make-or-break difference in you eventually getting to where you need to be mentally, and working on a streamlined, well planned out path to success.
In the end, working with a mental coach can help you gain consistently in reaching peak performance – and really, that should be the main goal of all athletes. A mental coach will be able to help you understand where you are at, help you to more fully aware of the factors that impact your mental performance, and then finally create a custom plan of action with you that will aid you in your journey.
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