CONCENTRATION: THE MASTER SKILL OF MENTAL TOUGHNESS

5/7/2013

BY ALAN GOLDBERG, PHD//SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANT

What you focus on both before and/or during your races will largely determine if you soar with the eagles or gobble with the turkeys!
Your training and health being equal, what you concentrate on at meets is the main cause of your best and worst swims. When you struggle with going faster in practice than races, faster in your off-events than your best ones or being unable to break through and get a certain time, faulty concentration is usually the main cause.

What you focus on as you go into a race will dramatically affect:

• Your ability to stay calm and loose under BIG meet pressure
• How quickly you're able to bounce back from disappointing swims
• Your level of self-confidence
• Your skill in avoiding getting psyched out and intimidated
• How well you handle adversity

Did you know that you're ALWAYS doing a great job of concentrating, but most swimmers concentrate on the WRONG things?
That's right! When you swim your fastest and when you totally fall apart under pressure and add gobs of time, you're doing an excellent job of focusing! The key question here is, “ON WHAT?” When you go fast, your concentration tends to be on the RIGHT things both before and during the race, and when you struggle performance-wise, your focus is on all the WRONG things.

What SHOULD you focus on?
Championship concentration involves focusing on two, overlapping things: The first is the NOW, as opposed to the PAST or the FUTURE. Whenever you swim, your focus always has to be in one of these three “mental time zones.” The NOW is what is happening in the present and is the only time zone you have total control over and can swim fast in! If you're stretching behind the blocks, three minutes before your race, your focus needs to be in the NOW on your stretching, not on your last race, (the past) or whether you'll make tonight's finals, (the future).

The second important target for your concentration is on what YOU are doing as opposed to what everyone else around you is doing. In other words, before and during your races, you want mentally to“stay in your own lane,” focusing on yourself and no one else. All too often swimmers get caught up comparing themselves, paying too much attention to their competitors or focusing on what others watching (parents and coaches) might think of them.

What does it really mean to stay in the now and in your own lane?
Staying in the NOW and in your OWN LANE means that your pre-race and during race concentration needs to stay on the FEEL of what you're DOING before and during your swims. This means that if you're behind the blocks pre-race, you want to focus on the feel of the stretching, NOT your thoughts about the race. Focusing on feel during your swim might mean that your concentration is on feeling long and smooth, how much water you're pulling, your pace, feeling your chest pressing down just the right amount during fly or any number of other things depending upon what stroke you're swimming. FEEL IS THE “GAS PEDAL” FOR FAST SWIMS!

Performance-disrupting distractions come from both outside and inside the swimmer!
OUTSIDE: Swimmers need to let go of all of the external distractions, such as who's watching the meet, how their teammates or competitors are doing, the conditions of the pool, the clock, how crowded warm-up is, what their coach may do or say, who's in their heat, their lane assignment, how important their race is and what's at stake, their parents’ reactions to how they swim, etc.
INSIDE: Distractions from the inside encompass the swimmer's thoughts about everything above as well as how they feel that day, whether they got enough sleep, how their training has been, whether they missed critical practices because of illness, how the taper went, the last time they swam this meet, how the season has gone so far, how they felt in warm-up, how big and fast their competition is, things going on in their personal or academic lives, etc.

Concentration is a two part skill:
#1) Recognize that your focus has drifted from what's important
#2) Quickly return your focus to what's important

What hurts swimmers isn't that they lose their concentration. Breaks in concentration are absolutely NORMAL. What really hurts you, is when you lose your focus and you don't immediately catch it and bring it back!
How do I get good at recognizing that I've drifted and then bringing my focus back?

• You must spend regular time in practice deliberately working on this mental skill Throughout practice, for two minutes at a time, both during your warm-ups and through the main set, practice noticing when your focus drifts, and then immediately returning it to what you're doing in the NOW
• If you start thinking about what happened in school today, the past, quickly bring your focus back to your breathing pattern or keeping your stroke long as you swim
• If you notice that you're thinking too much about another teammate, return your concentration to your lane and the feel of how much water you're pulling, one stroke at a time
• In dryland training, focus on the feel of each exercise, one rep at a time

By regularly practicing this master skill of concentration, you will develop the ability to consistently swim fast when it counts the most!

As a sports psychology consultant, Dr. Alan Goldberg works with swimmers at every level. A presenter at the Olympic Training Center, swim coaches clinics and clubs around the country, Dr. G specializes in helping swimmers struggling with performance problems, get unstuck and swim fast when it counts the most. He works over Skype, providing one-on-one consultation with swimmers and other athletes around the world. Dr. G has written over 35 mental toughness training programs and books. In addition, he is a regular contributor to Splash Magazine.

For more FREE mental toughness tips and swim articles, go to Dr. Goldberg's website, www.competitivedge.com and click on “choose your sport” and then “swimming.” You can also visit him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and sign up for his free, monthly mental toughness newsletter.

Want to get a head start on your mental toughness training? Dr. Goldberg's BRAND NEW 7 CD Swim Program with track-by-track Training Guide now available! All products in his store at a 10% discount for USASwimming.org. readers. Coupon Code at check-out: USASwimming

Questions? I hope you'll feel free to contact Dr. Goldberg at Goldberg@competitivedge.com or call directly (413) 549-1085.

Taken from usaswimming.org

Embrace the Training

by Glenn Mills

These days, most swimmers train 11 months out of the year, anywhere from 2-5 hours a day, depending on what level they're at.  Some swimmers train 5 days a week, some 7.  The yardage varies from a few thousand meters a day, to nearly 10 miles a day.  This is all done to swim possibly 20 competitions a year, with the REAL focused competitions happening 3-4 times a year.  Swimmers train to compete, and that can be a good thing because competition is a vital part of the total swimming picture.  The lessons of competition can be dramatic.  In competition, the focus is sharper, more intense.  People take the sport seriously during meets.

But if we look at the big picture of the life of a swimmer, maybe there's reason to find a new balance between the value we place on competition versus the value we place on training.  When you think about it, the amount of time spent competing absolutely PALES in comparison to the time spent training.   So maybe we should look a little closer at what actually happens during all that training.  What can we do to embrace it as something more than a place to hone a great start or a killer dolphin kick.  

When you're at a competition, in the actual race, you're all alone.  It's you against a random collection of people who happen to have an entry time similar to yours.  For just a couple minutes, you have a shared experience with people you may not even know.  

In training, however, you're surrounded by friends, and typically friends who also have about the same performance level as you.  When you're training, you are building the memories of the sport that you'll hang on to forever.  If you look at the sport as a training activity, rather than an activity that prepares you for the occasional competition... trust me, those competitions will become MUCH more fun.

We've got it all turned around as athletes.  The sport IS about training.  It's where we spend our time.  It's where we make our friends.  It's where we do things we didn't know we could.  It's where, on a daily basis, we get to share experiences with our best friends, struggling together in what is, in actuality, a glorious process of pain and achievement.  

If the sport was solely about our accomplishments during competition, it would take way too long to get any payback emotionally.  You KNOW when you've had a great workout.  You feel a sense of accomplishment that you've just done something great.  Maybe you worked through an injury, or made an interval for the first time.  Maybe you REALLY worked a kick set and maybe... you made it through that kick set without pulling on the lane line.

The GREAT thing about swimming is that it's an individual sport, plus a team sport.  It's the team, the friendships, the bonds that are built on a daily basis that help prepare you for those infrequent races.  Without the support of the team, your friends, it's the loneliest sport in the world.  The black line on the bottom does not give anything back.

I was personally SO fortunate to be surrounded in my training by people who, many years later, are among my closest friends.  We shared so much more than swim meets.  We struggled through pain and agony on a daily basis.  We supported each other, and we tried to beat each other every day.  We challenged each other to train better, and it wasn't always friendly.  It was part of what made us who we are, and I highly encourage all young swimmers to understand this.  

The sport of swimming is about training.

Embrace the training and competitions become... well... fun.

Embrace the training and competitions become less stressful.

The next time you go to workout, look at it as THE event.  Look at it as the REASON the sport exists.  Look at it as an OPPORTUNITY to spend time with friends, doing something healthy and challenging.  Change your perspective of the sport, and you will absolutely become more successful as a swimmer. 

Taken from goswim.tv

MIND OF A CHAMPION: BUILDING YOUR OWN MENTAL TOUGHNESS TOOLBOX

4/9/2013

BY ALAN GOLDBERG//SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Why do you need to train your mind as well as your body?
Want to go as far as possible in this sport and turn those big swimming dreams of yours into an exciting reality? Then you need to get serious about developing and strengthening your mental muscles on a regular basis. Far too many swimmers only work on the physical side of their sport. They do what they need to in the pool and during dry-land, but then go to their big meets and hope they'll swim fast!
Unfortunately, when you leave the mental side of your racing to chance, you'll struggle with the following:

• Do you go faster in your off events than your best ones?
• Do you get too nervous and tight before you compete?
• Does your mind race out of control and rob you of your self-confidence?
• Do you regularly outwork and beat other swimmers in practice and then lose to them in meets?
• Can you swim really fast times at the end of a grueling practice and not even come close to those when you race?

While hard work and physical training is a critical MUST DO for you to become a champion, once you get to that all important meet, swimming to your potential depends almost entirely upon what's going on between your ears, what I call your “mental technique.” 

• Do you have the ability to focus on what's important and let go of everything else?
• Are you able to handle the last-minute negative thinking and self-doubts so common to big races?
• Can you stay calm and composed under pressure and are you able to avoid getting intimidated?
• Do you know how to quickly rebound from bad races and disappointments?

You can't just train physically and hope you'll swim fast when it counts the most!
In high-pressured situations, hope just won't cut it. Instead, you have to have the confidence and composure to KNOW that you'll do your best. The only way to gain this confidence is by having a complete mental toughness toolbox. You have to know how to handle all of the mental challenges that await you both in practice and at meets. Having mastery over the mental side of your sport is always what separates the best swimmers from all the rest. 

STAYING CALM & COMPOSED UNDER PRESSURE THE FIRST MENTAL TOOL EVERY SERIOUS SWIMMER NEEDS IN THEIR TOOL BOX

The secret to swimming fast when it really counts is having the ability to calm yourself down the night before and day of your BIG meet whenever you get too nervous. If you get over-amped as a swimmer – either too excited or too nervous – then your muscles will tighten and your breathing will get faster and shallower. Tight muscles and faster, shallower breathing will shorten your stroke, kill your endurance and ensure you swim poorly.

What You Can Do to Stay Calm Pre-Race:

Slow & Deepen Your Breathing

• The first place nervousness hits you is in your breath, so deliberately focus on inhaling to a slow count of four, holding your breath in to that same count of four, then exhaling to a four count and then pausing to that count before you begin the process over again. Practice this breathing technique every night before bed. It's important that as you practice this, your breathing should stay relaxed and effortless.

Switch Your Concentration from Thinking to What You're Doing

• Your pre-race focus should be in your body on what you're DOING, and not in your head on what you are THINKING. Go through your pre-race ritual, and while you do, concentrate on the feeling of it, one step at a time. As you stretch behind the blocks, be sure to feel the stretch in your body. If you get distracted by thoughts, quickly return your focus to the feeling of the stretch.

Allow Your Negative Thoughts to Come and Go

• Many swimmers under pressure are flooded by negative thoughts and try to combat this onslaught with “positive thinking” or telling themselves to “STOP” thinking. This strategy rarely works and tends to make you feel even more nervous. Understand that negative thinking is normal and won't affect the outcome of your race as long as you immediately let it go. Negative thinking is like quicksand. The more you listen to, fight with and/or follow it, the more you get sucked under. Practice letting your negative thoughts come and go by noticing them without judgment and then refocusing your attention on the music you may be listening to, your stretching or whatever else you're doing behind the blocks.

Stay In Your Own Lane

• Focusing on other swimmers will kill your confidence and make you uptight. Don't compare yourself. Don't allow yourself to focus on the size, speed or strength of your opponents. Stay away from “studying” the heat sheet. Your concentration needs to remain totally on YOU. Whenever you do notice that your focus drifts to others, quickly return it to YOU, as often as you need to. Keep in mind that this happens to all swimmers and what's important here is to immediately bring yourself back without getting frustrated with yourself.

Leave Your Goal Times at Home

• Your goals are a motivational tool for PRACTICE ONLY. Bringing them into races will only get you too uptight to swim fast. While it is normal to want a fast time, thinking about this pre-race represents a BIG mental mistake. To stay calm, you need to keep your concentration in the NOW, on what you are doing. This means that the instant you mentally jump ahead to the future and start to think, “I need to break 2:00 minutes” or “qualify for Nationals” you want to quickly return your attention to what you are physically doing in the moment.

Have FUN

• In order to stay calm pre-race, you have to let yourself enjoy the challenge of the moment, the butterflies, excitement and even the doubts. If you get too serious about the importance of this race, your nervousness will crowd out your enjoyment. If you've forgotten what it feels like to have fun at a meet, then you need to remember WHY YOU are swimming. Too many swimmers wait until they swim fast before they'll allow themselves to have fun. This is backwards! You have to have FUN first before you can then swim fast!

Handling pressure like a champion is NOT a chance thing! You need to work on it to get good at it. Use these tips to help yourself stay calm and composed when the heat of competition is turned up high! 

As a sports psychology consultant, Dr. Alan Goldberg works with swimmers at every level. A presenter at the Olympic Training Center, swim coaches clinics and clubs around the country, Dr. G specializes in helping swimmers struggling with performance problems, get unstuck and swim fast when it counts the most. He works over Skype, providing one-on-one consultation with swimmers and other athletes around the world. Dr. G has written over 35 mental toughness training programs and books. In addition, he is a regular contributor to Splash Magazine.

For more FREE mental toughness tips and swim articles, go to Dr. Goldberg's website, www.competitivedge.com and click on “choose your sport” and then “swimming.” You can also visit him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and sign up for his free, monthly mental toughness newsletter.

Taken from www.usaswimming.org