Psychological Tools to Improve Athletic Performance

Sometimes for athletes, the biggest roadblock in their athletic performance can be their mental approach to their game. They’ve done their skill work and they’ve done their strength and conditioning which has given them all the tools for success, but maybe they still struggle. As someone who has personally struggled with this and seen it with many athletes over the years, this can be a ver big hurdle to overcome, but can lead to significant progress once achieved. The psychological approach to athletics plays a bigger role every time an athlete progresses their level of play. From middle school to high school, high school to college, and college to pro. Each of those stages has their level of psychological prep work. The ones who excel at each stage have spent time on their psychological approach as much as their skill and strength work. Here are some tools to put into your performance plan.

Don’t give your competition too much credit

You need to have respect for your competition’s ability, but can’t let their previous success dictate your future success. Every competition is a chance for someone to have a great day and someone else to have an off day. I watched my training partner, Matt Taylor win the lightweight division at the biggest competition of the year by simply doing what he knew he could do and playing to his competitors having an off day. He didn’t get wrapped up in the fact that there were eight people competing against him that had done better previously, he just focused on his performance that day. This happens in high school athletics as athletes begin to commit to different colleges to play. Everyone suddenly perceives their competition as better than they were prior to the commitment. When the slate is clean, everyone has to perform that day under whatever conditions which gives everyone an even chance at the beginning of that day. 

Be Present

One of the things I despise most about sports analyst is when there is a close game and they pin point one play that likely caused the decision of the game. The missed ground ball, the missed lay up, the dropped pass etc. No one play dictates the outcome of the game. There were plays leading up to those situations that gave that play a bigger impact, but it wasn’t just one play. As an athlete, you can’t let what has already happened impact your future success. If you missed a routine play early in a game, thinking about that specific play later in the game isn’t going to help you do well at that moment. You can’t worry about what has already happened and you can’t worry about what hasn’t happened, but you can be present in the current situation. By being fully present in the moment, you give yourself a better chance of success. 

    Control what you Can

There are many parts of sports that are simply beyond our control. Think about every baseball game played during cold rain instead of sunny warm weather. As an athlete, you just have to accept that the weather might not be on your side and adjust your play for that game accordingly. I saw this a lot in powerlifting where people would find any reason that they didn’t get a lift instead of simply saying they physically weren’t prepared to lift that amount of weight. I had someone tell me the floor at one competition the floor was slanted which was the reason they couldn’t complete one squat. Keep in mind, there were others at the competition who broke all time world records that day. Usually focusing on things beyond our control is a way to give ourselves an out. It’s not our fault and takes away our personal responsibility away. Break your performance down to just you and more times than not, you’ll be pretty happy with the outcome. 

Your mental approach to athletics is just as important as your skill and strength work. Many athletes have coaches that they can lean on for advice. When you have a coach that you trust and feel comfortable with, ask for their advice and then also have the faith in them to follow through on the advice. The coach usually sees with a different perspective than the athlete in the moment. In our own heads can live our biggest enemy or our greatest asset, but it takes a lot of deliberate practice.

Nick Showman

Showtime Strength & Performance