PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMANCE …

PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR

PERFORMANCE -ENHANCEMENT

Exercise & Sports Psychology

M.P.Ed. SEM IV

PSYCHING-UP STRATEGIES

1.1 Concept of “psyching up” “psyching on” and “psyching down”

1.2 Selected psyching strategies

1.3 Goal - setting, pep talk, bulletin board, fan support, self activation

1.4 Precompetition Work out

Psychological Skills in the Field of Applied Sport and Exercise

Psychology• Anxiety Management. ...

• Attention and Concentration Control (focusing) ...

• Communication. ...

• Goal Setting. ...

• Imagery, Visualization, Mental Practice. ...

• Self-talk. ...

• Team Building. ...

• Time Management/Organization.

Psyching Up vs Psyching Out

• Everyone is wired a different way, and some people seem to have a natural ability to stay calm and composed even when the odds are against them by keeping things in perspective (or perhaps they’re just better at appearing calm). And the same situation can go both ways for the same person, depending on how they react to it.

• By acknowledging a situation for what it is and our best under the circumstances, our chances of success are much higher than if we succumb to self-doubt and worrying about “what ifs” .

• Successful athletes (and people in general) have trained themselves to look at difficult situations as challenges rather than threats and in doing so are able to get psyched up but not psyched out.

PSYCH UP

• Psyching-up refers to self-directed cognitive strategies used immediately prior to or during skill execution that are designed to enhance performance

• To prepare psychologically to be in the right frame of mind or to give one's best.

• If you psych yourself up before a contest or a difficult task, you prepare yourself for it mentally, especially by telling yourself that you can win or succeed.

• if you psych yourself up or if someone psychs you up, you get mentally prepared before doing something so that you feel confident

• To increase someone's or one's own excitement, confidence, or mental preparation.

PSYCH OUT

• PSYCH OUT : To intimidate or frighten psychologically, or make nervous

PSYCH-UP TECHNIQUES

Manage Intensity• Though less common than over-intensity, letdowns in

intensity can also cause your level of performance to decline.

• A decrease in intensity causes all the things that enable you to perform well to disappear. Physically, you no longer have the blood flow, oxygen, and adrenaline necessary for the strength, agility, and stamina you need to perform your best.

• Mentally, you lose the motivation and focus that enables you to perform well. Just like psych-down techniques when your intensity is too high, you can use psych-up techniques to raise your intensity when it drops.

PSYCH-UP TECHNIQUES....

INTENSE BREATHING

• Just as deep breathing can reduce intensity, intense breathing can increase it. If you find your intensity dropping, several hard exhales can take your body and your mind to a more intense level. It's a useful practice before a performance to take two intense breaths.

• Make intense breathing a part of training and competitive routines when intensity goes down.


Move your body

• Intensity is, most basically, physiological activity. The most direct way to increase intensity is with physical action. In other words, move. Walk or run around, jump up and down. Anything to get your heart pumping and your body going will raise your intensity.


• High-energy self-talk• One of the main causes of drops in intensity is letdown

thoughts. Thinking to yourself, "I've got this won," "The game is over," or "I can't win this," will all result in your intensity decreasing because your mind is sending messages to your body that it no longer needs to perform. When this happens, you can be sure your performance will decline. When you start to have these thoughts, you need to replace them with high-energy self-talk. Self-talk such as "Keep attacking," "Close it out," and "Stay pumped" will keep you motivated and focused, and your body will respond with more intensity.


Intensity keywords

Just as you can use keywords to lower intensity, they can also be used to counter letdowns and to psych yourself up. Saying intensity keywords such as "Charge" and "Hustle" with conviction and energy will raise your intensity and generate positive thoughts and emotions that will enable you to perform your best.


• High-energy body language

It's difficult using high-energy self-talk and intensity keywords without also having high-energy body language. Pumping your fist or slapping your thigh will also get you fired up and will increase your intensity.


• Music

Music has a profound physiological and emotional impact on us. Music can be used to raise your intensity and get you psyched up and motivated. The over-all sensation of listening to high-energy music (e.g., rock, hip-hop) is a generalized sense of excitement and energy.

KEY COMPETITIVE SITUATIONS

• There are common competitive situations in which you can expect that your intensity will shift away from prime intensity. If you can identify these situations when they occur, you can more quickly take steps to prevent a change in intensity that may hurt your performance. These competitive situations usually relate to when you're either ahead or behind in a competition, or the competition is on the line.

• OVERINTENSITY is most common in pressure situations such as in the finals of competitions or an overtime period. Anytime you believe that you must win a point or a game, your intensity will probably rise beyond your prime intensity. Focusing on the outcome, particularly on the possibility of failure, will cause you to feel anxiety that will likely hurt your performances.

• There is not, however, a consistent pattern in how intensity will change for all athletes. Athletes in the same competitive situation can experience different changes in intensity.

• For example, when within sight of winning, one athlete may have an increase in intensity and feel very nervous because she's never defeated her opponent before and doesn't totally believe that she can this time. While another athlete in the same situation might have a decrease in intensity and feel a letdown because she's already mentally in the locker room thinking about her next competition. You have to figure out how you typically react and then use the psych-up and psych-down techniques

• UNDERINTENSITY is seen most often in competitive situations where you believe that you have the competition won, for example, you have a big lead or time is running out, or you think you have no chance of achieving your goal. In the former case, you believe that you don't need to try any longer because you believe you have the victory in hand. In the latter case, you are giving up, so you're telling your body that it can relax now.

PSYCH-DOWN TECHNIQUES

• It's natural to feel some increase in your intensity in a competition. You're putting yourself to the test and want to do your best. But when that increase intensity turns to anxiety that can hurt your performances, that can be a problem.

• But rather than just resigning yourself to feeling nervous and performing poorly, you can take active steps to reach and maintain your prime intensity so you can performing your best. There are a number of simple "psych-down" techniques you can use to get your intensity back under control.

PSYCH-DOWN TECHNIQUES...

• DEEP BREATHING. When you experience over-intensity, one of the first things that's disrupted is your breathing. It becomes short and choppy and you don't get the oxygen your body needs to perform its best. The most basic way to lower your intensity then is to take control of your breathing again by taking slow, deep breaths.


DEEP BREATHING has several important benefits.o It ensures that you get enough oxygen so your body can

function well. By getting more oxygen into your body, you will relax, feel better, and it will give you a greater sense of control.

o This increased comfort will give you more confidence and enable you to more easily combat negative thoughts (which are often the cause of the over intensity).

o It will also help you let go of negative emotions such as fear or frustration, and allow you to regain positive emotions such as excitement.

o Focusing on your breathing also acts to take your mind off of things that may be interfering causing your over intensity.


• DEEP BREATHING

• For athletes who participate in sports that involved a series of short performances, such as baseball, football, tennis, and golf, deep breathing should be a part of your between-performance routine. One place in particular where deep breathing can be especially valuable to reduce intensity is before you begin another performance. If you take two deep breaths at this point, you ensure that your body will be more relaxed, comfortable, and prepared for the upcoming performance.


• Muscle relaxation• Muscle tension is the most common symptom of

overintensity. This is the most crippling physical symptom because if your muscles are tight and stiff, you simply won't be able to perform at your highest level.

• There are two muscle-relaxation techniques you can use away from your sport and, in a shortened form, during competitions: passive relaxation and active relaxation. Similar to deep breathing, muscle relaxation is beneficial because it allows you to regain control of your body and to make you feel more comfortable physically. It also offers the same mental and emotional advantages as does deep breathing.


• Passive relaxation involves imagining that tension is a liquid that fills your muscles creating discomfort that interferes with your body performing its best. To prepare for passive relaxation, lie down in a comfortable position in a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. As you go through the passive relaxation procedure, focus on your breathing, allow the tension to drain out of your muscles, and, at the end, focus on your overall state of mental calmness and physical relaxation.


• Active relaxation is used when your body is very tense and you can't relax your muscles with passive relaxation. When your intensity is too high and your muscles are tight, it's difficult to just relax them. So instead of trying to relax your muscles, do just the opposite. Tighten them more, then relax them. For example, before a competition, your muscle tension might be at an 8, where 1 is totally relaxed and 10 is very tense, but you perform best at a 4. By further tightening your muscles up to a 10 , the natural reaction is for your muscles to rebound back past 8 toward a more relaxed 4. So, making your muscles more tense at first then results in them becoming more relaxed.

• Active relaxation typically involves tightening and relaxing four major muscle groups: face and neck, arms and shoulders, chest and back, and buttocks and legs. It can also be individualized to focus on particular muscles that trouble you the most.


• These two relaxation procedures can also be used during a competition (for those sports comprised of a series of short performances) in an abbreviated form. Between performances, you can stop for five seconds and allow the tension to drain out of tense parts of your body (passive relaxation) or tighten and relax the tense muscles (active relaxation).


• Slow the pace of competition. A common side effect of over-intensity is that athletes tend to speed up the tempo of competition.

• Athletes in sports such as tennis, golf, baseball, and football can rush between performances almost as if they want to get the competition over with as soon as possible.

• So, to lower your intensity, slow your pace between performances. Simply slowing your pace and giving yourself time to slow your breathing and relax your muscles will help you lower your intensity to its prime level.


Process focus• One of the primary causes of overintensity is

focusing on the outcome of the competition. If you're worried about whether you will win or lose, you're bound to get nervous.

• The prospect of losing is threatening, so that will make you anxious.

• The thought of winning, especially if it's against an opponent you have never defeated before, can also be anxiety provoking because it may be unfamiliar or unexpected to you.


• To reduce the anxiety caused by an outcome focus, redirect your focus onto the process. Ask yourself, what do I need to do to perform my best? This process focus can include paying attention to your technique or tactics. Or it might involve focusing on mental skills such as positive thinking or the psych-down strategies.

• Shift your focus onto your breathing which will take your mind off of the outcome and will directly relax your body by providing more oxygen to your system.

A process focus takes your mind off things that cause your over-intensity and shifts your focus onto things that will reduce your anxiety, build your confidence, and give you a greater sense of control over your sport.


Keywords• Another focusing technique for lowering your intensity is to use

intensity keywords, such as calm, easy, and relax. These words act as reminders of what you need to do with your intensity to perform your best.

• Keywords are especially important in the heat of a tight competition when you can get so wrapped up in the pressure that you forget to do the things you need to do in order to perform your best. By saying the keyword between performances, you'll be reminded to use the psych-down techniques when your intensity starts to go up.

• Write one or two keywords on a piece of tape which you then put on a piece of your equipment. Looking at the equipment acts as a further reminder to follow the keyword and lower your intensity.


Music• Music is one of the most common tools athletes in many sports use to

control their intensity. We all know that music has a profound physical and emotional impact on us. Music has the ability to make us happy, sad, inspired, and motivated. Music can also excite or relax us. Many world-class and professional athletes listen to music before they compete to help them reach their prime intensity.

• Music is beneficial in several ways. It has a direct effect on you :➢ Physically, Calming music slows your breathing and relaxes your muscles.

Simply put, it makes you feel good.➢ Mentally, it makes you feel positive and motivated.➢ It also generates positive emotions such as joy and contentment.➢ Finally, calming music takes your mind off of aspects of the competition

that may cause doubt or anxiety.

The overall sensation of listening to relaxing music is a generalized sense of peace and well-being


• Smile • First, as we grow up, we become conditioned to

the positive effects of smiling. In other words, we learn that when we smile, it means we're happy and life is good.

• Second, there's been some fascinating research looking at the effects of smiling on our brain chemistry. What this research has found is that when we smile, it releases brain chemicals called endorphins which have an actual physiologically relaxing effect.


• For all of these psych-down techniques to be effective, you should rehearse them in practice and less important competitions.

• The goal is to ingrain them so well that when you get to a major competition where you are likely to feel nervous, you will automatically use them, your intensity will decrease to a more comfortable level, and you will be better prepared to performance your best.

AROUSAL ENERGIZING STRATEGIES

•People have been looking to the sport psychologist to learn how to maintain optimal levels of arousal in athletes.• The typical approach has been to"psych up" the athletes throughvarious kinds of pep talks and activation techniques. There is, of course, a proper time to get athletes excited and aroused, but often these•techniques are applied at the wrong time.•Generally, some athletes have only an intermediate level of skill, and the extra arousal serves only to induce•unforced errors. Increasing arousal affects each athlete differently. Inmost cases, intervention procedures•are best applied on an individual basis; each athlete should be treated differently. Some will need a pep talk,•but others may need an entirely different form of intervention

AROUSAL ENERGIZING STRATEGIES...

• The indiscriminate use of relaxation or arousal energizing strategies has prompted sport psychologists topromote a closer match between precompetitive affect and psychological adjustment.

• This practice hascome to be referred to as the matching hypothesis. In

the matching hypothesis, care is taken to make surethat the intervention selected to relax or energize the athlete ismatched to the specific symptoms.

• Two major strategies to relax or energize are can be divided as:➢ Team energizing strategies➢ Individual energizing strategies

Team energizing strategies

• Team energizing strategies are those strategies that deal with the team as a whole and are generally orchestrated by the coach. These strategies includes :

➢ Team Goal Setting

➢ Pep Talk

➢ Bulletin Boards

➢ Publicity & News Coverage

➢ Fan Support

➢ Coach, athlete & parent interaction

➢ Pre-competition workout

Individual self energizing strategies

• Individual self energising strategies are those strategies that an individual uses to induce immediate activation & alertness (also called individual psyching-up strategies). These strategies includes :

➢ Individual Goal Setting➢Self Talk➢Attentional Focus➢ Imegery➢Self Activation

What is goal setting?

• Goal setting is a mental training technique that can be used to increase an individual's commitment towards achieving a personal goal. Having a short or long-term goal can encourage an individual to work harder, to be more focused on the task and to overcome setbacks more easily.

• Goal setting, is a technique pioneered by Locke (1968) effects performance in four ways:

✓ focuses attention✓ mobilises effort in proportion to the demands of the task✓ enhances persistence✓ encourages the individual to develop strategies for

achieving their goals

What is goal setting?.....

• Essentially goal setting is a mental training technique that can be used to increase an individual’s commitment towards achieving a personal goal and this can be separated into short, medium and long term goals. These goals can be broken down into three categories:-

• Outcome goals

• Performance goals

• Process goals

What is goal setting?.....

o Outcome goals focus on the outcomes of sporting events. It involves interpersonal comparison. e.g. Winning a match, defeating an opponent, secure Ist position or set a record

o Performance goals deal with helping an athlete make improvements over a period of time. It is end product of performance that will be achieved by the athlete relatively independently of other performers & the team. e.g. taking 20 wickets, score 30 points in a BB game

o Process goals are the aspects an athlete should be concentrating on when carrying out a specific skill. E.g. Holding the stick tightly & foot pointing in the direction of hit in hockey, keeping elbow down in tennis backhand

If an athlete is successful in setting & meeting the process goal, improved performance & outcome goal

should be the result

The SMART approach

• SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals.

• In order to get the best out of the goal setting strategy, many athletes and coaches follow the SMART approach as outlined by Kelly Bourne in Why Goal Setting is Important. Using a football example the article highlights how athletes can benefit from an approach that is

• Specific,Measurable,Attainable,Realistic andTime based

The SMART approach....

• This SMART acronym aims to break down five key aspects to achieving goals. This is to help ensure all areas are focused on the individual making them effective.

• Specific – A defensive player to win over 90% of their challenges throughout a 90-minute match. An attacking player to make 10-15 runs or attempts on goal throughout a 90-minute match

• Measurable – How many goals/assists scored throughout the season, How many saves or challenges a GK or defender has made

• Attainable – Ensuring the goal which is set for the athlete is attainable/achievable, starting with small tasks which are achievable to help gain confidence in the process and then start to make larger goals

• Realistic – This is key and very important to discuss with the athlete individually. Each athlete is different and has varied strengths and weaknesses in different areas. The athlete will need to decide which on these goals and agree that they are realistic targets set for themselves to achieve

• Time based – Goals should be set for a time period of a season, but you can set smaller time frames within that specific to the athlete. Again athletes are individual, so some may prefer every month, or others could possibly do it over a three-month period

Value of setting goals

• The advantage of goal setting is that it helps boost performance levels by achieving targets or as Kelly Bourne points out:

• The main aim of goal setting focuses on increasing individuals’ motivational levels to achieve success by directing attention and applying energy levels into achieving the overall goal

• However, a cautionary note, there can be drawbacks to goal setting and these should be addressed as early as possible in the process. Athletes often don’t see the value in setting goals, consider them boring and taking up too much time. They can also set themselves the wrong types of goals and fail before they even start.

• Education is key to the process. Ultimately it is worth the effort to overcome these obstacles and coaches should highlight the value of goal setting for athletes to help them achieve optimal performance.

Value of setting goals...

DIRECTED ATTENTION

EFFORT MOBILIZATION

PERSISTANCE

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW LEARNING STRATEGIES

Value of setting goals...

• DIRECTED ATTENTION : Improves focus

• EFFORT MOBILIZATION : Increases effort during practice to accomplish goal

• PERSISTENCE : Persistence is the by product of effective goal setting.

• DEVELOPMENT OF NEW LEARNING STRATEGIES : Goal setting promotes the development of new learning strategies

Principles of Effective Goal Setting

• Make goals specific, observable and in measurable terms –Setting general goals such as improving your shooting percentage in basketball is easy but it becomes hard to determine how to go about doing this without specific criteria or directives. Specifying how and when to do things can help to this end. Coaches, consider telling your players to ‘draw’ a “C” with their wrist and use a cue word such as “push” to guide players towards the meaning of improved mechanics. A measurable goal is one you can quantify, in the sense that you know exactly how close you are to achieving that goal. Rather than saying “most of you have a good shooting percentage” reporting the percentage of players who meet the 65% criteria can be updated on the following week until 100% of the team has achieved this goal. Observable goals are those that can be measured and are specific. Thus, identifying what comprises a general goal can help develop specific criteria that are observable and measurable, especially if the terms of a specific date or number of trials.

Principles of Effective Goal Setting...

• Clearly identify the time constraints – Asking players to improve their shooting percentage will be ineffective unless you have a specified date or event to work towards. Is this goal to be accomplished by the end of practice? The end of the week? By playoffs? Well stated goals should be timely.

• Use moderately difficult goals – Moderate goals are better than easy or very difficult goals because it pushes athletes to work hard and extend themselves in order to meet the goals. They are also more satisfying when attained.


• Write goals down and regularly monitor progress –Goals are ineffective if forgotten. Write them down being as specific as possible. Keeping a journal or a publicly posted goal monitoring cha

• Goal Type Poorly written goals Rewritten and improved goals

• Process : improve my free throw mechanicse.g. focus on bending at the knees during each of 10 trials

• Performance : improve passinge.g. during each scrimmage, pass to a teammate 8 times

• Outcome: improve win loss record from last yeare.g.Improve free throw percentage during games and decrease the

number of fouls in the first half can help athletes and coaches with the monitoring process.


• Use short-range goals to achieve long range plans - As shown in the above diagram, goal setting is much like climbing a mountain. The long range goal of reaching your main goal requires strategic short-term goals setting.

• Set practice as well as competition goals – It is important for the team and the coach to recognize the critical importance of effective practices to prepare for competition. Practice goals should match competition performance goals as often as possible. Goals related to work ethic and attitude during practice are essential. Showing up on time ready to practice, entering warm-up with enthusiasm and paying attention to the coach and team captain are examples. Additionally, complementing one another on good effort can promote team cohesion and a supportive environment that is fun to be involved with. Practice goals should also involve using mental skills such as imagery which can help with skill learning, strategies, presentation and working through competitive anxiety.


• Make sure goals are internalized by the athlete – It is important that athletes feel in control (self-determined) of their goals. Ensuring that athletes accept and internalize goals is one of the most important features of goal setting. If athletes set their own goals, they will most likely internalize them. Sometimes when coaches set goals for athletes, they aren’t taken seriously.

• Consider personality and individual differences in goal setting – Coaches should also keep in mind that athletes’ personality characteristics can determine the effectiveness of goal setting. Whether or not a player is ego oriented (compares their performance to that of others) or task oriented (compares her performance to herself) could determine the extent to which they will be able to internalize goals. When athletes define success as beating others, they have little control over the outcome. Ego oriented athletes also have a tendency to set unrealistically high or low goals so they can have an excuse if their goals are not attained. Task oriented athletes set goals about doing their best and making some improvement experience success more frequently, persist at tasks longer and are more confident.

Principles of Effective Goal Setting....

• Set positive goals as opposed to negative goals : Goals can be stated either positively (e.g., increase the number of times I complete a back walkover on the balance beam) or negatively (e.g., reduce the number of times I fall off the balance beam during back walkovers). Whenever possible, set goals in positive terms by focusing on behaviors that should be present rather than those that should be absent. This can help athletes focus on success rather than failure.

• Identify a goal-achievement strategy : It is important to understand the difference between setting goals and identifying a strategy that will help you accomplish your goals. For example, general objective goals and outcome goals are often set without strategies.


• Seek support of goals – Significant others in the life of an athlete can help ensure goals are achieved. In addition to the team coach, this usually includes other coaches, family, friends, teachers and teammates. Effort should be made in educating these individuals about the types of goals that you are setting for yourself and the importance of their support in encouraging progress towards the goals.

• Set team as well as individual performance goals –Performance for the team can be set just as easily as for individuals. Coaches should also consider involving the team in setting some of the various types of goals. For example, consider involving players in deciding weak performance areas and whether to focus on technique or strategies involved in those weak areas over the course of a practice.

Team Approach to Goal Setting

PLANNING PHASE

MEETING PHASE

EVALUATION PHASE

Goal Setting Pitfalls

• Poorly written goal statement : A goal must be specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic & timely

• Failure to devise goal attainment strategy :lack of well devised plan to achieve goal

• Failure to Monitor Performance Progress : Failure to monitor measurable & observable progress in sport makes it impossible to know if goal setting is working.

• Discouragement : Due to goal difficulty, use of outcome goals, too many goals

PEP TALK

• A talk intended to make someone feel more courageous or enthusiastic

• A short speech intended to encourage people to work harder or try to win a game or competition

• In sport, coaches and leaders assume that pep talks elicit inspiration or motivation, but there is no research available on these consequences. Athletes are assumed to be “inspired by” a pep talk and then be “inspired to” do something or act in a particular manner in the ensuing practice or competition

PEP TALK...

• The most important element of the pep talk is an emphasis on the ingredient that is lacking in the team. The elements of an effective pep talk may include :

✓ Personal challenges✓Stories✓Poems✓Silence✓Reasoning✓Voice inflections

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PEP TALK

Pep talk should have the following characteristics:

➢ It should combine with real life experience and memorable stories

➢ There should be a variety of persuasive speech.

➢ The speech should be practical.

➢ It should leave an impact on listeners.

➢ The speaker must follow an imperative mood through the speech.

➢ The speech should be energetic and interesting.

BULLETIN BOARDS

• Messages on a bulletin board may be identical to pep talks but they are visually rather than verbally conveyed

• The bulletin board should always convey positive, motivating thoughts & ideas

• These messages may include personal challenges to the members of the team

• Challenging or inflammatory statements by opposing team or coaches should also appear on the board to excite the player

• Board should be displayed where player don’t miss them

PUBLICTY & NEWS COVERAGE

• Ads can be put in school magazine/ newspaper to generate team spirit

• Cultivate close relationship with the media

• Invite them to games & send them positive information about players & upcoming tournaments

FAN SUPPORT

• Presence of fans motivates athletes to perform

• Fans tells the athletes that what they are doing is important to people other than themselves

• Those responsible for promoting the team must do all they can to get people to support the team by coming to watch them

COACH, ATHLETE & PARENT INTERACTION

• Parents can provide tremendous support & motivation for an athlete’s involvement

• Coaches are cautious about over involved & demanding parents

• Parents provide transportation for games & practices

• Sacrifice vacations & leisure time to watch their kid performance

PRE-COMPETITION WORKOUT

• Pre-competition workouts can reduce anxiety & tension of the competition

• It could be an effective tool for preparing n athlete for competition

• It enhances & increases activation which is effective in reducing anxiety

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMANCE …