Achieving The Unachieved For Peak Performance

“I’m supposed to be going for a Personal Record in the bench today. I don’t know if I can do it…it seems like so much weight.”

“6’2”! Are you kidding me? I’ve never cleared that height in a competition.”

“Dammit, I drew Frank in the first round. I haven’t beaten him in the 5 times we’ve faced each other. He’s gotta have my number. I’m not 0-5 against anyone else.”

Facing a potential Personal Record (PR), or going against an opponent you have yet to defeat.

Have you experienced a similar situation?

How did you respond?

Such scenarios (or similar ones) present tough physical and mental challenges. You’re asking yourself, and being asked, to accomplish something you’ve never done before and, on top of it, you are looking for the confidence in your ability so you can do it.

When faced with surpassing a PR, some athletes are able to perform up to their abilities whereas others are not able to do so…they are unable to accomplish the unaccomplished.

There is a huge mental component to breaking through athletic performance barriers.

Think about the 4-minute mile. It was once seen as one of those mythical barriers.

For years, athletes had been approaching 4:00 but could not break through that wall. Yet, within one year of Roger Bannister running sub-4:00, multiple other runners broke through that time barrier as well.

It was not that the athletes were physically unable to run a mile under four minutes, it was that a mental barrier had been created, setting this up as a near impossible task. Once the mental barrier was removed from the mind, the body was “given permission” to accomplish the physical task.

If you’re reading this then I presume that you want to be one of those athletes that achieve the unachieved, right?

Of course you do!

So, let’s take a look at some mental strength tactics you can use to help you break these barriers (physical and mental) and reach your athletic peak performance.

A side note, I would recommend using all them one at time and see which one or two you connect with best and which ones help produce the results you want.

Focus On The Process

In physical and athletic challenging situations, what tends to be your predominant thought?

What’s your focus?

For many, the focus is on the challenge or the outcome of performance, i.e., the victory, PR, pinning an opponent. It is important to get your thoughts away from the outcome and, instead, place your mental strength energy on what you need to do to accomplish the task.

Focus on what you control—your performance—not the end result.

For example, when approaching the bar, focus on the various elements of your pre-lift routine, critical aspects of your technique or your breathing (as opposed to the weight on the bar).

Do It Then Do It

That is…first perform the task mentally…see, feel, successfully mentally experience executing the lift, clearing the height or beating an opponent in complete detail. Then, physically perform the skill just as you did in your imagery.

In using imagery, you are mentally accomplishing the challenge which will help you prepare for the event and boost your confidence in your ability to physically accomplish the task.

Reasons To Believe

When you stop to think about it, it makes sense that you might have doubts as you’re asking yourself to accomplish a task you have yet to accomplish.

You don’t accept the doubts, instead, battle them.  These are your doubts and you can control them. Convince yourself with “the facts” as to why you can and why you will be successful.

Identify the reasons you will be successful and use these to naturalize those doubts. These reasons can come from things you have done in training, past competitions, comments from coaches or teammates, or your work ethic or simply has anyone done this before.  Remember, what one can do, anyone can do.

Shrink It

There is a tendency to make a task or obstacle a monumental challenge because it hasn’t been achieved yet and there may have been many failed attempts along the way.

This can make the obstacle grow to mythical proportions. Use your mental strength to knock it down…to shrink it mentally, to what it really is, just another event.

Instead of thinking about the weight on the bench as something you have failed at twice, remind yourself that it is only two kilograms more that you lifted last week.

Similarly, the opponent you are facing shouldn’t be viewed as someone “I just can’t beat.” Rather, the opponent is someone you match up well against and to perform well you need to attack their weaknesses.

I Think I Can

You could not complete the rep without a little help, you missed the height or you lost the match. How you react to this failure is going to significantly influence your future attempts at similar challenges.

Are you going to tell yourself, “I’ll never be able to do this?”

Or, are you preparing for what you need to do differently and what you need to work on to improve your performance the next time?

As The Little Train That Could kept saying…”I think I can, I think, I can…I know I can, I know I can….I did it!”

Remember there are no failures, only feedback.  Learn from them and apply the learning’s to your future athletic endeavors and you will reach peak performance.