Performance Routines for Athletic Peak Performance

“The most important thing is how a guy prepares itself to do battle”-Hank Aaron.

Every time you compete, you want to perform to the best of your abilities, right?.

You practice everyday, hit the weight room, stretch, study game film, game tape, manager your diet, and even work on your mental strength skills all in an effort to reach your peak performance.

I think this is what Hank Aaron was referring to in the opening quote – preparing yourself for the battle, i.e. the competition, by taking control of what you do on a regular basis.

He probably is also referring to the importance of your performance routines, that is, what you do on game day, what you do prior to executing your specific skill (batting, running a route, shooting a free-throw, etc), and what you do to prepare yourself for competition.

Do you have a performance routine that you use to prepare yourself athletic battle?

You’ve probably seen numerous routines in various situations. We tend to be more aware of the physical element of routines as opposed to the harder to see mental routine.  Examples of physical routine is a baseball player who adjusts to readjust his gloves; kicks dirt in setting his stance then takes a practice swing as he steps into the batter’s box.

You might even have a teammate who, when he gets to the ballpark, visualizes specific pitches to prepare to bat against, visualizes certain on field scenarios and runs through them in detail during his warm up.

Routines, when they are used, help prepare your for competition as well as prepare you for the intra-game specifics, i.e. batting, catching, blocking, fielding,  They can set the stage for you to reach peak performance.

Pre-performance’s routines can assist in optimizing your performance by warming-up your physical, mental, and technical readiness.

But what really is a routine?

A routine is a regular process or procedure; an habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure.  Routines in sport, and can be thoughts and behaviors that are done regularly to bring consistency to your game and to assist in reaching your peak performance.

Let’s take a look at developing or even fine tuning your pre-competition routine.  While there is no single best routine, as each one is personalized, the following are general guidelines to think about when developing your routine.

R.O.U.T.I.N.E

R – Reflect on what works and what doesn’t work for you, in terms of things you do, say and think to prepare yourself for your performance.  As a starting point, use past experiences to direct you.  When you performed well, how did you prepare?  Contrast this performance with a poor performance to help determine what helps and what hurts.  Keep the aspects that support your performance and throw the rest away.

O – Optimize your mental strength readiness by focusing on the process of your performance, as opposed to the outcome.  What are those things you need to do to perform well?  Your focus should be on the controllable aspects of your performance.  You’re pre-performance routine should direct your attention to these factors that you can control.

U – Use the routine on a consistent basis, not just for big games.  Every time you step up on the playing field, whether in practice or in competition, in preseason or a championship game, you should use your routine.  Routines are designed to ultimately prepare your body and mind to perform at their peak. So use your routine every time you perform, regardless of the situation.

T – Think checklist.  In the book “Heads-up Baseball” the authors suggest that athletes think of routine as a checklist of things to do in preparation for performance.  They note that just as pilots have a checklist of things they need to do to ensure a safe flight, athletes should develop a checklist of mental and physical things they should do to help with achieve peak performance and set the stage for success.  What are the critical elements of your checklist that will prepare yourself for a game or prepare yourself to bat?

I – Identify a plan B.  That is, what’s your backup plan, i.e. routine, if things your regular routine goes sideways? Things do not always play out the way you expect them to and it’s sometimes necessary to switch things up in the middle of the game.  Keep your plan B simple, and be sure to practice this as well as so you’re comfortable with it when and if you need to use it.

N – Never mind what others are doing.  Pre-game routines are highly individualized.  In setting yourself up for successful you pre-performance needs to about you.  Sure, it may be different from a teammate, but this is your routine.  Do not worry about others do, instead focus on yourself and what is best for you.  You know you better than anyone else, pay attention to what works for you and never mind what the others are doing.

E – Elements of a routine versus superstitions?  Athletes can get caught in the trap of integrating superstitious habits into the performance routines; these are behaviors that don’t necessarily help reach peak performance, such as having to put your left shoe on before the right shoe.  Elements of the routine are things you do, say, or think that help in preparation for your performance.  Superstitions, on the other hand, have no such link to preparation for performance…except for the link that you’ve created.  While some superstitions are really not harmful, the danger is in becoming overwhelmed by the combination of performance routines and superstitions.  You can easily end up with a long list of things you feel you have to, get overwhelmed and then routine does the opposite of what it’s supposed to do…it can take away from the preparation to achieve peak performance

Routine – Set the stage for your peak performance success by bringing consistency to your physical and mental preparedness by controlling the factors that impact your performance.

Let me know about any of your pre-game routines in the comments below.

Reference – Ravizza K, Hanson T. (1995). Heads up baseball: Playing the game one pitch at a time. Lincolmwood, IL: Masters Press.