Athlete mental training is a powerful tool which helps build the mental skills necessary for success.

No matter what sport you play, you can benefit from training your mind just as you train your body.

With a rise in mental health awareness among athletes, there is an increase in attention being given to the mental side of the game. In addition, it’s becoming more and more well known the positive impact such work has on your level of play.

To make use of athlete mental training, there are certain techniques and tools utilized.

In this article, you will learn different mental training techniques you can use as an athlete to build mental toughness and increase your performance.

Mental Training Techniques for Athletes

Just as with physical training, mental training requires consistency and repetition.

Let’s say you’re a basketball player and you want to improve your three point shot. Would you try a new shooting drill for a day, miss a few shots next game, and then give it up?

I sure hope not, because you aren’t going to get very far.

You would likely stick with that shooting drill consistently for weeks and months, knowing the work is going to pay off and help you improve in that skill.

Likewise, mental training must be viewed in a similar manner. If you use one of the techniques to improve confidence, for example, dedication to the exercise and commitment over time are required to see change.

Understanding that underlying principle, here are the main techniques that you can use to help with athlete mental training.

Mental Rehearsal

First on the list is one of the most popular mental techniques for athletes, and that is mental rehearsal. Also known as visualization or mental imagery, this is an incredibly powerful tool.

To perform mental rehearsal, all you do is create a scene in your mind of you performing.

There are two key aspects, though, you must keep in mind: detail and emotion.

You want to be sure you go into detail with your rehearsal and are bringing emotion into it.

Visualization can be used for many different areas within your game including:

● Improve Confidence

● Perform Under Pressure

● Increase Relaxation

● Skill Mastery

Self-Talk

Within athlete mental training, one of the major goals is gaining emotional control.

Sports are an emotional environment, from the nerves to perform all the way to the frustrations that follow a defeat, if you fail to manage your emotions they can easily get the best of you.

To control your emotions, we must look to a key influence that goes into them…your thoughts.

Self-talk refers to how you think and speak to yourself. This involves the thoughts you have before, during, and after a game, along with during practice.

Using self-talk as a mental training technique involves identifying the negative/unhelpful thoughts you currently have and then creating a list of more positive/productive alternatives.

You then take that list and repeat it to yourself on a daily basis to reprogram your thoughts.

In addition, you can use a self-talk technique where you come up with certain phrases to say to yourself going into a game to increase confidence or during a game, after a mistake for example, to help yourself refocus.

Post-Performance Questions

Perfectionism is one of the leading mental game challenges athletes struggle with. To counteract this there is a mental training technique you can use which involves going through a set of questions following a practice or a game.

This exercise works to increase your confidence, along with changing how you judge your performances.

If you can judge yourself in a better way, using more self-analysis rather than self-criticism, that will give you a better chance of improving moving forward.

There are different ways you can go about using post-performance questions, but to keep it simple, the basic structure involves asking these two questions:

● What did I do well?

● Where can I improve?

Performance Objectives

Being focused is a key skill worked on within athlete mental training.

To improve focus, you need something to place your attention on during practices and games. This is where performance objectives come into play.

So many times athletes find themselves focused on things outside of their control. Whether it be the score, someone else’s thoughts, or a bad call from an official.

By keeping your focus on yourself and your responsibilities, you increase your chances of success.

To do so, you want to use performance objectives. These are simple objectives you set on the mental and physical side of your game which are 100% within your control.

Breath Work

Having the ability to calm your mind and reduce nerves is huge.

Maybe you get overly anxious before a game, or maybe it’s a big moment, where there’s a tremendous amount of pressure where you feel the most nerves. No matter what, you need a way to calm yourself down during these moments of stress.

To do so, one of the best mental training techniques you can use is breath work.

Through slowing down your breath, you will reduce your nerves. Not only that, but through focusing on your breathing, you take your attention off the outcome and other distracting thoughts that may be worsening the nerves you are already experiencing.

Final Thoughts

In addition to training your physical skills, if you add mental training techniques into your routine, you will give yourself an edge over your competition.

As an athlete, the mind and body are not separate. Therefore, you must be training them both if your aim is to reach your full potential.

Take the mental training techniques outlined in this article, put a routine in place, and be sure you are making use of athlete mental training. Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.