Training Articles - Psychology

Minding your Mental Fitness
David Lowes and Dr Matt Long investigated the mind-set of mature elite athletes and the mind-set of social athletes. Being in the right frame of mind is an essentiality to deliver a performance allied with endless hours of steady running and repetition work on the track for middle distance athletes.
Controlling the Raging Monster Within
To control your emotions during competition you must do two tasks - have an accepting mind-set before competition, and arm yourself with mental strategies to cope with errors or mishaps.
Mental toughness - Count your blessings
Dr. Matt Long explores some useful mental strategies that you could use to help you cope with endurance events like the marathon or the Tour De France.
What influence will sports psychology have on rehabilitation of injuries and the improvement of performance of sports skills?
It is important to realize that there is not one specific psychological skill that assists in rehabilitation. Each psychological skill obtained must be individualized based on the psychological state of the individual and the sport that the individual is a participant. A few examples of psychological skills include mental imagery, goal setting, and positive self-talk. These psychological skills may be used during sport injury rehabilitation to motivate athletes to adhere to rehabilitation.
How hypnosis can help your athletes to produce their top performance
Hypnosis is an ergogenic aid used by many top athletes and teams that has been around for many years and is now making a comeback - perhaps due to the recent increased publicity that hypnotherapy is receiving.

Performing Under Pressure
The article considers what is pressure, how athletes experience it and how to manage pressure. When you understand "how" and "when" you feel pressure, you can use it to help you instead of work against you.
Psychological Skills Training
A review of psychological skills training and the factors that can influence the benefits of such a program for an athlete
It's all in the mind
A review of the techniques that will allow an athlete to relax and to focus their attention in a positive manner on the task of preparing for and participating in competition
How your athletes can avoid stress
If you are in a stressful situation then your athletic performance, whether this be in competition or in training, will be effected. Here are some tips on how to manage stress.
When you can manage your emotions, you can perform at your best
We know from countless studies that mental skills are acquirable and you can, with practice, learn to perform mentally. You can improve your confidence, concentration, motivation and anxiety levels if you chose to
Mental Models - Noticing distinctions
How Jonny Wilkinson uses an imaginary girl to stay focused on the rugby pitch and how we might acquire similar mental skills
Time and its influence on motivation
How an athlete's psychological relationship to time will influence their motivation
Is "Achievement Goal Theory" reality or just a myth
A resume of a MSc thesis, which investigates if achievement goal theory is based on fact or fiction
What is the stimulus that gives rise to a specific response?
How to build simple, powerful anchors for mental focus
The psychological side of injury
The emotional stages an athlete goes through when injured
Wishing yourself a speedy recovery - the value of the mind in body healing
It is clearly important to speed the recovery process as much as possible, and the evidence drawn on above suggests that hypnosis may be utilised as part of treatment during a recovery period
Zen Mind, Sports Mind
How to achieve a state of peak performance where actions are automatic, intuitive and unconscious and where bursts of 'spontaneous excellence' occur naturally and effortlessly
Taoist standing practice - for health, strength and athletic development
A review of the Taoist standing practice and how it helps to strengthen the bones and tendons, increase core stability and develop a powerful competitive spirit
Taoist standing practice - core stability
A explanation of the advanced standing posture and its benefits for developing core stability, as well as a more competitive mind-set
Minding the injury
The four stages an injured athlete will go though on the road to recovery.
Sports Psychology and Performance Enhancement
How you and your team may benefit from the application of sports psychology
How to be a champion in sport and life
Three key points that will boost your workouts to Olympic training status
Sports psychology guidelines for sports parents
How parents can help make sport a successful and fun experience for young athletes
Which sports seem to produce low self-esteem?
Athletes who develop eating disorders are female, and these athletes are usually found in a fairly small number of sports, including gymnastics, cross-country, swimming, and track and field
The power of thoughts
There is scientific proof that negative thinking does play a role in producing negative outcomes. If you do not believe it then try this experiment:
Self-esteem in the athlete
Why athletes must learn to separate self-esteem from their level of performance in sports
Golf - it's all in the swing and the mind
How to prepare your annual golf training program and the benefits of including psychology training into the program
Running Buddhas: Ultra-endurance and the spiritual athlete
A look at the training the Japanese Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei undertake to perform such a feat of ultra-endurance and how you can apply some of their training to your own sport
The Way of Energy and the Future of Performance Enhancement
A review of how the Eastern energy arts such as Chi Kung and T'ai Chi can have a positive impact on the four main areas of Sports Science - namely biomechanics, strength and conditioning, endurance and the mental game

Literature Review - Psychology

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