Every athlete has felt nervous before a competition.
You have a competition in one week. You get anxious. Your coach or workout plan tells you it’s time to reduce the work volume and intensity, but every day you feel as though you’re just losing strength by not training.
You torment yourself: What if I don’t meet my coach’s expectations? What if I don’t meet my own expectations? You can’t sleep at night, and go to the gym to do extra work hoping it will pay off on the day of the competition.
Here is what you should do instead: Trust the work that you did. Stick to the plan. There is nothing more you can do. If you panic, you’re wasting energy. If you go do extra work in the gym – you’re wasting energy. Take more naps. Relax.
From the great Mikhail Koklyaev: You are carrying around 2 buckets. The buckets are filled with your energy, your strength. As you train, you add to the buckets. When you start to get nervous and shaky before the competition, your risk spilling. Don’t let it spill. Don’t let your nervousness change your steady approach. Don’t think about the competition until you are in the warm-up area, and are stepping onto the warm-up platform. Conserve all of the energy you’ve built up in your training for this moment. Then explode.
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Yasha,
Thanks for another great article. I think Koklyaev’s bucket analogy is excellent. I’m certainly the type of athlete who gets nervous before competition, particularly the day of competition. I’m admittedly a very “Type A” person and I tend to be my own worst enemy on meet day by letting my nervousness/anxiety interrupt my focus on the platform. In my experience, it seems that intensity (explosiveness and aggression) and mental quality (positive thinking, focus, confidence and other attributes?) can be a delicate balance. Whereas, too much unbridled aggression/anxiety will negatively affect mental quality. That statement is merely my working hypothesis and it’s not based on any concrete scientific evidence. Would you agree or disagree? Do you have any thoughts and/or recommendations on strategies for how an athlete can effectively clear the mind of nervousness/anxiety in the warm up area and during attempts on the platform on competition day? Thanks!!
Before you start to warm up give yourself 10 minutes of sitting down alone and relaxing. Don’t stretch, just find a comfortable, warm position and chill out for a bit. When you’re ready to get up – take a minute to visualize the lift you’re about to do. Visualize beautiful technique. Your body will get a craving to execute it.
When its time to warm up, and start lifting – have a plan. If its a good plan, you’ll do well when you execute it. Don’t think about the platform or the weight you’ll be lifting in 10-20 minutes, but the weight you’re lifting now. If you lift it well, and if you lift each of the individual warmup lifts well – you will have done everything you need to do well on the platform.
Do what works well in training. If you’re always fired up and yelling – then yell. If you are calm and methodical – do your thing.
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