"Staying
Positive in Training"
http://www.swimpsychology.com
One
of the toughest things, day in and day out, is to remain upbeat and positive
about daily practice or training. Every swimmer goes through an occasional
time where their times plateau for a while, or they have trouble getting
motivated, or simply stop enjoying their daily practice for whatever reason.
There are a few things which can help deal with these times.
First of all, don't beat yourself up if you feel a little unmotivated
sometimes, it's natural at times. You are not a machine, you are a normal
human being who has emotional ups and downs like everyone else (yes, including
the champions). Being hard on yourself can have the negative affect of driving
yourself down even further, at a time when you need to take care of yourself and
nurture your morale. Be your own cheer squad at times like these, and you
will get back on track again as soon as your mind and body are ready - or even
sooner.Secondly, look for the reasons behind how you are feeling, and
see if you can work out the problem and take some action towards
overcoming it. You might do this by either trying to resolve the
problem, or just changing your attitude to it - the main thing is to move
through it and past it. There can be many reasons for feeling
unmotivated, and a couple of them might be these below! :
Tiredness - this may be related to the amount of sleep you get, your
diet, or the level of stress in your life, so give these areas some thought and
see if any need some changes to be made.
Having a lack of belief in yourself - you can work on this with
visualization.
Having an argument or disagreement with a team mate or your coach - this
can have a major effect upon motivation and energy, and shouldn't be
underestimated. If this is the case, work towards either patching up the
problem as soon as possible, or simply let it go and moving forward.
Lack of time / stress / your life is too busy - if this is the case, work
on making some time for yourself, and allowing yourself a little breathing
space to relax in your week. This might even be something as simple
as listening to some of your favorite music before going to bed.
Lack of improvement for a period of time - this too can be overcome with
visualization and persistence. It can be helpful to use a mentor as well
- think of a champion swimmer who overcame a slump and smashed through their
personal barriers to succeed.
Another way to overcome lack of motivation is to accentuate, or exaggerate the positive about your swimming. You accentuate the positive by reminding yourself of all the great things you've done in the past - the races or championships you have won, the PB's you've swum, the swimmers you've beaten, the compliments you've received, etc. Stop for a moment and just bask in the great memories of how these achievements felt at the time. Build yourself up by identifying with those great feelings of the past which you experienced from those brilliant victories and achievements. Let's face it - it's always enjoyable to re-visit those thoughts!Exaggerating the positive is another fun way around the problem as well, and you do this by using your imagination a little (or a lot). In your mind,! you simply exaggerate how good you really think you are! Yes, it's that simple. For a couple of minutes, mentally build yourself up to be almost superhuman - in your mind only - and remind yourself of how great you really are. Of course, no-one else should ever know about these thoughts, they should be kept purely to yourself! And no, there's absolutely nothing wrong or egotistical about these thoughts - as they are simply designed to raise your levels of motivation and self-confidence back to where they should be!It also works for some swimmers to simply attack the negative feelings head-on. You take those negative, unmotivated thoughts into the pool but choose to act the opposite of how you feel. You simply refuse to give in to the negative thoughts and challenge yourself to swim even better than the day before. Soon you will find you've forgotten those thoughts as you are training the house ! down.
Or you might choose to use a little motivator, such as the team mate in the lane next to you - and vow to keep up with them or stay ahead of them, no matter what.
Finally, another way is to simply remind yourself of all the things in swimming you would like to achieve in the future, and this can work well because your goals are often the very source of why you go to training at all. So next time you are feeling unmotivated at training - give it some thought and see if you can turn it all around. "The Mind controls the body, and the mind is unlimitedCraig Townsend
NSW Australia 2085
craig@swimpsychology.com