In my forth year Coaching Psychology unit, I wrote in an assignment…
“Mental rehearsal is a poly-sensory experience which involves the creation or recreation of external events, objects, people, skills or experiences. Imagery uses the principles of mental practice and rehearsal to practice skills without having to perform them. Reasons for the success of mental imagery include the presence of centrally arousing sensation (internal feelings created) and a somatic response (physiological and psychological changes to the athlete). Imagery is effective at improving the psychological skills of stress management (routine visualization), and physiological control (heart rate, breathing etc.).”
Long story short, thinking about doing something makes you better at doing that thing. Thinking is free, it doesn’t take much time, it doesnt make you sore, it doesn’t lead to overtraining.
If you don’t have a pre- game/WOD/shot/competition routine… you’re doing it wrong.
I don’t mean superstitions. Superstitions have no scientific basis, unless that superstition is part of your pre- game routine.
I want to share my routine with you. I use this before events in a competition, and I’ve been using it for this years (2013) CrossFit Open.
I put this routine together my working backwards, so I’ll do the same here. Beginning at my intended peak, and working back two days (makes it a bit harder for you to understand, but it’s more representative of how you can construct your own).
Sunday:
- 8.30am: CrossFit Open workout (peak).
- 8am: Get to ROM. Say hello to people, then get into my own world. Headphones on (the same, or similar songs – those I’ve used in the past that I association with my best performances). Shoes on. Thumbs taped. General warm-up routine, specific warm-up. Mental rehearsal of the entire workout 10 mins prior to start. Pump up song on 5 mins prior to start.
- 7.45am: Leave home, drink 600ml of water in the car.
- 7.15am: Hot shower in the dark. Includes a full mental run-through of the workout, including strategy, tactics, rep scheme, planned rests etc.
- 7am: Wake up and blend and drink smoothie (prepared the night before).
Saturday:
- 10pm: Lights off.
- 9.30pm: Read in bed – something to distract me from the workout so I can get to sleep (this works really well).
- 9pm: Shower with the lights off. Includes a full mental run-through of the workout, including strategy, tactics, rep scheme, planned rests etc. I run through the entire workout in my head.
- 8pm: Massive dinner – some sort of meat with loads of sweet potatos.
- 7pm: Workout specific mobility.
- 1pm: Lunch – meat and lots of veggies.
- Must drink at least 3 litres of water today.
- Strategy written on whiteboard at home so I’m exposed to it often.
- Sleep in ’til 9am (can’t count on good sleep tonight). Then smoothie with lots of fruit and 6-10 scrambled eggs.
This routine work for me. The keys are nutrition, hydration, sleep and MENTAL REHEARSAL.
I can not overstate the importance of Mental Rehearsal. I do all The Open workouts twice, because I can. But in my head, I do them no less than three times in addition to the physical efforts. I give this mental rehearsal my 100% attention. A meteorite could hit the house and I wouldn’t notice. The mental rehearsal of a seven minute workout usually takes me 6.5-7.5 minutes. I often find my limbs imitating the movements.
I have stuck with my plan 100% on every Open workout. I mean EXACTLY to the rep. My break down and strategy are planned and mentally rehearsed meticulously. When it comes to putting the plan into action, it’s easy (well, sort of!) because I know exactly what I need to do. All that remains is to do it!
