Mindset refers to a person's mental attitude and approach towards everything in life. In the High Performance space, it’s an athlete's workouts, fitness goals, and overall health. It encompasses beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about exercise and personal capability. Here are some key aspects of a positive mindset in the high performance space and how it can lead to better results.
Key Aspects of a Positive Mindset
1. Growth Mindset: Believing that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. This attitude fosters resilience and a willingness to learn from setbacks.
2. Self-Confidence: Trusting in your abilities and believing you can achieve your fitness goals. This can enhance performance and encourage you to push through challenges.
3. Focus on Progress: Instead of fixating on perfection, a positive mindset emphasises progress and personal improvement, celebrating small victories along the way.
4. Motivation and Passion: Finding enjoyment in workouts and setting inspiring goals can keep you motivated and committed to your fitness journey.
5. Resilience: A positive mindset helps you bounce back from failures or plateaus, viewing them as learning opportunities rather than reasons to quit.
How a Positive Mindset Leads to Results
1. Increased Motivation: A positive mindset can enhance your intrinsic motivation, making you more likely to stick to your routine and push yourself harder.
2. Better Performance: When you believe in your abilities, you're more likely to push your limits, leading to improved performance in strength, endurance, and overall fitness.
3. Enhanced Recovery: A positive attitude can reduce stress and improve recovery times, allowing you to train more effectively and consistently.
4. Goal Achievement: Setting clear, achievable goals with a positive approach helps maintain focus and commitment, increasing the likelihood of reaching those goals.
5. Community and Support: A positive mindset often leads to better relationships with gym peers, teammates, coaches etc, which fosters a supportive community that encourages you to achieve your best.
In summary, cultivating a positive mindset in the gym can significantly influence your fitness journey, helping you achieve new results by enhancing motivation, performance, and resilience.
How can a Coach help with mindset?
A high-performance coach can create a positive mindset by implementing several strategies. They can foster self-awareness through reflective practices, helping individuals identify limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones.
Setting clear, achievable goals can also boost motivation and confidence. Additionally, consistent positive reinforcement and celebrating small wins can cultivate an optimistic outlook.
Lastly, mindfulness and visualization techniques can enhance focus and resilience, leading to a positive overall mindset.
Example of how a positive mindset works
Just this week I had an athlete who was fearful of progressing to a higher seated box jump. She told me she couldn't do it, and wanted to stay at the height she had already mastered. This is what we call an athlete's comfort zone. This is their safe space because they know they can achieve this. I gave her a few questions to think about;
What is the worst that can happen?
Will we gain more strength and explosiveness by staying at the same level?
Will you achieve the goals you are trying to achieve without challenging yourself?
I mentioned other times she thought she was unable to do a prescription and achieved it, and then proceeded to acknowledge her fears but supported her and told her I believed she could do it. You could see the fear of failure in her eyes, and the hesitation in her body language, but with verbal positivity and physical cues to make the jump she was gaining self-belief and was willing to try. She tried it 3 or 4 times, not even going through with the jump, then on the 5th attempt, she exploded and just made it. More positive reinforcement and you could see the self-belief starting to take its place. 2 more attempts and she had nailed it, her whole body language had changed, and definitely her mindset. She is now talking about how high she can get too.
This is just one example of how a positive mindset works and as a coach these are the moments you lock in your memory bank for the next time your athletes lack self-confidence and a positive mindset.
Remember all athletes are different and all respond to different cues, Some may need positive reinforcement, some may need more regression or progressions than others, and some may want to be outright challenged "I bet you can't do it".
Get to know your athletes and develop individual strategies for individual success, and don't underestimate the power of creating your athletes with a positive mindset.
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