The Power of Self Belief: Exercise Your Most-Powerful Weapon
Many swimmers would say they are physically strong. Working out in the gym, swimming long hours in the pool, and fueling their bodies to perform at high levels, certainly keep a person in shape. In the media, we see swimmers as tall, muscular athletes with superior builds to an average person. Swimmers pride themselves on physical improvement in and out of the pool. What can be overlooked is the importance of exercising the strongest muscle that we have. Our most powerful weapon is a 3-pound, spongy organ found a millimeter beneath our skull: The brain.
Transform Yourself As An Athlete
In this sport, the power of self-belief is something that can transform you as an athlete. You hear it all the time: “believe in yourself”; “think it and you can do it!” Although these sayings are true, self-belief entails so much more. A swimmer’s biggest obstacle is often their mindset. You see it when people get psyched out for races, or they move to the back of the lane when an inevitably hard main set is announced. Athletes sometimes possess thoughts in their heads which causes self-doubt and mental fatigue. If you learn to use your mind as a competitive weapon in a positive way, it changes the whole game.
Become Comfortable Under Pressure
The name of the game in our sport is peaking at just the right time. Not just in sports, but in life, we must perform under immense pressure to reach our goals. If you can train your mind to become comfortable in a high-pressure environment, your body will follow and allow you to perform at your best. However, this is no easy task.
You can use many tools such as journaling, breathing exercises, or using visualization strategies to help achieve mental stability in uncomfortable situations. To no surprise, the greatest swimmer of all-time, Michael Phelps, might have also had the greatest mental game out of any swimmer in history. He constantly practiced mental exercises to allow himself to be ready during high-tension races. No one can completely get rid of the pre-race jitters, but the more you can do to subdue the unnecessary negative thoughts, the better off you will be.
Learn From Younger Swimmers
Have you ever wondered why younger swimmers drop so much time? It could be because of their changing bodies. A large factor, too, is youthful confidence. Young kids believe they can do anything, and they are always striving for the best. They have no other cares in the world, except for what they are doing in that moment. We can learn many lessons from this thought process. Use your mind to empower your self -belief and block out all other distractions. The older swimmers become and the smarter they are, they tend to overanalyze, overthink, and – occasionally – defeat themselves mentally before the challenge has even begun.
Improve Your Mental Game
Improving your mental game is something that can drastically help your swimming career. There is no easy way to get better at it. You must practice daily by communicating with yourself and getting in tune with your thoughts to achieve peak performance when it matters. Your internal thoughts directly correlate to your actions in the pool. Sometimes, it is best to let go of your thoughts and just do the best you can.
Don’t forget to train the most important muscle: Your mind.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
Yes king get into to it!! ??????