Wait…I have to (gulp) WORK OUT?? | Exercise Psych w/ Dr Michelle Cleere

August 29, 2011 By
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Many of the guests that we visit with on the Athlete’s Audio Academy are Sport Psychologists or Mental Conditioning Coaches, and primarily focus their work with athletes, helping them improve their performance.  Get better, faster, stronger, and more focused, and calm.

But what if you’re thinking about getting healthier, or maybe just heard from your doctor “You need to start exercising…or you may be at serious risk of disease or death”?

Oh, God…now I have to go to the (gulp) gym??  Worse….do I have to hire a trainer??

Intimidation factor = RED ALERT!

Getting your mind around working out is really the specialty of an Exercise Psychologist, and a great one is our guest today.  Meet Dr. Michelle Cleere.

Dr. Cleere is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in breaking emotional patterns that hold people from achieving their physical goals; whether the motivation is to get healthier or beat the competition.

She is a contributor, blogger, and resource at ShareCare.com, and works with Dr. Oz. She’s also a Certified USA Triathlon Level I Coach, NASM-CPT, and regularly contributes articles to USA Triathlon, and AmateurEndurance.com

With a PhD in Clinical Psychology and an MA in Sports Psychology, Dr. Michelle is one of the leading experts in exercise and sports psychology. She has written for Triathlete Magazine and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is also the author of: The Experience of Participating in a Triathlon: from the perspective of two women and Shifting Gears: How Women Triathletes Balance Life with Sport.

Dr Cleere works with new exercisers, emotional eating, weight management, athletes, coaches, and trainers, and can be found at DrMichelleCleere.com or on FaceBook, and Twitter.

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A 5-point system to make you a Star | Dr. Jack Bowman | Mind Plus Muscle

July 25, 2011 By
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Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if there was a quick visual reference for optimal mental performance??  Something that would keep  you from having to read, remember, and think about a bunch of things…when you’re trying to NOT THINK!?

We’re lucky to be joined today by one of the most recognized Sports Psychologists in the profession, and a pioneer in distance learning programs for mental training.  He’s created (and describes here) the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program for athletes of all ages, and ability levels.

UPDATE!!  Dr Bowman has published a pdf of the Perform Like a Star program on his Facebook Page.  Here’s a link to the pdf.

Meet Dr. Jack Bowman, Founder of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute in Suffolk County, NY.

Dr. Bowman has been a guest with us twice before, discussing internships for young Sport Psychologists, and trying to separate the good info from the hooey with regards to mental training on the web.

He’s a certified consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, and he’s listed on the United States Olympic Committee‘s registry of Sport Psychologists.  An advocate of Sport Psychology Training at all levels of sport, Dr. Bowman has been a pioneer in the application of Telecommunications and Information Technology to make Mental Training and Sport Hypnosis accessible to all athletes

In addition to the ‘Perform Like a Star’ program, Dr. Bowman created the Mental Training Room, an online learning program in 1993.  Yep…1993, and he’s been involved in numerous programs at AASP, and at the Suffolk County Psychological Association, including the creation of a Mental Training manual for marathon preparation (which you can download here), and a podcast with Dr. Richard Lustberg on Sports Psychology.  Dr. Bowman is also board certified as a clinical hypnotherapist, and offers customized Sports Hypnosis recordings.

Dr Bowman details two important components to any mental skills training program, Goal Setting, and Mental Rehearsal(or Imagery).  At the Mind Plus Muscle Institute, Dr. Bowman offers Mental Rehearsal programs for Baseball, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse, Body Building, Running, Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Sped Training, Wrestling, Triathlon, Tennis, and Swimming.  He’s also got some good advice for athletes to know what to look for in mental training, and what to look out for.

Dr. Jack Bowman is the Director of the Mind Plus Muscle Institute for Applied Sport Psychology in Port Jefferson Station, New York. Since 1980 Dr. Bowman has served on the graduate faculty at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he teaches the Psychology of Sport. In 1981 he founded the Mind Plus Muscle Institute where he has developed numerous performance enhancement programs, including the Mental Training Room that is currently being utilized by athletes at major universities and Olympic training centers world wide.

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Utopia for Athletes | Angus Mugford of IMG Academies

July 11, 2011 By
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I think of it as the ‘Walled City of Oz’.  That magical place where nobody really knows what goes on inside, but we all suspect that it’s pretty amazing and magical.

Even the people who are there call it a ‘Sports Utopia’.

Meet Angus Mugford, PhD of the IMG Academies.  He joins the Athlete’s Audio Academy to give us a peek inside the tent.  The IMG Academy was started by Nick Bollettieri, and among the sports represented with physical skills and strength training, the IMG Performance Institute houses Angus, and the other 7 mental skills coaching professionals.

Angus also shares some info about Combine360.com, an new online community  that IMG, and UnderArmour have started to create a benchmark for measuring and improving athletic performance. Cool. Here’s the assessment and philosophy.

Angus holds a PhD in Sport Studies (specialization in sport/counseling psychology) from the University of Kansas,(and I published the interview EVEN THOUGH I went to Mizzou!) and is a Certified Consultant with Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences (BASES), which are two of the world’s top sport psychology professional organizations. He is also a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Sport Psychology registry.

Find more information on twitter for Angus & IMG, and dial in to the IMG Performance Blog, or Facebook page.

 

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Have you ever been in the zone?? What did it feel like (and how do you get back?!)

June 27, 2011 By
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Or what does it feel like when you’re on FIRE?  What would it be like to be able to get into that space more often?

Meet super-energetic, and engaging Justin Su’a, of Su’a Sport Psychology, a consultancy in Utah, focusing on improving and improving mental skills, and performance.  Justin consults with NFL Teams, Major League, and College Baseball players, youth athletes, even competitors on Dancing with the Stars!

Justin shares with us some of the mindsets that can help young athletes (and their parents) and performers overcome thinking that’s holding them back from their best performance, and we discuss the misconception that an athlete has to have something wrong with them to benefit from Sport Psychology.

…and that many of the things that will benefit you on the field are things that will help throughout life.

Justin is also a prolific social media voice for Sport Psychology.  You can get additional mental skills training tips and information on his facebook page, and he regularly posts quick tips on twitter.

Here’s Justin’s bio.

Justin Su’a, MS is a Sport Psychology Consultant specializing in peak performance and confidence enhancement. He is also a key-note speaker and CEO of Su’a Sport Psychology, LLC.  He uses mental skills training to teach NFL athletes, university teams, elite dancers and other individuals how to think and perform at a high level.  Justin is a former All-American baseball pitcher from BYU and is one of the Sport Psychology Consultants on staff for the Sports Agency Corporation based out of Miami, Florida. He is a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and the official Sport Psychology Consultant for the American Samoa National Olympic teams and athletes. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Utah in the Psycho-Social Aspects of Sport with an interest in the nature of peak performance.

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Use your mind to practice your sport! Imagery with Dr. Jim Taylor

May 16, 2011 By
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Bay area Sport Psychologist, and prolific blogger on mental performance, Dr. Jim Taylor visits the Athlete’s Audio Academy to discuss one of the most popular, and effective mental training skills for athletes, imagery.

Of course, Imagery is something that we’re really interested in here at Athlete’s Audio!

He’s got some great tips for performers of all kinds, and some ways that you can use imagery to boost your confidence, practice new skills, replay successful scenes from past performances, and engage all of your senses.

Dr. Taylor blogs regularly on Psychology Today, his own website, and he has a great series of youtube videos on his channel, too.  He’s big on facebook, and twitter, too.

Dr. Taylor is the author of 12 books, and is currently writing his next parenting book tentatively titled Kids 3.0: Prepare Your Children for the Crazy New World of Popular Culture, Technology, and Social Media (Sourcebooks) will be published in the Spring of 2012.

Dr. Taylor blogs on business, sports, parenting, technology, politics, and popular culture on sfgate.com (San Francisco Chronicle’s web site), huffingtonpost.com, seattlepi.com, and the Hearst Interactive Media Connecticut Group web sites. His posts are read by thousands of people every week.

Dr. Taylor has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends, UPN’s Life & Style, ABC’s World News This Weekend, and the major television network affiliates around the U.S..

He’s also a 2nd degree black belt, and former international ski racer.

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Visualization, Mental Imagery, and Meditation in elite sports

July 22, 2010 By

They call Phil Jackson the ‘Zen Master’ for a reason….

Here’s a fascinating story about how the Lakers use meditation to calm their minds, focus on the moment, and relax with all the pressure facing them.  It’s related to Game 7 of the NBA finals (which I know was a few weeks ago).

Arguably, the Celtics, and Lakers (and all professional teams for that matter) are physically pretty much the same.

When asked….they’ll all tell you that the game is mental.  But even they can be resistant to some of these approaches.  Read down into the article to see what some other NBA players think of meditation!  How could you argue with the Lakers’ (and Coach Jackson’s) approach??

Another real-life example comes from the mental preparation for the upcoming Tour de France, from Sports Psychologist Paige Dunn of XCEL Sports Psychology.  She’s writing for the Master the Shift Facebook Page as a part of Team Lance, and she’s a regular contributor to a number of magazines.

Scroll down to find the story titled:  TdF 2010: How Lance Recons the Alps.  It’s absolutely loaded with quotes about how mental imagery improves performance.

So here’s the question.  In these examples…The most elite athletes in the world are doing it.  In our Athlete’s Audio Academy video interviews below with elite sports psychologists, almost all of them discuss some sort of visualization, or mental imagery training.

So how are you training your mind?  What are you visualizing about your next game, match, round, race, or practice session?

Perhaps a more interesting question is ‘what is your opponent doing‘ to visualize beating you?

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On-line mental training for athletes.

May 7, 2010 By
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MAN, there are some interesting, innovative approaches to mental training. The Athlete’s Audio Academy is joined this week by Dr. Robert Neff, of Mental Training, Inc. in Dallas to talk about his new, groundbreaking tool for athletes, onlinementaltrainer.com.

Dr. Neff has worked with all levels of athletes, for over 20 years, and has created an interactive web-based application for all athletes to benefit from mental training, not just the select few that can afford one on one coaching.

Using a system that assesses the athlete, and applies artificial intelligence, you can get all of the benefits of working one on one with a sports psychologist for less than you’re spending on your gym membership.

Dr. Neff is a former professional athlete, and has partnered with some of the best-known professionals in sports psychology; namely, Dr Robert Weinberg, who literally wrote the book that serves as the primary textbook for students in the field.

Dr. Neff has some advice for coaches in team and individual sports, and will offer the top three mental training skills that all athletes need to succeed.

Dr Neff also discusses his fascinating research on, and application of the connection between imagery, memory, confidence and performance.  He’s created the ‘Memory-Confidence Web’, highlighting the importance of positive emotions in your athletic performance.  This part of the conversation starts at around 14:40 into the interview.  You can download a PDF of the ‘Memory-Confidence Web’ here.

The Athlete’s Audio Academy exists to offer a voice to Sports Psychologists from around the world who are committed to improving athletes’ performance, overall health, confidence, and mental skills.  If that describes you, we’d love to interview you!  Contact us, and thanks for watching!

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Reasons ‘WHY” Sports Psychology

March 19, 2010 By

Call me short sighted, but it never occurred to me that Sports Psychology could be useful in equestrian events, but Seana Adamson, Ph.D., and Gold Medalist in the US Dressage Federation has created a list for her riders, and it’s a good list for any athlete or performer. All credit to her. You can check out the rest of her info here.

Here’s her list.

1. Performance Anxiety: Do you ever feel so nervous that it interferes with your ability to concentrate? This is called performance anxiety, and it is a very common occurrence in athletes of all sports. There are many Sport Psychology techniques that can help resolve this uncomfortable feeling.

2. Concentration and Memorization: The slightest lapse in focus and concentration can easily lead to points lost in competition. When we forget to prepare our horse for each movement, the quality of each movement suffers. Even if there is no obvious mistake, this lack of preparation can cause the loss of single points throughout the test.

3. Body Awareness and Relaxation: Do you leave your best performance at home? Does your body feel a stranger the moment you enter the competition arena? Sport Psychology can teach you to perform well whether you are calm or nervous.

4. Imagery and Visualization: These powerful mental techniques can enhance any training program, and allow you to continue your practice off the horse.

5. Self Talk and Affirmations: Our internal dialogue, they way we talk to ourselves, can have a big impact on our self confidence. Sport Psychology can teach you to become more aware of your inner voice, and how that inner voice can impact your dressage performance.

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Lindsey Vonn Visualizing her Gold Medal run

February 20, 2010 By

MAN, NBC and the Olympic committee make it tough (as you would expect for all the money that changes hands over the broadcast/internet rights) to get video!

I’ve been looking for video of Lindsey Vonn’s pre-run mental rehearsal. Did you see it?? For me, who’s been using, and talking to athletes about visualization (and having many of them say it’s all voodoo…hocus-pocus) it was a huge validation!! I can’t seem to find even one link to that video. (If you find it…and it’s legal…please comment, and link!)

There were some great learns from Lindsey’s pre-game ritual for athletes of all levels. They’re oversimplified here, but I’m sure that her sports psychologist has her working on this visualization to:

-Remain calm, and focused (even when a billion people are about to watch her)

-Stick to, and execute the routine. No matter what the stage, or circumstance

-In her DAILY practice…practice seeing herself do it RIGHT every day, so that the vision is clear, and vivid.

-Do the mental reps in the equipment, and environment that she’s going to use in competition.

-Move physically just as you would as your mind moves you down the course. Lock in those mental pictures with physical feelings.

-Keep your mind in the now, and focus on the things that are in your control.

That last one really stuck with me from the moment. Here’s a wildly talented athlete, at the Olympics, one of the last skiers on the course, with her teammate already charging down the hill to (then) first place, and a TV camera in her face….and she’s STILL sticking to her mental training plan. Champion stuff.

There’s a list of elite sports psychologists to the right that can help you learn, practice, and perfect these skills. Holler at one of them, and maybe in a few years, we’ll be watching you on TV.

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