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A Talented Mind, Inc.

Athlete's Mental Gym

Mental Skill: Restore Your Mental and Physical Energy

Over the course of a long season, athletes can become fatigued and burnt-out both mentally and physically. This can reduce your motivation and cause your performance to plateau because your mind and body cannot handle additional load and stress.

As an athlete, you can avoid burnout and stay motivated by restoring the mental and physical energy you exert each day in your sport and life. The total amount of energy you restore in your mind and body must be a least equal to the total amount of energy you use each day.

Exercise:

The following are ways you can exhaust your energy in your sports and life. As you read the lists, imagine how you exert energy in each area throughout the day.

Physical Stress

Running

Hitting

Jumping

Weight lifting

Walking

Moving

Exercising

Emotional Stress

Feeling angry

Feeling fearful

Feeling sad

Feeling depressed

Feeling negative

Feeling frustrated

Feeling hurt

Mental Stress

Thinking

Concentrating

Focusing

Visualizing

Imaging

Analyzing

Problem solving

Emotional Recovery

Reward yourself

Decrease fear

Decrease anger

Increase fun

Less self-critical

Feel more fulfilled

Mental Recovery

Increase calmness

Slow down mentally

Increase fantasy

Decrease focus

Increase creativity

Increase day-dreams

Slow brain activity

Physical Recovery

Eat better

Drink better

Sleep more

Nap periodically

Slow heart rate

Slow breathing

Relax muscles

Source

James E. Loehr, Ed.D., The New Toughness Training For Sports, 1994

The following are ways you can restore the physical, mental and emotional energy you exert each day. Choose one technique and, over the next week, use that method consistently each day and monitor how well it restores your energy. If it helps, continue using it. If not, select other methods and experiment until you find the one that works best.