PTJ Sep Oct 2010.pdf

mind
games
Suzie Tuffey-Riewald, PhD, NSCA-CPT
about the
AUTHOR
Suzie Tuffey-Riewald
received her degrees
in Sport Psychology/
Exercise Science from
the University of North
Carolina —Greensboro.
She has worked for
USA Swimming as the
Sport Psychology and
Sport Science Director,
and most recently
as the Associate
Director of Coaching
with the USOC where
she worked with
various sport national
governing bodies
(NGBs) to develop
and enhance coaching
education and training.
Suzie currently works
as a sport psychology
consultant to several
NGBs.
Being Effortful
Imagine watching the following video clip. The music
is fast paced and the video shows snippets of a warrior
of sorts running through the forest, a man chasing rapidly
after a deer (seemingly for food), men running across
dirt roads in Western-style garb, and a policeman racing
through the streets. Then, the music slows and the video
cuts to a man jogging on a treadmill looking aimlessly
out the window. The words, “need motivation” appear
and moments later the jogger blasts through the window
and takes off running down the street. The words “need
motivation” did not need to be shown on the screen as
the stark contrast in behavior said it all. After watching the
first few clips, the words that come to mind to describe
the behavior include effort, high energy, intensity, purpose,
and focus. After watching the person jogging on the
treadmill one thinks of words such as plodding, aimless,
going through the motions.
What do you want to embody on a consistent basis Do
you want to demonstrate intensity, purposefulness, effort,
focus or do you want to demonstrate aimlessness and just
getting it done The answer to this question is obvious for
most exercisers and athletes—of course you want to be
intense and effortful. But think for a minute about your
actual behaviors as it relates to your sport and/or exercise
endeavors. Reflect back on the last few weeks of training
and ask yourself if you tend to behave more often like the
warrior or the jogger. If you have more “effortless” days
relative to “effortful” days, let us take a look at a few things
you can do to behave more like the warrior.
You might be lacking effort because you don’t have a clear
plan as to where you are directing your efforts; you do
not have a “why” behind what you are doing. On a weekly
or even daily basis give yourself a reason to behave with
intensity, purpose and effort. Ideally, this goal or reason
should tie into a longer term goal. For example, an athlete
may have a goal of improving his performance on the cycling
leg of triathlons. How is this of relevance this week
Well, to accomplish that goal, a goal this week may be to
train at a higher heart rate for a longer duration during
aerobic work. Such a goal can provide a reason for effortful
behavior.
Would change help It may be that changing the environment
might influence your training behavior. The environment
may have become stale for you—this can include
the physical environment where you train as well
as individuals within the environment and your internal
environment. Think about whether it would help to have a
workout partner, train more on your own, take an exercise
class with a different instructor, cycle outdoors instead of
on a trainer, listen to music, or do a day of circuit training
instead of free weights. Picture an athlete training for
a half marathon. She dreads getting on the treadmill for
longer runs—she is losing her intensity and effort. She decides
to train outside two times a week on running trails.
She felt this may offer a needed change, and that the cost
of giving up the control over pace and distance provided
by the treadmill could be well worth it. Two weeks later,
she is running more on trails and those runs are often the
most productive and enjoyable. Change may often be a
wonderful thing.
Recognize successes—It is important to note areas of
improvement and things you are doing well whether it
is physical, technical, mental or nutritional. Recognizing
little successes and improvement reinforces all the work
that went in to your success—one can train with renewed
motivation knowing the payoff down the road. Additionally,
recognizing improvement can help build confidence
and with a continued effort results will be seen. To note
improvement, it is beneficial to keep a log of important
aspects of your training or to keep records of your goals
and goal attainment.
Find fun—One overriding factor kids participate in sports
may be for fun. Young athletes may stay involved in sports
because they enjoy it and it is fun. Tap into the fun aspects
of your sport and exercise involvement. Maybe fun is
pushing your body, fun could be achieving a difficult goal,
fun may be working hard in the gym then joining friends
for social time. What is fun for you •
nsca’s performance training journal • www.nsca-lift.org • volume 9 issue 5 22