sport psychology

There is a thread on the mental aspects of swimming forums.usms.org/showthread.php. Also I talk about it in my Swimming World interview MSS: Allen Stark - YouTube .I hope this is helpful.

Rob, great tips; thanks for sharing what has worked for you. :applaud:

I heard that 90% of swimming is half mental.

Hi I'm a sport psychologist by training (Chartered status in the UK, equivalent to US Licensed) and although not really actively working with clients I am happy to help if I can by pointing you to the right materials or answering questions. I could point you towards some general resources, but would like to know what's behing your request - general interest, a performance issue? Rob

There is a thread on the mental aspects of swimming forums.usms.org/showthread.php. Also I talk about it in my Swimming World interview MSS: Allen Stark - YouTube .I hope this is helpful. I already saw your interview in sommer. and also your swim at national. both are great. congratulations to the WR. thanks

Mind Gym is a good book on this topic.

Sport Psychology nis broad. There's many aspects. Take a simple direct approach. Use what works. There's many in mental tips in Swim Faster Faster Hope they help, they've worked for me and many others. What do you want to accomplish. What areas do you want to strengthen? Ande

hi Rob I do not know whether it is from over-training but sometimes I feel I lack self-confidence. The same applies for anxiety. The anxiety from failure, not performing good enough after strenuous training,…. I came back to swimming 3 years ago (now 38) and I think the more I invest into training, nutrition etc and the more I improve and come closer to the best in my category (europe, world) the more I feel under pressure. At the last competition, that was very important to me, I got a cold, my throat inflamed and it totally negatively affected my psyche. I immediately started to be worried up to what extend it can affect my performance. Before start I was more nervous than usual and my legs were slightly shivering at the starting block. I almost thought I would mess the start and be DSQ J. And although I improved my PB the race alone was more a fight with myself than focused as I am used to. The higher nervousness and shivering of the legs happened once before but with the difference that at that time I was more from the cameras, TV etc. It was national final and I was swimming among the youngstersJ. thanks a lot

Hi I'm a sport psychologist by training (Chartered status in the UK, equivalent to US Licensed) and although not really actively working with clients I am happy to help if I can by pointing you to the right materials or answering questions. I could point you towards some general resources, but would like to know what's behing your request - general interest, a performance issue? Rob How on earth can I swim 200 fly when I keep sinking ( mentally and physically ) at 51 metres??? :confused:

hi there, i found here a lot of useful informations regarding technique and training, plus tip for reading (eg fastest swimming - by the way, an excellent book), for which i am thankful, but dit not found anything about sport psychology. does someone have a good advice, a recommendation what book to buy, what to read ? does this book helped you? thank you I'm not as good a swimmer as many of the people on this site. But I am a very skilled runner, if I do say so myself. In running, I deal with psychological barriers a lot more then I do in swimming. The main reason is, that our races tend to be longer. But that's aside from the point. A great deal of the time, races are won and lost due to determination, not fitness. How useful is the physical fittest swimmer if they give up halfway through the race even though they haven't reached their physical peak? Some people are like this due to low Id, (Id is sort of like mojo) self confidence, and determination. Determination can't be gained easily. You really have to want to win. (hopefully, you are already determined. As for Id/self confidence, there are several ways of increasing this: 1. Blend almonds, water, and milk and drink a cup the morning of the race. Surprisingly, this actually gives me a boost of confidence going into races, which overall helps me perform better. 2. Placebo effect. If you can convince your brain that you are on steroids, your brain will actually trick your body into developing some of the attributes of someone on steroids. That's just an example of the placebo effect. 3. SLEEP! 8 hours sleep is a MUST. 4. Inspirational music can help some people. Listening to music you love before may inspire you to do better. In fact, if you listen to music while you run/swim, you'll find that you will be able to go a lot faster for longer periods of time. I, for example, PRed on my mile time with a 5:02 last year while listening to the free bird solo. For this reason, don't listen to music while you train. Once you start a race with no music, after being used to it for awhile, you'll find yourself going a lot slower then usual. Instead, try to replay songs in your head as you swim a race, especially if it's a longer race. This will distract you from the pain, and may very well influence you. These are all just observations from my experience. I hope this helped.