My years studying boxing helped me to produce champions in amateur, white collar and professional ranks respectively.
One of my biggest highlights was helping a heavyweight boxer in his 3rd, successful attempt to become the British Heavyweight Champion
I used a tool from NLP called ‘modelling’ I modelled the famous Boxing coach of Mike Tyson called Cus D’Amato. By going deep enough into one subject you transcend it.
‘Success leaves clues Jim Rohn’
Now I’ve moved from Boxing hypnotherapy to Running hypnotherapy, from the hurt business to the help business…
Develop a laser focus & create tunnel vision
“Your mind is like a laser guided missile and its goal is its target!”
Paul McKenna
Focus precisely on what your goal is… For example, you might want to run a 5 or a 10k… Or maybe a half marathon or even a whole one, or perhaps you’re training for an Ultramarathon?
If you’re training for a winning time, then great focus on that… Or if you just want to finish, focus on crossing the line…
You have something in your brain called the… RAS (Reticular activating system)
This part of the mind filters out massive amounts of information that’s all around us… We attract the things we spend most of our attention on… Have you ever thought about a particular car and then all of a sudden you see that car everywhere? It’s not magic… The information is always there, but you’re tuning into it on a more focused level… As you think of the colour red you might now start to look around your home and for some strange reason you begin to notice all the red objects in your house… Or perhaps you’re thinking of a person you haven’t seen in a long time and out of the blue they call or message you… That’s RAS.
Focus precisely on what you want… The more you focus on what you want the more you attract it to you… So become crystal clear on your goal… If it’s running a specific time, focus on the winning time… If its winning your race focus on winning… If it’s just finishing, focus on finishing in style… This is an extremely easy thing to do… I talked about affirmations and writing down your goals in the previous blog…
Also if you’re training for a race, cut out any unnecessary activity outside of the race. As the date of the race gets closer your focus becomes stronger. Explain to family and friends about your focus, so they understand your mental preparation… Cut out any unnecessary distractions for example; fasting from social media a few days before the race…
Laser your focus and create a tunnel vision… Many winning performances come about because the athlete has created a laser focus on his or her goal. This also has the added benefit of creating flow states or zone performances on the day making you much more likely to achieve your desired goal.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln
A champion runner doesn’t become a champion when he or she wins a race… A champion runner becomes a champion many months or years before projecting him or herself forward into the future as champion runner in the present.
There was a study done on the importance of visualisation in sports which proves that visualisation is 1% less than physical training…
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/mental/visualization.html
In the experiment a basketball coach split his team into 3 groups; one group practiced free throws everyday over a period of time… The second group only visualized scoring free throws… The third group did nothing… As you probably can imagine the group that did nothing did not improve, which was to be expected… The first group improved by 24% and the third group that only visualized scoring free throws improved by 23%… Visualisation is 1% less than physical training.
Imagine your time line (Visualisation exercise)
If it’s safe to do so close your eyes…
Take 3 deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth…
Think about the future in your mind…
Think of a running activity you’re going to do next week…
Road, trail, cross country, beach running…
Take some more deep breaths, and you will find it becomes easier to relax and see the things I suggest….
See what you see, hear what you hear and feel what you feel…
Notice where the images are in your mind… Is it in front? To the left, right, up or down?
If you’re in first person great, if not? See yourself running… See what you see, hear what you hear and feel what you feel…
Step into the image and really associate with it, climb inside of the future you and see yourself running… See through the eyes of the runner…
Again see what you see, hear what you hear and feel how good you feel…
This time make the colours brighter, the sounds louder and the feelings stronger…
Look down at your watch and see the winning time…
See yourself passing other people with ease and grace…
See yourself winning your race, and feeling how good it feels…
Then make those powerful feelings 10 times stronger, pumping up all those endorphins to higher and higher levels of success, now at the same time rub your thumb and finger together and anchor that powerful feeling into your mind and body…
Now you can activate this powerful feeling when you need it most… And the more you practice stacking these powerful emotions together the more you become a super athlete… The more likely you will enter the zone and achieve your desired goal…
Visualization is 1% less than physical training… This is because the neurons in your brain fire in exactly the same way when you visualize as when you perform a physical activity
Running is 75% mental and emotional and 25% physical
The man with no imagination has no wings… Muhammad Ali
