Mental Strength Diet for Peak Athletic Performance

Mar 242011

Food is the fuel for your body. It helps you meet your body’s energy demands and enhance your athletic performance. But as you know all foods are not the same, right?

You need to make good choices about the foods you eat to ensure your get adequate nutrition so that your body performs optimally. The easy part is the ‘knowing’…the tough part is the doing. That is, most individuals are well-informed about what foods are good and what foods are bad to eat but don’t discipline themselves and end up making poor food choices. Don’t believe me? Take look at the obesity rate!

In this post I’d like to discuss this same concept and apply it to you mind…mental strength diet if you will. We must start to make better good choices for our mind food. Otherwise we will become mentally obese, sedentary and stagnate. This in turn will create ‘stinking thinking.’

Effectively feeding your mind with good mental food can help you meet the mental strength demands of the day and will also enhance your athletic and personal performance. Notice the word effectively, the reverse is also true. Feeding your mind ‘junk food’ will impair your ability to meet mental demands of the day and will –without a doubt – negatively impact your personal and athletic performance.

The choice is yours.

Additionally, as is the case with making proper food choices, the challenge is doing…not ‘knowing.’

That being said, here are some low fat, mental strength nuggets that, when applied, will help you optimize your personal and athletic performance. Remember; be diligent about this mental training and train with these ideas on a consistent basis. It’s the ‘doing’ that will tax your inner strength…as the ‘doing’ can be quite challenging.

Create a Great Day

I go the gym every morning. And, as in most gyms, you get to know, or at least see, the same people all the time…creatures of habit I guess.

Well everyday as leave the gym there is one person that makes a point of saying “create a great day.” I really noticed the word “create” as opposed to “have.” Can you fully appreciate the subtle difference? Think about…you will.

You see, ‘create’ is about taking control and having a role in the course of one’s day as opposed to letting the day happen to you, a significant and important difference. By feeding and communicating with your mind to ‘create’ you take control of your day in a positive way.

Be Goal Oriented

Here you are…the start of another great day….full of potential. Let me ask you:

What are you going to do today to make yourself a better athlete or person?

What are you going to accomplish physically, mentally, emotionally, and (sports) technically or even spiritually?

What are you going to do to help reach your peak performance?

Asking these questions each and every day fuels the imagination and ignites your motivation that will keep you focused on what you are trying to do…right here, right now.

Have personal goals for each day, and take something positive away from every workout. On days when you are not physically at your best, use this as an opportunity to work on your mental strength game.

Me, Myself and I – Best Friend’s

Would you be friends with somebody who told you “you’re a lousy athlete”, “you’ll never be able to lift that much” or “there’s no way you can run that fast”? Of course not! No one wants to be surrounded by such negative people.

Unfortunately, too many athletes are not aware of their self-talk. They often become their own worst enemy by using such overly critical, negative self-talk. To feed your mind effectively, you need to become aware of the self-talk you typically use, and in situations where self-talk is negative and damaging, make a conscious decision to be your own best friend.

Talk to yourself about what you can and will do, remind yourself of your strengths and talk to yourself about “The Little Train That Could” – I know…it may be a children’s story, and for many readers it would be good idea to freshen up on it again.

Remember, Have Fun

One of the most important reasons athletes of all ages and ability levels give for why they participate in sport’s is because of the fun. Conversely, one of the reasons given for quitting sport is because it is no longer fun…kind like a job uh?

Keep the fun alive—rekindle the kid in you that just wants to play and compete. You see…maybe reading “The Little Train The Could” isn’t such a bad idea after all.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the pressure, expectations, and demands of sport, shifting from wanting to do it, to feeling like one has to do it.

What is fun about the sport you participate in?

Identify the reasons for why you participate or compete, and bring them to the forefront, especially when you start to feel like your sport is becoming a job.

These low fat mental strength nuggets or the mind highlight some of the mental training you can do to begin feeding your mind effectively. Begin today; start making good choices regarding what and how you feed your mind. Oh yea…there’s always room for Jell-O.

Mental Strength Tip #24 – You Do Have A Choice (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #32 – Your Code of Conduct and Personal Success (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #33 – Common Sense and Personal Success (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Tip #26 – Personal Success and Delayed Gratification (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Training and Sports Performance (warriormindcoach.com)

Stop Struggling and Start Living!

Success in life is not about luck! It’s about managed thoughts, focused attention and deliberate action. Personal success and personal failure all start in the mind. Tap into the power of your unconsciousness mind and eliminate negative beliefs that have been holding back from reaching your personal goals.

Take back control of your thoughts and your life! Grab a copy of Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” today so that you can start living the life you’ve always dreamed of.

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