The QATSPY® Yankee Press- Sports Training Athletic Quintessential(s)
By: Charles W. Boatright
The Catch-22 in the Athlete’s Performance: You can’t Perform Until You’re Proven, You Can’t be Proven Until you can Perform Consistently
If there’s one factor an athlete has to establish and can ill afford to lose, it is their confidence. This is the athlete’s CATCH-22 in Sports Psychology. Part of the athlete’s CATCH-22 is establishing the correct mechanics, elements, and techniques and never depart from them as a religious conviction.
On Friday, I wrote about the Subconscious Rule No. 3- The earlier, quicker, & Longer the subconscious mind believes/proves a task, the more Entrenched the Performance.
But, because this was too important of Sports Psychology to leave to one article, I decided to expound on the Subconscious Rule No. 3 in a second article.
Apostle Paul, A Great Life Coach
If Apostle Paul was living with us today, he would be a phenomenal coach in any sport. I reference his writings in a lot of my Sports Psychology articles because of how relevant his inspired message is, not just for our spiritual life, but just as important, our mental and physical life.
In this article and others that I will be writing, I will reference, HOW applicable, Paul’s and others inspired writings are to Sports Psychology. If you want to improve your reading skills and comprehension, read from a particular perspective, like you’re searching for a diamond.
I am Not Practicing or Performing What I Would Like to be Doing
The Apostle Paul must have witnessed the game of golf somewhere being played in his travels, either in Asia Minor or Greece, because of what he wrote in Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
I’m thinking that this has never happened to you, either on the golf course or on the field, like what Paul explained. I’ve been on the golf course before and have witnessed and heard that a golfer’s game wasn’t going along as planned. I’m constantly having to redouble my focus and attention and reestablish my faith and believe in my training and procedure.
Like a former supervisor told me on the first day on the job in Transmission Line Maintenance, Let me get something straight, we don’t pay you to think, but follow instructions to the letter. One reason for him to tell me this was because we were working with energized lines, in excess of 2,000 amps. I had to investigate an accident where a lineman talked himself out of wearing rubber protective gloves while working the neutral; and was killed.
Subconscious Rule No. 3
Here are the key words to Rule No. 3: Earlier, Quicker, Longer, Believe, and Prove are broken down into a short explanation below:
Earlier– First impressions of principles and procedures are quintessential to get correct in the learning process. Even though initial principles can be overridden, like Paul experienced, incorrect principles and procedures still have an influence on performance. Just like trying to alter a bad habit takes a tremendous amount of focus and repetition.
Quicker– The sooner an athlete can accept a new principle and procedure, the more instinctive it will become. As an athlete, we might very well practice by THINKING, a conscious function based on concepts, and in some cases, new concepts. But I can guarantee the athlete this, that when they step foot onto the field or course, their performance will be instinctive, based on DOING, a subconscious function. Subconscious function is habit-based.
Longer– The more correct and proper reps an athlete can get and perform, the more instinctive (muscle memory) their performance will be. According to my data that I have collected in coaching, it takes 6,500 man-hours of proper practice to reach a single-digit handicap. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he states that it takes 10,000 man-hours to reach professional status at a skill.
Believe, or Believing– Is a process and not simply just an acceptance of a concept. A firm belief is based on developing one’s relaxed confidence in a very defined process. The athlete has to develop their own track record to develop consistency. Relaxed confidence and consistency aren’t just the main thing, it is the ONLY THING. Belief is having a peace of mind. This doesn’t mean lack of pressure, but actually using pressure to heighten the athlete’s focus.
Prove– This is the final, but most difficult step for an athlete to develop to train their subconscious mind to perform flawlessly. This is the major stumbling block and Achilles’ heel in the athlete’s performance. If the athlete can’t develop a normal, routine task, the subconscious mind can’t provide the mechanics needed to perform at a high level.
These key words can be summed up in what occurs to drivers who experience what is called Driving Hypnosis:
- Normal and routine tasks and conditions must exist.
- Rely on a high degree of relaxation, confidence, and muscle memory.
- The conscious and subconscious minds are focused on two different situations.
This is the exact training and conditioning that an athlete wants to incorporate into their practice.
Driving Hypnosis is what occurs to an experienced driver driving along a scenic stretch of highway. Driving conditions on the highway are so normal and routine that the conscious mind transfers almost all driving tasks over to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind follows a NORMAL and well-established ROUTINE while the conscious mind is relaxed and allowing the subconscious mind to perform with CONFIDENCE using its instincts (MUSCLE MEMORY).
For a short period of time (less than 5-minutes), the driver doesn’t remember driving past notable landmarks or along stretches of the highway. But, the driver was able to negotiate both the highway route and traffic safely, we call this the Mind’s Eye. Then the driver’s conscious mind becomes aware of the driving situation again, but doesn’t recall driving along the last couple of miles. This is exactly what condition the athlete wants to train under.
In the golfer situation, the golfer wants to perform their golf swing sequence based on instincts, instead of swing thoughts. Swing Thoughts are totally useless on the golf course.
While Driving Hypnosis is unsafe for driving a vehicle down the highway, it works great for driving a golf ball down the fairway and onto the green.
The Home Depot Orange Bucket Challenge
There are some mechanics, elements, and techniques that I have developed in my golf practices that make my golf swing instinctive, just by presetting my wrists and synching my elbows that allowed me to have control, power, clubhead speed, and consistency. I have demonstrated this in my Home Depot Orange Bucket Challenge below:
This YouTube Video was produced before I lost 52-lbs and 8-inches in my waistline. The one below was made in July testing my new RODE Wireless Microphone System that will eliminate variations my audio:
For information on my Mechanics, Elements, and Techniques, purchase your Download of The Palmer Preset IQ-Golf Technique:
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