Mental Off Season Advantages
This time of year I constantly find myself looking for any type of mental advantage to get ahead. In the current peek training weeks for a hockey player such as myself I have found that it is not a matter of finding an advantage to get ahead but more so creating the advantage for you.
Rather than going through your daily workout in a typical gym setting, surround yourself with an atmosphere that is meaningful and serves a purpose. For example, running the stadium stairs or early morning sprints on the beach as the sun comes up. Tiger Woods has been spotted on numerous occasions running the cart path of the golf course the morning of competition he uses this activity as a mental tool to prepare himself for the upcoming contest. Using visualization to constantly reminds yourself of your goals both on and off the playing surface I have found to be a useful asset in training. This process comes in handy when training sessions push you past your physical threshold, when your body begins to impolitely raise it’s voice to you and when you find yourself in a place where your competitors haven’t been before.
Also it is extremely helpful to get outside and be creative. Your surroundings can be used as a universal gym. You can get a great full body workout by doing such things as flipping a tractor tire, running with a weight sled or simple body weight exercises. These are all movements that can be performed with the same purpose in an air conditioned gym at 12 in the afternoon surrounded by “Bicep-Boys and “Lunch Break Bosses”, however things seem to be more challenging when outside in the early hours of the morning. These are situations you will look back on and remember and feel proud of.
[Mike Barbour is a Certified Personal Trainer and RIVALUS Athlete. He is also a contributing partner in Nova Scotia off-ice training development of minor hockey, Junior and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) level players along with being a CIS University Hockey player at the University of Windsor, Ontario.]
