Mental performance – Preparing for battle.

Following on from the recent article on training performance, Motocross performance psychologist Ed Bradley, has added mental performance to the preparation list as well.

A key part of riders’ preparation for a new racing season is feedback, how specifically, do you know if you’re getting fitter, riding faster, that the bike is improving and your mental performance is solid.

Blood lactate levels can be tested to measure a riders fitness, using a stop watch to recording lap times can be used to measure bike conditioning and speed and dyno testing and computer programmes can be used to measure the bikes performance.

So how do you measure a person’s feelings, concentration and motivation?
There is no tool you can plug in to the human body and measure a persons feelings, when they are sitting on a start line to find out if they are scared stiff or bursting with excitement (and all the other possible feelings in-between) as they wait for the gate to drop.

This is something that, you as a rider, have to become aware of first of all (how are you feeling in certain situations and would you be able to get better results if you get rid of unresourceful feelings and replace them with feelings of excitement, self belief and confidence) you can choose to either deal with it yourself, to get the result you want or hire a Motocross performance psychologist, like Ed Bradley, to ensure that you are feeling totally empowered when preparing for battle and make the most of all the hours of training, practicing and testing in preparation for the racing season.

A way of improving concentration and motivation is setting goals. When done correctly this will provide huge motivation and determination to achieve those goals.

Two of the most important parts of setting goals are;

1, that the goals are for you only with no influence from other people or what you think other people want you to achieve. Basing your goals on what you believe other people expect from you will lead to a conflict with the goals that have been set and what you feel you can actually achieve deep down.
What result do you want to get more than anything else in the world?

2, be specific about the results you want to achieve. If you went to an airport check-in desk without a ticket and no idea where you want to go, you’d go nowhere! If you said that you wanted to go to America, then you can get a flight to America, however, you might end up being thousands of miles away from where you want to be.
This is why you need to be specific with your goals, so you can get to where you want to go.

A goal is ‘an end in mind’ and sets you off on a journey to get those results. Once this happens, there is a realization that there is only you in a race. No longer is there any need to look at other riders before you go on to a start line and have thoughts of ‘oh, his bike is more superior to mine’, ’he’s better than me’, ‘I hate him’, ‘I’ve got to beat him’. The focus becomes the result you want and the strategies you are going to use to get it.

Totally focusing on your goals is what gives the winning racers the determination and single mindedness (some may call it arrogance) to get out there and get the race results they want.

To your success.............Ed Bradley


A sixteen year old American called Monty once had to write a composition about what he wanted to do when he grew up. He took a lot of trouble over it and spent hours writing about his dream of one day being the owner of a horse ranch. He wrote seven pages describing the 200 acre ranch in great detail, and drew a diagram showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. He even drew a detailed floor plan of the 4,000 sq ft house that he would build. The next day he handed it in to his teacher.

Two days later his teacher handed it back with a big red F on the front, and the words: ‘See me after class.’

After class, the boy with the dream asked his teacher why he had got an F, and the teacher said: ‘because it is an impossible dream for a boy like you. You need lots and lots of money to own a horse ranch. What sort of money have you got? Nothing. You came from a very poor family. There’s no way you could ever do it. It is just not possible. I’ll tell you what. You go back and write another composition with a more realistic goal, and I’ll give you a different mark.’

The boy went home and asked his father for advice. His father said: ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you, but I think this has to be your decision, and I have a sense that it’s going to be a really important one for you.’ The boy thought about it for a week. Finally he handed back the same paper to his teacher, saying, ‘You can keep you F. I’ll keep my dream.’

Monty then turned to the group of people with him and said: ‘I tell you this story because you are all sitting in my 4,000 sq ft house in the middle of my 200 – acre horse ranch. And that composition is framed over the fireplace.’ He went on: ‘The best part of the story is that two summers ago, that same teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When he was leaving, he said: “Look Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher I was a bit of a dream stealer. I am sorry to say that I stole a lot of kids’ dreams in those days. But I’m glad you had the courage to hang on to yours.”

‘Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. No matter what, follow your heart.’

 



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