Psychological and Nutritional strategies Flashcards
What are Psychological techniques?
- physical skills that can be taught, learnt and practiced
- give mental edge over opponent when little difference in physical state
- help increase/decrease arousal to achieve optimal performance
What is arousal?
Level of readiness to perform
What is the relationship between arousal and performance?
As arousal increases, performance improves but only to a certain point.
If arousal increases beyond this point, performance decreases.
Known as inverted U Hypothesis
What does under arousal look like?
Bored (lack of stimulation)
Fatigued
Frustrated
What does over arousal look like?
- tense/anxious/high stakes
- overexcited
- panic/disorganization
Presenting on either side of the optimal point could result in?
- trouble attending to relevant cues
- decreased coordination/skill level
- decreased decision making
- decreased reaction time
- increased muscle tension and HR
- loss of confidence
High arousal/anxiety
- narrow attention field (tunnel vision)
- decrease attention to cues in environment
Low arousal/anxiety
- broadening in attention field
- focus on inappropriate cues
Broad internal focus
- used to focus on thoughts and feelings and opponents actions
eg. fast bowler preparing to run in to the wicket and bowl
Broad external focus
used to focus on an opponents action
eg. watching an opponent try to make a fast break in a cycling race
Narrow internal focus
- used to focus thought and mentally rehearse upcoming movements
eg. diver
Narrow external focus
- used to focus on very few external cues
eg. AFL player taking an uncontested position
How can athletes increase their arousal levels?
- elevated breathing
- acting energetically
- positive self talk
- energizing mental imagery
- precomp/match workouts (set routine)
Elevated breathing
- short sharp breaths to activate CNS to increase arousal
- focus on performance ahead
- increased state of awareness
Acting Energetically
- decreases effect of feeling tired towards the end of a game
- increase motivation
eg. sprinters jumping at the start line
Positive Self talk
- acting/thinking positively even when experiencing pressure
- maintain composure/ confidence
- focus on relevant cues
- positive emotive words
Energising mental imagery
- provides mental template to work from improving concentration
- successfully visualise themselves performing
- improved skill level/confidence
Set routine
- provides confidence by following set pattern
- accustomed to playing conditions
Strategies to decrease arousal
- progressive muscle relaxation
- meditation
- sleep
- controlled breathing
- biofeedback
- stress inoculation training simulation
Progressive muscle relaxation
- progressively contract and relax muscle groups from head to toe
- recognise difference between a tensed/relaxed muscle
- release physical/mental tension
Meditation
- reduce the no. of cues to the brain
- increase focus/attention
- decrease stress/arousal
- calm mind = relaxed body
Sleep
- most important recovery technique
- need 7 - 9 hours
- enhanced concentration, alertness, decision making
Sleep debt
- reduced concentration
- affects memory, decreasing decision making ability
- increased risk of over training
Controlled breathing
- exhale slowly
- refocus attention
- decrease arousal
- relax and focus on relevant cues, ignoring irrelevant cues
Biofeedback
- connected to electrical pads that provides information about your body such as HR and muscle tension
- allows athlete to monitor psychological state
and relationship between physical and mental performance
Stress inoculation training
- training with small/increasing levels of stress
- players build immunity
- tolerance and confidence in stressful game situations
- achieved by making physical environment as similar as possible to game demands
What is motivation?
Reason for participating in an activity, learning the skills, training and practicing and dedicating effort to improvement
Intrinsic + extrinsic
What is goal setting?
- motivational technique
- maintain motivation/assists perseverance
- rewards
- organizes athlete/provides direction
- adherence to planning
- helps maintain positive psychological state
Outcome goals
- long term
- focus on end results
e.g. making 1st netball team
disadvantage: linked to performance level of opponent (difficult to achieve)
Performance goals
- medium term
- comparison of past performance/present performance
- specific training goals
e.g. improve goal shooting %
advantage: less anxiety/increased self-confidence as dependent on athletes own behaviour.
Process goals
- short term
- focus on specific aspects of game
e.g. movements, patterns - how outcome goals achieved
e.g. training drills to improve shooting technique
advantage: results in increased confidence and maintain focus
SMARTER principle
- specific
- measurable
- accepted
- realistic
- timeframed
- exciting
- recorded
What is the GI scale?
ranks CHO by how quickly they raise blood glucose levels over a 2 hour period
High GI
glucose released rapidly into the bloodstream, causing rapid rise in blood glucose
Low GI
Glucose released slowly into the bloodstream resulting in a slow and sustained release of glucose into the blood
How long does it take to restore depleted muscle stores?
24 - 48 hours
How can GI be applied to enhance recovery
- 50 - 100g of high GI CHO within 15 - 30 minutes of finishing exercise
- continue to consume 25 - 50g CHO every 15 minutes for 2hrs
- use foods containing CHO and protein in a 4:1 ratio
Why should we use a 4:1 ratio
- increases insulin release
- promoting glucose delivery and uptake
- rapidly restoring depleted muscle glycogen
Why protein in the ratio?
- helps with growth and repair of muscle tissue sustained from repeated muscular contractions
- creates a spike in insulin and speeds up delivery of glucose to the muscle
What is thermoregulation?
- maintain core body temperature by sweating
- decrease blood plasma and electrolytes
- could result in performance decrease/dehydration
When could thermoregulation be a disadvantage?
If too much oxygenated blood is redirected to the skin
What is dehydration
- body cannot effectively regulate
- sweat loss is greater than fluid entry, leading to elevated core temperature
What happens if core temperature increases?
- increased sweat rates
- increased thickening of blood
- too much oxygenated blood redirected to surface
- less O2 delivered to working muscles
- decrease aerobic intensity
How much fluid is lost?
- individual sweat rates
- temperature
- humidity
- body weight
- exercise intensity
- sweat loss should be limited to 2% of body weight to ensure performance does not decrease
How is sweat loss measured?
- pre and post weighing
- monitor urine colour
How much fluid should be consumed post exercise to maximise recovery?
- 1.5 liters of fluid for each 1kg lost body weight
Water
- good choice for sports lasting less than 60 minutes as muscle and liver glycogen have not been depleted.
Sports drink
- contain CHO, electrolytes
- CHO maintains and restores depleted glycogen
- sodium aids retention in muscle cell
- sodium results in quicker gastric emptying
- faster rehydration
- provide balance b/w rehydrating/refuelling
What are carbohydrate gels?
- CHO gels maintain blood glucose levels during endurance events
- easily consumed, rapidly digested
Advantages of CHO gels
- easy to carry
- high concentration of CHO
- used when difficulty eating/drinking post event
- High GI maintains blood glucose levels during event
Disadvantages of CHO gels
- must be consumed with water or will lead to gastric upsets and slowing of hydration
- expensive alternative, low in nutrients
- texture
Carbohydrate loading
- athletes longer than 90 mins
- consume additional CHO prior to event
- 3 days before event
- to increase stores of muscle glycogen
- consume 7-12kg of CHO/kg
Benefit of CHO loading
- increase muscle glycogen stores
- use preferred fuel of glycogen for longer
- delay use of triglycerides which decreases intensity
- athletes maintain higher submaximal intensities for longer, delaying fatigue
Disadvantages of CHO loading
- causes body mass to increase
- feel lethargic and sluggish
- hard to consume enough CHO
- do not taper effectively
Common errors when CHO loading
- failing to taper
- not eating sufficient CHO
- not cutting back on fibre, fat and protein
- excuse to eat everything
What is protein?
- used for growth/repair of muscle and production of RBC and enzymes
- comprises 15% of diet
- too much protein result in athlete consuming less CHO and other nutrients
