Tag Archive for 'pensiero'

Marathoners’ mental strategies

For sports psychologists, the study of the cognitive strategies of long-distance runners is particularly interesting, as these athletes undergo extremely high psychophysical stress during which they must perform at their best.

The first systematic study conducted on the cognitive strategies of long-distance runners was carried out by Morgan and Pollock [1977], with a sample consisting of world-class athletes and lower-level middle-distance runners. To classify the strategies used during running, the authors used the terms association and dissociation.

In the first condition, athletes focus on sensations coming from their bodies and are aware of the fundamental physical factors for that type of performance. In the dissociation strategy, on the other hand, the athlete’s thoughts are concentrated on anything other than bodily sensations.

During competition, the cognitive strategies of the elite group differ from those of the other group based on these two characteristics. In fact, to counteract painful stimuli, lower-level athletes use the dissociative strategy, while elite athletes use the associative one and consequently modulate their pace.

Moreover, experienced marathon runners do not attribute much importance to the so-called pain zone, for at least two reasons that differentiate them from less experienced runners. The first refers to their physiological superiority, which allows them to run at their limit with less difficulty. The second involves the fact that they avoid this pain zone because they can self-regulate throughout the entire race based on their internal sensations.

Specifically, in the associative phase, the runner, in an effort to maximize performance and minimize discomfort or painful sensations, continuously focuses on physical sensations such as breathing, temperature, the heaviness of calves and thighs, and abdominal sensations. This cognitive mode is quite demanding for athletes, as it requires the ability to concentrate for extended periods. The dissociative phase occurs when the athlete voluntarily distracts themselves from the sensory feedback continuously received from the body.

In summary:

Association and dissociation should be considered as the two extreme poles of a continuum and not interpreted in dichotomous terms, especially when used in long-distance races.

  • The use of associative strategies is more strongly correlated with fast long-distance performances than the use of dissociative strategies.
  • In races, runners prefer to use associative strategies (focusing on monitoring body processes and controlling race strategy).
  • In training, however, they tend to use dissociative strategies more, although both strategies are still used in both contexts.
  • Dissociation is inversely correlated with physiological awareness and feelings derived from the perception of exertion intensity, as highlighted in laboratory studies.
  • Dissociation does not increase the likelihood of injury and can reduce the fatigue and monotony of running and recreational races.
  • Association can allow the athlete to continue competing even in the presence of sensory pain.
  • Dissociation should be used as a training technique by those looking to increase their exercise adherence, as it allows for a better and more enjoyable perception of the end of the exercise.
  • As training load increases, there is a shift from dissociative strategies to associative strategies to increase the athlete’s concentration on the task at hand.
  • When using mindful focus on oneself to enhance running efficiency, attention should be directed toward bodily sensations rather than automatic responses such as breathing and running movements.

When making plans for the new year it’s useless

Every new year, we set goals for the following months, discussing them with friends. Some aim to lose weight, others to exercise more, or to dedicate more time to their loved ones, and so on. Usually, after a few days, these goals are abandoned because one feels overwhelmed by the demands of daily life. This leads to the classic explanation of ‘I would like to, but I can’t.’ It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s life that prevents me.

Therefore, I suggest to all of us to avoid playing with change if we know that we will easily abandon these good intentions. In this sense, thinking positively and believing that we will succeed in meeting our goals is misleading. Positive thinking is wishful if it’s not accompanied by the awareness that achieving what we set out to do will be difficult and if we’re not willing to make sacrifices.

It means committing ourselves regardless of the results. We must be willing to commit knowing that we might fail. We must understand that changing habits takes time and is difficult because we have to start thinking and acting differently from usual at the very moment we are inclined to behave in our habitual way.

If we want to succeed, let’s start with short-term goals, investing limited but daily time. Let’s think in terms of, ‘What do I want to do for myself today that is different from what I usually do?’ If we answer affirmatively to this question, we are moving in the right direction. Even just a minute spent differently will give us a positive signal. Without rushing, let’s learn to gather these moments.

Teaching critical and divergent thinking

Teaching critical and creative thinking to today’s youth is a complex challenge influenced by various social, cultural, and technological factors. These difficulties include:

  1. Information Overload - The current generation is exposed to a constant stream of information from digital technologies and social media, the quality of which is difficult to verify. This information overload can hinder young people’s ability to discern and critically evaluate information sources.
  2. Technological Dependency - The increasing dependence on digital devices and social media can undermine the concentration and mental disposition required for critical and creative thinking due to constant digital distractions and stimuli.
  3. Culture of Instant Gratification - Contemporary society promotes the expectation of immediate results and instant gratification, discouraging the patience and depth of analysis required for critical thinking and solving complex problems.
  4. Academic Pressure - Young people may face significant pressure to achieve outstanding academic results, leading to a focus on memorizing information rather than developing critical thinking skills. Others may lack academic pressure because they believe that web-based research is sufficient for acquiring any knowledge.
  5. Cultural Changes - Contemporary culture may favor conformity and uniformity of opinions, with less tolerance for diversity of thought and individuality. Influencers often become the primary cultural and interpersonal relationship references.
  6. Fear of Failure - Reluctance to embrace failure can discourage young people from taking risks and experimenting with new ideas, even though failure is often an essential component of the critical thinking and learning process. This mindset undermines the acceptance of errors as a fundamental part of learning.
  7. Limitations in the Learning Environment - Educators may face challenges in teaching critical thinking due to time constraints, pressure to follow the curriculum, and limited resources. They can also be affected by these cultural changes.
  8. Information Distortion - In the age of fake news and online misinformation, young people may struggle to distinguish between accurate and misleading information. This makes the acquisition of critical analysis skills for evaluating sources and verifying information crucial.
  9. Abundance of Digital Entertainment - Constant access to digital entertainment and games can compete with time dedicated to reflection and critical reading. The ubiquitous presence of entertainment devices can discourage intellectual depth, as digital entertainment often presents learning as a game that is abandoned if not enjoyable.
  10. Online Social Interaction - Frequent use of social media and messaging platforms can promote superficial and rapid communication at the expense of meaningful conversations and critical reflection. This can limit opportunities for in-depth idea exchange. In sports, only the most significant moments of performances are watched, while the rest is considered boring.

Encouraging critical and creative thinking among young people requires a collaborative effort by educators, parents, and society as a whole. This may include adopting educational approaches that prioritize critical thinking, promoting mindful technology use, and offering experiential learning opportunities that enable young people to apply critical thinking in real-world contexts.

One thought at a time

Emotions and thought: The mental game of Napoli-Inter

Matches are often dominated by the emotions experienced by the two teams and the next championship match between Napoli and Inter will certainly be among them. Inter will field its anger generated by the defeat against Milan while Napoli will field its enthusiasm produced by a series of very positive results. The winner will be the one who will be able to better interpret these moods by putting them at the service of the team’s thinking. What are the risks? When anger is not managed, it doesn’t turn into determination, but expresses itself in impulsive actions in which one moves without thinking, like an engine out of revs that expresses its power in an uncontrolled way with the risk of going off the road. Enthusiasm is a feeling that is experienced with pleasure and supports the optimism needed to face these challenges. The risk is to face the game in a superficial way, to show an excessive self-confidence, thus reducing the ability to respond to situations of competitive tension and pressure exerted by the opponent. On Saturday, emotions will be on the field and also on the bench, and they will participate in determining the final result. In order to express their game, teams will have to make use of these states of mind, which will have to be kept under the control of thought, since the latter capacity can integrate in a few tenths of a second the energy generated by emotions and the decision on how to play. So, emotions and thought are the two key words to interpret what will be seen on the pitch.

The training characteristics

The factors that make up training.

  1. Duration - you need to practice for a long time in order for your body and mind to adapt effectively to the effort to do.
  2. Intensity - it reveals the desire to tackle challenging tasks and react immediately to mistakes.
  3. Frequency - you must repeat, repeat, repeat and then repeat again. For how long? Long enough.
  4. Recovery - you must know how to rest physically and mentally. You can’t just spend.
  5. Thinking - you must think to evaluate the work being done. To learn to appreciate yourself, be grateful to those who teach you.                          Understand how you can do better next time.

How the positive thinking can destroy our performance

How many times we have heard we must be optimistic, that we have to believe we can win, or that “with everything we’ve done we deserve to achieve a great result.”

There is apparently nothing of wrong to have this thinking, “That’s the way to push ourselves” many people say.

They also add: “What should I tell: to lose? Nobody start a competition with the goal to lose, therefore, you must start the race with the will to win it, because if you don’t even think it, how will you get it?”

In short, “think positive and you will see that it will happen what do you want.”

Well, all these good thoughts are useless and they can become harmful, because at the first difficulties and errors during the race, the athlete will not be ready to react immediately because he expects to win, that is to say that she is focused on the result and not on what to do to get it. “I was ready … and then things didn’t go as I had expected.”

These are often the words of those who start with a too trusting attitude and then at the end of the performance they attributes the result to something out of themselves, without taking responsibility for what it has happened.

These thoughts, which represent the athletes’ expectations about the race, can really be considered as the performance killers. They are amazed by their own mistakes and the difficulties they face in the race and they have not prepared a plan to react effectively to these situations.

Marathon psychology

It’s started the season of marathons, here are some tips to deal with this race in the best way.

Because of the physical effort and the length of the race, running a marathon is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges that a person may face in sport. In addition to undertake a grueling race from the physical point of view, the runners have to deal with the need to manage the thoughts that flow in the mind during the long journey and which may affect the muscle aches felt and the concerns about the risk of not get to the end and do not achieve their goals. Since the marathon requires specific mental skills, sports psychologists have devised a series of mental training techniques that can help athletes of various skill levels to make the experience more rewarding and overcome their limitations. From these techniques are drawn tips that every runner can apply to successfully in training and competitions.

Maintain high levels of motivation and commitment to the long training periods can be a very difficult task. This is why it’s useful to structure a workout plan with a certified coach. If it’s not possible the runner  books and talking with those who have more experience to establish personal goals, realistic and specific, as to run a certain number of miles a week or maintain a steady pace. It’s important that these goals are written in detail and some psychologists recommend placing them into slogans or psych-up sentences that are always visible at home so as to keep constant attention on them. Once defined, the goals have to be carried out with perseverance, because they help the athletes to increase the confidence and to establish more ambitious goals. However, it’s counterproductive to set goals too challenging or have too many, while it’s useful to maintain an calm attitude, waiting for the moment of the first success. During the training sessions, the runners can prepare temselves mentally, through routines to be included in the warm-up, making simulation exercises of the race, and developing a plan for mentallly dealing with the marathon. Simulate the race during some phases of training also means exercising to stay focused when the fatigue and  muscle will be perceived. For this reason, the sports psychologists have studied the runners’ cognitive strategies distinguishing associative by dissociative strategies. In the first condition the athletes focus on the sensations coming from their body and the runners are aware of the physical factors critical to that kind of performance. In the strategy of dissociation, however, the athletes’ thoughts are focused on anything, except on bodily sensations. Some research has shown a trend of more skilled runners to use an associative strategy, while a preference for dissociative strategy by mid-level runners. Other studies have emphasized the opportunity to use a more flexible during the marathon, and in particular to use that associative in the beginning and final phases of the race and the dissociative in the middle phase. Another technique suggested by sports psychologists is the voluntary use of mental images in which the athletes try to recreate the scenario of the race. They imagine to successfully address some stages of the path and overcome obstacles and difficulties encountered in the path  up (for such a climb, a moment of particular difficulty or adverse weather conditions) to the finish line. One of the most useful psychological techniques to be introduced in their training is the use of positive self-talk, consisting in the repetition of mentally positive keywords  that can help to stay focused on the task, avoiding instead of dwelling on dysfunctional thoughts like “No, I’ll never finish”,” I feel bad “,”I’m slow “,” My legs are so heavy.” The athletes have to choose phrases expressed positively, inducing confidence about their own ability (“I can do it” – “I’ll make it” – “Still one kilometer”) or single words that can represent somthing of positive (“Fluid ” – “Easy” –  ” Go! ” – ” Finish”). It’s important that the runners’ practice this technique during the  dworkout , chosing the words and phrases more useful for them.

The day of the competition to pay attention to a few simple rules it will reduce the amount of mental energy nerve valuable to better address the competitive engagement. For example, to prepare all the necessary material the night before, identify and prepare the remedies for the problems that might occur, get to the departure extensively on time, arrange in advance the return home after the race and, above all, think to live an enjoyable day.

It’s also useful to know the place and the event track, taking advantage of the material that comes before the race and imagining the path even if you do not know well.

The more experienced runners are able to recognize the feeling of “hit a wall” that they feel during the toughest moment of the race as a mental component and therefore they consider to have the power to break down this barrier. The important thing is to recognize the body signals of fatigue without trying to avoid them, accepting them and interpreting them as indicators of imminent crisis or inability to move on and do well. During these moments is easy to feel a state of panic, which further it will increase the feeling of fatigue and you face alive in the athletes’ minds the word “Stop!”. In these moments the self-talk experienced in training will be very useful replacing the dysfunctional thoughts. The athletes should focus on their stride, breath, light feet on the ground. Only after these check-in it can be useful to use a dissociative strategy leading the athletes to focus on the feeling they will prove after the finish, to think of the award they will receive or even content that have nothing to do with the marathon and which have the function to distract from the fatigue.

Even during the race, as in training, it’s important to divide the effort of placing sub-goals which, once achieved, will push to get to the end. For example, it’s useful to focus from time to time over the next five kilometers or the next half hour of the race, because mentally deal with the 42 km can be perceived as something difficult to achieve.

In the life leave a positive trail

Collegamento permanente dell'immagine integrata

Positive thinking is an art

Non è di certo superficiale per un atleta/allenatore pensare in positivo, anzi si è troppo banalizzata l’importanza di avere un atteggiamento di questo tipo, etichettandola spesso come un’americanata o un modo di vivere senza porsi i veri problemi. Nel mio lavoro vedo invece l’esatto contrario e cioè quanto sia facile abbattersi per un allenamento andato male, per la difficoltà nel migliorare, per accettare che il lavoro quotidiano non è una passeggiata verso la gloria, ma che invece bisogna metaforicamente sporcarsi le mani con le proprie insicurezze e timori. Sono proprio le difficoltà che vivono gli atleti che rappresentano l’unica occasione, anche questa positiva, per mettere alla prova il proprio valore umano, la propria voglia di fare bene nonostante oggi non si sia soddsfatti. Questo è l’allenamento accettare i propri limiti e lavorare positivamente per ridurli e superarli. Quando si acquisisce questa mentalità si apre la porta al pensiero positivo.