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13 April 2016 0 Training, Well-being
Are pre-activity/workout rituals beneficial?

Have you ever been watching an AFL match and you see the player walk back after a mark, make sure his socks are tight, put away his mouthguard and throw some grass in the air? Or the guy on the team who has his pair of lucky socks that never get washed because he is on a winning streak?

A lot of people have these kinds of rituals in competitive situations and when they are training, but have you ever wondered if they actually help?

Well some sports psychologists have looked into if personal rituals aid or hinder your performance. This is what they found:

Peace of mind

Rituals help calm down an individual, let them gain focus and quieten their mind. It’s easier to reach your peak performance when you are focused, sometimes there are external factors that can distract and put you off your game, so it makes sense to have an action that you can perform that gets you into your optimal headspace

Triggering a positive mental state

People can train themselves to have certain reactions through various actions, like Pavlov’s dogs, and rituals is one of the ways that you can do this.

For example, if someone pats you on the back every time you smash a set, you feel accomplished and motivated. Do this enough, and when you get patted on the back it will condition a similar response, making you feel accomplished an motivated.

Rituals can boost your performance

This goes hand in hand with boosting your mental state, people who think they are going to be successful tend to perform better. This can be for a number of reasons, but does show the power of motivation and positive thinking.

Studies have shown that people who believe that their ritual helps them to be successful increase in performance.

The Negative Effects

When people honestly believe and action or ritual will help them, if they don’t complete or perform the ritual it can create a negative head space (or ‘put them off their game’) and impact on their performance. This makes rituals essential to those that already have them in place, making it almost impossible for those to perform without completing these.

 

So if you have a ritual, it might pay off to keep it

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