Mental training in competitive sport NLP/sport psychology books/tapes/DVDs

martinl

Can anybody recommend any books/tapes/DVD/Videos related to

- sport and NLP (neuro linguistic programming)
- sport psychology
- mental training in sport

Read that if you have two equally skilled (physically)
sports people the mentally stronger will outperform the
other person – therefore it’s definitely worthwhile
working on your mental strength/abilities as well as on
you physical strength/abilities.

Just wondering if anybody has experiences or references
relating to the above(especially in the area of competitive sports).

I read a few books on NLP(Neuro Linguistic Programming) that
state with various NLP techniques you can be more focused,
concentrate better.

18months back I applied various NLP techniques myself during a
half marathon and cut down 1.5min on my time in comparison
to the same race the year before, with even less training miles.

Andre Agassi is told to use some of these techniques. Recently I
found a source which stated that a various Irish golfers use NLP
as well to improve their performance.

I work as NLP Practitioner with a background in sport and fitness
and aim to bring NLP into competitive sport here in Ireland.

p.pete

You could try this book on sports psychology, I haven't read it yet but I'm looking at the education psychology varient in the same series and it's quite thorough. Have you any recomended books on NLP?

I wouldn't think too much of running 1.5 mins faster in a half marathon unless you run lots of them at a consistant time - your body is likely to be in a different state from year to year, training less is sometimes a good thing. You can end up with more energy left for the performance on the day.

I cut 20 mins off my Reading Half Marathon time this year from last year - I possibly trained less and i was also sober

Also you could try asking Amz for book recommendations - think she's doing sports psychology...

phantom_lord

I read a book on nlp but it never mentioned its application to sport. What way does it apply?

p.pete

phantom_lord wrote:

I read a book on nlp but it never mentioned its application to sport. What way does it apply?

You say to yourself "after I move my right foot on front of my left, I'm going to lift my left up really quick and place it in front of the right" etc.

martinl

phantom_lord wrote:

I read a book on nlp but it never mentioned its application to sport. What way does it apply?

The beauty of NLP is that it can be applied in lot’s of different aspect of life, work, sport, relationships, self development, learning to name only a few…. because it is so broad and it is concerned about how we perceive the world, how we do things and how tiny changes in our thinking can change the way we see, experience and ultimately do things.

In sports, it can be used to allow you to be more focused, clarify your goals (in NLP called outcomes) which allows you to identify the most beneficial action towards your goal, increase you sensory awareness (what is essential for nearly every sport) and lots more. It can allow to

It can allow to, what is in NLP called model some ones behaviour e.g. an outstanding hurling player, a magnificent golfer etc. and transfer the findings to other people.

martinl

Thank you p.pete – came across various NLP books I can recommend e.g.

1. NLP Workbook – Joseph O’Connor – lots of exercises, well structured, I would say a definitely must-read if you want to get more into it, NOT an introduction I would say .

2. Introduction to NLP by Joseph O’Connor – well worth reading to get going,
initially. (Also available on audio tape, which I find very useful to refresh things from time to time)

3. Training with NLP – might be interesting for you from an educational point of view. Think I borrowed if a few years back from the library and thought it was reasonable.

Good point regarding the marathon time, the year before I actually didn’t sleep to much the night before and was very tiered. I learn from it and rested well the night before the year afterwards.

Amz – is it someone from the discussion board here?

p.pete

martinl wrote:

Amz – is it someone from the discussion board here?

Yep, moderator in sports forums.