Sports psychology is also thriving in fitness. Is it just a supplement to training?
admin timp·Reading time: 5 min.
14 September 2020
Psychology is a science that can be applied to many different disciplines, since its object of study is human behavior, which is present in all of them.
In this way, wherever people are carrying out an activity, psychology can be present to study our behavior in thatspecific setting and improve it, boosting our results.
In this article, we’ll look at what sports psychology is and answer a question: is sports psychology a necessity in gyms?
Sports psychology: keys to a booming discipline
Sport is one of many areas of human behavior, and as such it can be improved thanks to psychology.
Athletes who receive psychological support often improve their performance and reach levels they previously struggled to achieve. This is due, among other reasons, to the fact that a person’s thoughts, emotions, motivations, expectations, and daily worries are also present when they exercise, and sports psychology works with these elements of the human psyche so they don’t negatively affect an athlete’s performance.
What Psychology of Physical Activity and Sport aims to do is ensure that the emotional and psychological state of the person practicing sport is fully focused on this activity to achieve the best possible results, defining the goals to be achieved and establishing the best methodology to reach them.
For that reason, this area of psychology is increasingly present in a wide range of sports. And not only in elite or competitive sports.
Is psychology in the gym something you can do without?
People often tend to differentiate between psyche and body, as if they were independent parts of the human being. And it’s precisely the opposite: mind and body form a whole in which both parts influence each other.
A body in excellent physical condition will positively influence psychological well-being, and vice versa. So, if an athlete has good emotional balance, high self-esteem, and knows how to manage their personal circumstances psychologically in the right way, they will undoubtedly perform better in whatever sport they practice. What’s more, when tackling their training routines, psychology will help them focus more and better in each session, leading to more satisfying results.
That’s why sports psychology can’t be seen only as help or a supplement to daily training, but as a fundamental part of it.
Combined with the rest of the activities that make up a training plan, sports psychology should be present every step of the way to reaching the goal we’ve set for ourselves.
At first glance, it may seem difficult to apply psychology in certain sports settings, such as gyms, for example. It may feel like an area of intervention reserved for high-level athletes or sports leagues, but nothing could be further from the truth: in many gymsthere are physical activity and sport professionals who are also trained in sports psychology.
Through talks and also during their personal training work, these professionals guide gym clients to reach their goals, often reducing the dropout rate that commonly occurs when expected results aren’t achieved.
How psychology boosts fitness performance
The sports psychology professional carries out different tasks to increase motivation and improve the performance of gym users or sports center members. Some of the main ones are:
First, they assess the user’s personal and psychological circumstances to understand how they are affecting their performance during training. To do this, they may interview the client, observe how they train, and administer a questionnaire. The main tools used at this stage are:
Personal interviews: the sports psychologist will get to know the center’s client in greater depth—what motivates them to train, how they see themselves in daily life and while training, their level of self-esteem, etc.—and with all this information, map out an effective strategy.
Test batteries and questionnaires: to understand how they feel when training and identify possible emotional or psychological barriersthat may be hindering their progress.
Self-observation and self-recording procedures: the person training is the one who notes their performance, their stats, and how they feel before, during, and after training. The sports psychology professional will then use this information to design improvement strategies.
Observation of the user’s behavior and habits: this objective information complements the more subjective information the trainee provides to the sports psychologist.
Psychophysiological records: these are physiological indicators (heart rate, sweating level, muscle tension…) that sometimes reflect not only the level of physical activity but also the athlete’s psychological state at a given moment.
Once they understand the user’s psychological and emotional state, as well as their motivations and expectations, the sports psychologist focuses their efforts on teaching them techniques and strategies to increase motivation, training adherence, and attention to the activity to be performed. To do so, they will carry out the following actions:
Psychological training: development and maintenance of the psychological skills involved in training, such as motivation, attention, concentration, self-instructions during the activity…
Design of psychological strategies that make it easier to start trainingand stick with it, minimizing dropout in particular.
Implementation of psychological strategies focused on improving quality of life through the trainee’s physical activity.
Afterwards comes a results evaluation phase, for which many of the strategies and tools discussed in the previous two points will be applied, in order to measure the success achieved and rethink the strategy if necessary if performance could be improved.
The sports psychologist can also advise groups of users, usually focusing on instructor-led classes and group training.
Does your sports center have a sports psychologist? If so, you’ve probably already seen how much they help your clients progress in their training.
And if you still don’t have this professional on your staff, perhaps this article has opened your eyes to their importance in sport.
admin timp
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Reading time: 5 min.
