Athlete mental training is the practice of using certain sport psychology tools and techniques to increase mental skills. These mental skills lead to greater levels of success on the field or court.

But no matter whether you’re an athlete or not, training your brain is a valuable thing to do.

And so, in this article, you will learn mental training techniques you can use to boost your brain power and strengthen your mind.

Technique #1: Mental Rehearsal

How much better would you be at your sport or your job if you improve both your confidence and your ability to perform your skills?

Probably tremendously better.

That’s what mental rehearsal helps you achieve.

Mental rehearsal, also known as visualization, is the practice of closing your eyes and imagining yourself performing your skills in your mind’s eye.

Through visualization, you strengthen neural connections and generate a memory of success in relation to that skill. That not only improves skill mastery, but also increases confidence.

Technique #2: Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an athlete mental training technique that works to improve your ability to retain concentration in the present moment.

Mindfulness is a state. One where your focus is completely centered in the here and now. No matter if you’re an athlete or not, being more present is valuable.

One benefit is that it allows you to reduce anxiety and fear. Since both anxiety and fear are byproducts of future-oriented thinking, having your attention in the present moment will keep those thoughts from happening.

Another reason mindfulness training is beneficial is because of the impact it has on your focus. Distractions are distracting because of the effect they have on your thoughts. They cause you to think about something other than what you need to be thinking about.

By strengthening your ability to control your attention, you can keep distracting thoughts from pulling you out of the present moment.

Technique #3: Self-Talk

For all of us, the fact that thoughts generate emotions cannot be escaped. If you think worrisome thoughts, you are going to experience feelings of anxiety. If you think doubtful thoughts, you’re going to feel less confident.

Knowing this principle, it’s vital to learn how to control the thoughts you allow in your mind.

Now, thoughts are largely automatic. They’ve been programmed over time. This becomes apparent when you find yourself thinking and speaking in a similar way to those around you. You’ve heard how they’ve been speaking and adopted it for yourself.

This idea of automatic thinking can be used to our advantage if we take control over what is being programmed. That is where the mental training tool of self-talk comes in.

With self-talk, you generate a list of thoughts you’d like to have. This is fun because you get to decide, for the first time probably, how you want to think.

Once you come up with this list, you begin repeating each statement to yourself everyday in an effort to reprogram your natural thought patterns.

Technique #4: Writing

Writing may not seem like an athlete mental training tool on the surface, but it is one of the most powerful exercises anyone can take up.

The type of writing I’m referring to is self-reflection writing. A practice where you allow a stream of consciousness to flow onto the page.

What this does is bring you face-to-face with what you’re thinking. Sometimes, thoughts that have been buried deep come to the surface for the first time in ages.

As you write, your self-awareness will grow. Self-awareness is the ability to understand your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and how they impact one another.

The greater your self-awareness grows, the more self-management you will have. Self-management is the ability to control (or choose) your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Don’t feel scared by the idea of writing. Get yourself a journal and aim for one page a day. That’s it. Doing so will prove to provide you with power and insight you have never experienced before.

Final Thoughts

To gain mental skills, you have to train. It’s the same as with anything; if you want to get better, you must put forth the work.

Now, what work, exactly, does it take?

To boost your brain power, there are certain exercises you can use. The four main mental training techniques that are great to begin with include: mental rehearsal, mindfulness, self-talk, and writing.

Using these athlete mental training tools on a consistent basis will improve your mental skills and work to strengthen your mindset, no matter what you do.