MxLarge Story
Stepping stones - Riders mental focus
News Thursday 18th February 2010 By Ed Bradley
The pre-season international races are a great opportunity for riders to make the transition from off season training in to their all important championships. One opportunity is for riders to hone their racing strategies and their focus whilst racing, after being away from the racing environment for a couple of months over the winter period.
An opportunity which may have cost James Stewart his chance to win the supercross championship!
Edmaster performance coach, Ed Bradley, gives us an insight to a racers concentration when performing.
Throughout each racing season you get to hear a rider say ‘...I just lost concentration and...’ or a commentator say ‘the rider had a lapse in concentration...’
What is interesting to know is that we are all concentration 100% of the time! What we are concentrating on, is what is important.
When a racer is concentrating, their focus will be on a spectrum of four main areas and will change between these areas throughout a race. Depending on the riders previous experiences, whats happening at that moment in time and goals they have set will determine whether their focus is positive or negative.
Peak performance comes from being aware of where your focus is, and, what you want your focus to be on. Many racers are unaware of their attentional focus strategy which is fine if you are getting the results you want, otherwise, here are the four areas that you can become aware when racing or training to help you re-focus if necessary.
- External wide - A positive example of this is being aware of all the riders around you when in close group, the opposite would be for your mind to wander and notice the crowd, marshals, a bird on a fence post etc.
- External narrow - A good mindset is focusing solely on your racing line, with the opposite being characterised as tunnel vision.
- Internal narrow - This is concentration on a specific skill, such as, how much pressure you are putting on the rear brake pedal or riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs, the opposite being focusing on an aching muscle or an injury.
- Internal wide - Checking inside, that you are performing well and that you have enough energy to get you through to the end of the race and that you are riding relaxed, with the opposite being focused on how tired you are and being aware of riding tight or out of the flow.
Even the best make mistakes. What do you think happened with James Stewart at the second supercross round?
I found it interesting to hear him say in an interview that he took his racing line, off the triple, just like he usually would and forgot that other riders would be around him as he is usually out front (external narrow)! ‘As I was up in the air I looked over and saw the other rider out the corner of my eye and it was to late (external wide)!
Ed’s Peak performance coaching allows riders to access ‘the zone’ at will and for them to carry a positive mind set when training and racing.
To your success.
Stanley Leroux Design
