Can meditation be useful for endurance athletes?
As we have seen in many recent blogs, improving triathlon performance is not wholly dependent on physical improvements. Here coach Jon looks at meditation as a way of training our mindset to help our athletic performance. Can meditation be useful for endurance athletes?
Firstly what is meditation, and what is the difference between meditation and mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be described as both a state of being and a practice in itself. Being mindful involves drawing your attention back to the present moment, being aware of your bodily sensations, thoughts, breath, and the environment around you. You can practice mindfulness at any time, in any situation - cooking your dinner, mowing the lawn, walking the dog or showering etc. Simply being mindful during your training sessions and race situations can help you remain focused and connected to the task at hand.
On the other hand, meditation is a deliberate practice where you make a conscious effort to train your mind and dedicate a certain period of time to it. Meditation practice involves choosing a focal point and spending some time focusing your mind on that subject; it could be your breath, a particular object, part of your body, or a mental image. Practising meditation involves training your mind to remain ‘clear’. It’s natural for thoughts to come and go. The Headspace app advises: ‘Whenever a thought pops up, label it as ‘thinking’ and send it away. The point is not to engage with the thoughts. Simply acknowledge them but don’t give them any energy or attention.’
How can a regular meditation practice help endurance athletes?
Stress Reduction
A regular meditation practice can lead to reduced levels of stress and increased relaxation. A study published in the Journal of Health Psychology showed some signs of reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol after regular meditation practice. Meditative practice can help train the brain to remain relaxed and centred in stressful situations allowing you to focus and concentrate. High-stress levels can hamper athletic performance; having a meditative practise can help reduce stress in athletes and allow them to focus on performing to the best of their ability.
Strengthened Immune System
A study found tentative evidence of mindful meditation strengthening the immune system due to reduced cortisol levels. A stronger immune system can lead to fewer training days missed due to illness. Therefore meditation could indirectly help athletes maintain consistency. This study found that those who practice meditation experience fewer acute respiratory infections and a shortened duration and severity of symptoms from the common cold.
Mental Game
Headspace believes meditation can improve athletes self-confidence and help athletes achieve a more positive mindset. They also suggest meditation’s calming effects help manage anxiety and depression. They argue that meditation helps you stay motivated and remain positive when confronted with life’s upsets and challenges, allowing you to keep on track with your goals. Meditation can teach athletes how to cope with setbacks in training and racing, helping to clear your mind and focus on the things that matter rather than the negatives. A paper by the University of New York suggests endurance athletes may benefit more than other athletes from other sports as the athlete is in their own head focussing on the task at hand. With mindful practice, the mind will not focus on the negative or painful thoughts and feelings and eventually may be able to reach a ‘flow state’ in which they are ‘in the zone’ and have increased performance.
Sleep and Recovery
The importance of good quality sleep for optimal athletic performance is well-founded. Studies have shown a clear relationship between meditation and improved sleep quality. Athletes who consistently practice meditation can help their bodies recover quicker from training, racing, and even injury with more restful sleep.
Visualisation
Mental barriers manifest themselves in many ways throughout physical performance, such as believing you can’t make it through an interval in a workout. In truth, we are capable of doing more than we believe. By practising meditation that uses visualisations, athletic endurance can be enhanced. Athletes who visualise accomplishing specific goals can train the body to break mental barriers, push harder and longer in training and competition. Mentally rehearsing a skill or performance stimulates regions of the brain which primes the muscles to complete the same action in a competition setting. Just by using your mind, you can help your body prepare for race day.
How can athletes bring it in?
Now that we have seen the benefits of meditation for endurance athletes, how do we bring it into our already busy schedules?
The beauty of meditation is that you can do it anywhere, any time. However, Headspace suggests one of the most effective ways to turn your meditation practice into a daily habit is to do it in the ‘same time, same place’ every day. Research shows that frequency is even more important than duration when it comes to meditation. Therefore most athletes find starting with small, manageable chunks of meditation time beneficial, such as 5 or 10 minutes a day. Long enough that the meditation feels effective, yet also feels achievable and keeps them motivated. To meditate, make sure you sit or lie comfortably - being comfortable is more important than sitting cross-legged with perfect posture. Using a guided meditation app — such as the Headspace app — can really help.
Meditate whilst exercising
You can even bring meditation into your exercise. Combining meditation and exercise can work well: headspace offers ‘mindful running’ guided running meditations. These sessions allow you to practice bringing awareness to your training, eliminating distractions and being mentally connected to your physical movement.
Meditation may not be for everyone, but with so many possible benefits, why not try adding just 5 minutes a day of dedicated quiet time to your daily routine. We would love to know how you get on.
Jon has been coaching with his local triathlon club in Hertfordshire around his full-time job as an airline pilot for several years. Unfortunately, Jon lost his pilot’s licence for 11 months in 2019 due to being diagnosed with testicular cancer (read his story here). He used the time off from flying to complete his Level 2 and Level 2 BTF diploma qualifications as well as a L3 Personal Trainer qualification. With his new coaching qualifications under his belt, Jon was able to join Tri Training Harder as a coach in 2019. He has now recovered from cancer, started flying again and is training hard for the coming triathlon season.
Jon has a flexible approach to coaching and training, from his own busy lifestyle he knows how to balance training around family, friends and social commitments. Jon loves to utilise the knowledge gained on his Personal Trainer course and finds incorporating well-structured strength and conditioning sessions vital to triathlon performance.
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