EXERCISE 7.4 CONTEST BUILD-UP ROUTINE

Exercise 7.4 Page 1 EXERCISE 7.4 CONTEST BUILD-UP ROUTINE Aim The purpose of this exercise is to develop a final stage strategy in competition preparations that will produce the best level of readiness for the initiation of a contest. Requirements The completion of Exercises 2.4, Positive Imagery, and 7.3, Establishing Contest Mind-sets, and Section 5, Performance Enhancement Imagery, before undertaking this exercise is advisable. Steps 1. Plan to keep constantly active. The majority of activities should employ general stretching exercises that encompass the total body. These serve as the "filler" activities that assist in controlling arousal, anxiety, and maintaining a warmed state. They also facilitate the sensitivity of your body. You should avoid only doing exercises that use a limited set of joints. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on a Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter descriptions of the types of stretching exercises that will be performed for the duration of the build-up routine (see Figure 7.4.1). 2. Develop plans to physically isolate yourself from others. It is important that you perform your prepared activities without interruption or distraction. Your attention needs to be focused totally on your physical and mental activities and achieving their outcomes. You need to determine when and where you will go to be able to proceed with an uninterrupted routine. To all intents and purposes, this build-up phase is the start of your contest effort. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter descriptions of what you will do to reduce the possibility of your being interrupted by other persons or events. 1. Do not be distracted. Once you are isolated, you have to make a conscious effort to not be distracted by any event that is unrelated to your preparations. You need to sensitize yourself to this requirement. You should develop procedures for terminating incidental social interactions (even with the coach) and distractions such as other competitions or competitive performances. If events happen that do not assist you in your preparations they should be ignored. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter descriptions of how you will terminate any interaction with another person and what you will do to regain your focus after being distracted by an irrelevant event. 2. Performance enhancement imagery should constitute a substantial part of the mental activities of the build-up routine. The smallest section that should be mentally rehearsed is a contest segment (see Exercise 8.1). Any physical activity that occurs during imagery should represent the form of activity that is being imagined. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter descriptions of when you will do performance enhancement imagery and what contest segments will be imagined. 3. Where possible, contest-specific activities should be performed, particularly in concert with performance enhancement imagery. Space and facility availability will determine the extent that these can be done. A gymnast may not be able to use the beam immediately before competing, but many of the beam activities can be performed on the floor. A player may not be able to go on the contest floor or field but can perform a subset of contest activities in an adjacent space. The quality and intensity of these activities should be specific to the upcoming contest. Avoid practicing intense non-specific tasks. At this time inappropriate activities could compete with your sensitivity to contest tasks and cause performance diminution. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter descriptions of what activities you will do that replicate the precision and intensity of those intended for the contest. 4. The mental activities of the build-up routine should be planned. It is vital that thinking is focused on the preparatory tasks, intended contest, and positive appraisals. To ensure all thoughts will be appropriate, you should prepare a repertoire of positive selfstatements that indicate assertiveness, confidence, and reinforcement. Positive self-talk should occur intermittently and evenly throughout the routine. It should act as an insurance procedure against the occurrence of negative thoughts. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter at least 10 statements that are to be repeated throughout the build-up routine. 5. As the contest start approaches, the scope of what is used in performance enhancement imagery and

Exercise 7.4 Page 2 task-relevant physical activity, should become more restricted. Segments that occur late in the contest should be gradually discarded so that early segments are all that are considered late in the build-up routine. This restriction becomes narrowest immediately before the start when attention is totally focused on the first segment with correct initiation of that segment being emphasized. In the seconds before a contest begins, all that you should be concerned with should be initiating the best start possible. In the "Primary Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet, enter at various stages, the scope of the segments that will be considered to reflect this narrowing of attention. 6. A final pump-up routine occurs over a relatively short time span (possibly 5 to 10 minutes), the duration being that which suits you. It mainly comprises two activities, an emotional pump-up and a physical pump-up. They are to occur simultaneously. 8.a Emotional pump-up. This feature characterizes many world champion athletes. It requires you to determine some emotion that will arouse you to become very assertive, determined, and possibly aggressive. You have to develop a repertoire of thoughts that will produce an increased emotional state, the level being appropriate for your sport. 8.b Select an emotion and practice imagining its use so that you do produce a change in your physical arousal and assertiveness. This requires you to fantasize your use of the emotion in various situations. Some suggested emotional imagery topics are your being: i) furious, ii) angry, iii) wild, iv) hateful, v) mad, and vi) attacking. 8.c The emotion selection procedure is usually through trial and error. Each emotional option should be tested. The one that is chosen should make you feel that it energizes you further. That extra energy should be used to produce a final surge in the build-up routine to get you to a peaked readiness state. 8.d Emotions can be selected by their effect on your body. If an emotion is effective, there will be a noticeable elevation in heart rate (as much as 10 to 15 beats per minute). A heart rate monitor can be used to see which emotional imagery produces the greatest change in your physical state. 8.e The emotional imagery is not the only content that is thought of at this time. It serves as the background atmosphere in which focusing on the contest start, positive self-talk, and other performance specific thoughts are imbedded. 8.f The selection and practice procedure should occur independently of the formulation of the contest build-up routine. You should practice the various emotions and evaluate their effects. Decide which is the most, and second most, effective emotion. Both are to be included in the contest build-up routine. 8.g Emotional pumping-up needs to be practiced so that it can be "turned-on" when needed. Practice is your responsibility and should be performed as often as possible until you become skilled at doing it. Keep in mind that the excitedness you develop has to be the maximum you can control. Do not go beyond that control point. 7. The second aspect of the pump-up routine is physical. This has to occur at the same time as the emotional pump-up so that the extra adrenaline generated is used in physical work. If no physical work occurred, it is possible that a stress spiral reaction could start and lead to a negative state. That would degrade performance rather than enhance it. An emotional pump-up should only be done in concert with a physical pump-up. 9.a Physical pump-up. As your emotion builds so should the vigor, intensity, and constancy of your physical activity. If it is possible to do the actual activity (e.g., dry-shooting before a pistol event, running at race pace, passing a ball with exact accuracy) then that should be considered. The activity should be at the intensity level with which you will initiate your contest performance. 9.b There is no "relaxing" at this time. Relaxation is incompatible with the ideal preparatory state that you are attempting to achieve. It is only appropriate when your preparatory activities are irrelevant and potentially detrimental to performance. Relaxation is not something to consider when you are trying to perform maximally. 9.c If your physical pump-up is done correctly, the intensity of the physical work should be clearly noticeable, demonstrated by your heart rate, and at about the same level as that required for specific performance at the contest start. 9.d Always practice physical and emotional pumpup activities together. The way the physical is done will influence the effects of the emotion.

Exercise 7.4 Page 3 9.e Decide which is the best set of physical activities for the two emotions. Enter the most effective emotion, and its physical pump-up activities, in the "Primary Behaviors" column and the second most effective emotion and its physical pump-up activities in the "Coping Behaviors" column on the Strategy Planning Worksheet. 8. Reconsider the decisions that you have made in the above steps. Make sure they are scheduled appropriately to produce the heightening effect of the build-up routine with a final surge due to the pumpup activities occurring at the end. 9. Each primary behavior should produce some objective (outcome). For every activity on the Strategy Planning Worksheets, enter the outcome that should result in the "Outcomes" column (see Figure 7.4.2). Outcomes should be measures of performance, feelings, and/or thoughts that you can experience so you know when an activity's purpose has been attained. There should be no activity without an outcome. The attainment of an outcome will signal you when to progress to the next activity. The progress through the build-up routine will be governed by your attaining the outcomes in succession. 10. You must be prepared to cope with the situation of a planned activity not producing the outcome for which it was intended. You have to devise alternative (coping) activities for each primary behavior that will achieve the specified outcome. This gives you the capacity to embark upon a preparation of preferred activities but always knowing if an activity is not effective you have an alternative action that will produce the same outcome. Enter those alternative activities in the "Coping Behaviors" column alongside the corresponding primary behaviors on the Strategy Planning Worksheets (see Figure 7.4.2). 11. You have now specified the primary and coping behaviors to achieve particular outcomes in the contest build-up routine. The aim of the routine is to allow you to commence your performance at the highest level of precision with an appropriate level of intensity. Once sections have been experimented with, and decisions made (e.g., as in selecting two emotions), the total routine has to be practiced so you become sensitized to the performances, feelings, and thoughts that are the planned outcomes governing your progression through the routine. With each practice or use in competitions, you should review the viability and value of each behavior and make alterations, additions, and deletions where necessary. Your intent should be to have a routine that will consume all your time in a beneficial manner so your best readiness state will be achieved at the contest start. Refinement of this part of your competition strategy should be a constant procedure. As you become more experienced, your requirements for preparation will change. Those requirements should be reflected in frequent updating of this strategy section. 12. The correct sequencing of the warm-up and mindset routine, and the contest build-up routine, should produce a constant and exact level of preparation. Performance consistency should be enhanced because of this skilled approach to competition preparation. When to Use The contest build-up routine should be enacted before any serious performance. It has to be preceded by a warm-up and mind-set routine. It is directed by progressing through a script of activities that produce particular feelings deemed beneficial for producing consistent and desirable elevations in your state of readiness. Marginal modifications of this strategy section are likely for each important competition. The more constant the build-up routine, the more consistent will be competitive performances. Athlete Preparations Make several copies of the Strategy Planning Worksheet that is appended to this exercise. Complete the worksheets in pencil so that alterations can be made easily. You should take the strategy sheets with you to all competitions. When not in use, keep the worksheets in your personal folder. This part of strategy formulation and use is a skill and needs to be practiced often. You should consider it your responsibility to develop, learn, and use this strategy at competitions.

Exercise 7.4 Page 4 Athlete Actions The execution of activities to build to the highest, most desirable level of readiness is an important function of competition preparation. Being able to discern and use the activities and thoughts that produce this state is a skill and needs to be practiced. Opportunities to practice and execute the strategy at competitions should be sought. Eventually, you should be fully sensitized to the behaviors and states you need to achieve as the result of each planned activity. That sensitivity guides your progress through the build-up routine in a controlled and predictable manner. STRATEGY PLANNING WORKSHEET Page..2... Primary Behaviors Coping Behaviors Outcomes Stretch 10 sites and movements; Dress in warm-ups Positive self-talk - drink Go to field outside of oval and jog "Excuse me - later" for disruption Imagery of kicking and tackling Run with half and pass ball; get lock to run defense Repeat acts until contest specific; achieve full focus; recover between each Positive self-talk, image aggressive activity Jog; image attack and tough defense Pass with others Drink Emotional pump-up; hate and kill them - image crushing on defense Physical pump-up; bigger movements, faster sprints Focus on start - speed and power; Continue until kick-off Delay - return to jog and image of attack and devastating defense Figure 7.4.1. A section of a completed build-up routine that indicates primary behaviors for a professional rugby league player.

Exercise 7.4 Page 5 STRATEGY PLANNING WORKSHEET Page..2... Primary Behaviors Coping Behaviors Outcomes Stretch 10 sites and movements; Dress in Bounding and rolls Loose and warm-ups warm Positive self-talk - drink Positive imagery Feel great Go to field outside of oval and jog Rain, 10 minutes stretching Isolate "Excuse me - later" for disruption Turn and jog away No interruptions Imagery of kicking and tackling Roll while tackling Main role Run with half and pass ball; get lock to Kick ball to each other Team work run defense Repeat acts until contest specific; Do some tackling Perfect achieve full focus; recover between run through plays each Positive self-talk, image aggressive Make heart go Terrific activity Jog; image attack and tough defense Act out all images Want to tackle hard Pass with others Handle well Combine Drink Ice down Sated Emotional pump-up; hate and kill them Fearless and crazy Peak - image crushing on defense Physical pump-up; bigger movements, Very active play; Violent faster sprints routine Focus on start - speed and power; Practice first steps Only one Continue until kick-off play Delay - return to jog and image of Do it better than first times Control attack and devastating defense restart Figure 7.4.2. A section of a completed build-up routine that indicates outcome and coping behaviors for a professional rugby league player.

Exercise 7.4 Page 6 STRATEGY PLANNING WORKSHEET Page... Primary Behaviors Coping Behaviors Outcomes