Reading about sports psychology research isn’t quite as sexy as trying to get hold of the latest study on hypertrophy. However, making sure you can perform when you want to perform and don’t leave your ability in the gym when it counts is probably worth more than a few extra pounds of muscle. Here are some articles I have read and found useful to understand:
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Motivation and elite performance - motivation is an interesting concept to study and in a study of elite Bulgarian athletes, it was noticable that as athletes became more famous and were rewarded with the trappings of success, their internal motivation suffered
Psychological factors in sports performance – for many years, psychologists have argued over whether you can predict an athlete’s performance from their mental state. The debate still rages, but we can learn a lot from what they have uncovered along the way
Coping strategies used by elite figure skaters – researchers interviewed a number of elite athletes to see what coping strategies they used, and came up with twelve different classifications. It is fascinating to see how these athletes cope with stress and to learn about the techniques they use
When winning is everything – when athletes define themselves by virtue of how good they are at their sport, bad things can happen to their mental health and their incidence of aggressive behaviour can increase. However, self-affirmation can help here, as it can with stress
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