You know that feeling after you narrowly avoid a car wreck when someone runs a light in front of you?
Or that feeling just before you need to stand up to speak in a work presentation?
Neither feeling lends itself to running your fastest 40 yd dash or beating your deadlift personal record. Neither feeling supports hitting a game-winning free throw, reading the screen during double overtime, or making an offhand sideline pass to score.
You would be too keyed up, too nervous to perform. You can barely breathe or see, much less execute a complex tactical move. But what folks miss, even though every athlete has lived this experience in competition, is that you’re not any better prepared to execute when you feel like “Saturday afternoon margarita on the porch” or “off work early, reading at the park with a latte”!
For athletes, regulating arousal is a critical skill to master for delivering your best performance.
And the foundation of regulating arousal is recognizing it. As you read this, what’s your energy state like? Are you feeling lethargic, complacent, vacant? Or are you feeling restless, anxious, fixated?
Check in with yourself. Don’t judge the feeling. It’s not wrong or stupid or pointless to have whatever energy state you have right now.
…but if you need to perform, maybe you’re not in the best state.
And my argument is you won’t get to the best state just by wanting it more.
My Experience Being Too Hot To Lift
I was going for PRs in the gym recently. After one miss at my target weight, I tried to hype myself up for another limit clean and jerk by taking short breaths, externalizing aggression with my words and my clenched fists, and turning my (aggressive) music up louder. I pushed all the figurative buttons, then followed my routine to set up on the bar, took my deep breath…then blew it out and walked off.
No lift.
Not even an attempt.
I was in the wrong state for that lift. I’m not that type of athlete. I’m so critical and hyper-focused naturally that trying to go to 11 throws off my sense of self. I was faking!
So I settled down with deep breaths, eyes closed. I played my mental movie for the lift. I reframed this maximal lift as “practicing a meet PR” – not a war between me and the barbell, just another dress rehearsal.
Then I followed my routine to set up on the bar, took my deep breath, and made the lift.
That’s a romantic success story, right? Look, it doesn’t always work. I miss more PR attempts than I make, even when I’m in the right state. But Ray Dalio said this well: “don’t judge a good process by a bad outcome.”
I have missed ALL of my snatch and clean & jerk and back squat and bench press attempts when I came at them with maximum aggression. EVERY max attempt I have made successfully in those lifts were when I felt like I was just practicing with a new weight, when I almost felt like an observer of myself.
And I’ll note, I’ve missed warmup weights when I was so mellow as to feel sleepy underneath them.
Missing The Point From 99° to 101°
There’s a sweet spot. There’s…a boiling point, of sorts. Water changes state from a liquid to a gas at 100° C / 212° F. You get nothing at 99° C and you just waste energy at 101° C.
That describes arousal management. When it’s time to perform, you get nothing if you’re a degree too cool and you’re wasting valuable energy if you’re a degree too warm.
Thing is, everyone’s boiling point for optimal performance is different. And the strategy which works for you is different from your training partner’s. On top of that, which tactics you use depend on your emotional temperature at the moment (thus which direction you need to change).
So don’t get too caught up in what breath control technique, what playlist, or even what posture is going to get you most fired up.
Focus on discovering what state of mind and body you’re in when you’re at your best. THEN play with tactics to get and stay there during practices.
Observe how the weather, how your workday, how your food intake, how your teammates’ moods, and how the training session planned for the day impact your base state. Play with tactics again.
And take notes.
Forget Mental Toughness
All of this is actually just skill building – the skill of regulating your own emotional temperature. That’s the skill you need to deliver superlative performance.
Arousal is the last skill athletes think about. Love for the game and energy from teammates and the thrill of the crowd and visions of your own future greatness carry you through the mechanical skills of the sport. Desire to play faster, stronger, better, bigger, more carries you through the conditioning.
But “mental toughness” gets bandied about when discussing athletes who come through under pressure as though wanting it is an elixir…and only some folks get a sip.
Nah, mental skills are skills too. Arousal management is the mental skill athletes need when all the physical qualities are in place. Start developing it before you need it.
Then, when your name is called or you’re the sub for your star player going out with injury, you step in, dial in, and perform.
Recommended reading:
1. Psych by Judd Biasiotto
2. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi