Developing Your Pre-Performance Routine: Playoff Moments Part 4

Playoff Moments: Part 4

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did." - Mark Twain

Michelle Jenneke, Olympic Hurdler was made famous for her pre performance routine.

Pre Performance Routines (PPR), to put it simply, are a step by step process of thoughts and actions that athletes use to perform a skill, like shooting a free throws in basketball, putting in golf, serving in tennis, kicking a penalty kick in soccer, or running a race, like 100m hurdles.

PPR is a way of building consistency in your athletic mindset and in your ability to optimally perform. At the heart of it, PPR helps to regulate emotions and to focus your thoughts on the skill at hand.

To develop a PPR, there are four areas to focus on, the Physical, Tactical, Technical, and Mental.

We will use 100m hurdles as our example for a PPR:

a. Physical, think about how your body needs to be to perform a skill. For Jenneke, dancing before she get set in the starting blocks helps to keep her body relaxed, warm, and loose.

b. Tactical is the strategy or decision making process. For a 100m hurdler this can include timing off the blocks, hurdle clearance, and number of strides to each hurdle.

c. Technical is the technique needed to perform a skill, like how to explode out of the starting blocks, stride length, and arm and leg action.

d. Mental, focusing thoughts and feelings to perform the task at hand, like feeling relaxed and loose.

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Tips for developing a stronger mindset with your PPR:

1️⃣ Remember to breathe. Take deep breaths to relieve tension.

2️⃣ Use one or a combination of the following to help you to eliminate distractions:

i. Self talk cues to remind you why you are prepared and ready to race. Keep it positive, relevant, and to the point.

ii. Imagine running the race in your mind from your point of view.

iii. Feel it just before you do it. Just feel the movements of the skill, don’t think about the the tactics and techniques.

iv. If you get distracted during your routine, have the patience to stop and start again.

3️⃣ Routines need to be developed and practiced consistently. As your skill improves over time, your PPR should adjust to those changes. For example, a novice athlete may need to focus more on technique, while an elite athlete may just need to focus on emotional control.

For more, contact us and schedule an appointment!