Mental skills and personal experiment (14): reporting again
I have been silent for a while but not inactive.
To be honest, I have been doing very little “homework” (mental rehearsal, meditation and zhan-zhuang ). The workouts, however, have kept a steady improvement. It is increasingly easier to focus and “summon” the necessary visual clues to perform the lifts.
Maybe this is a period I needed to focus on technique itself. I would much rather attribute this to lack of personal organization, though. Many things happened at the personal, professional and athletic levels. That includes illness in my family and the dissolution of the national sports federation I supported and competed at.
The impact of such an event on any training protocol, including the “mental” one, cannot be underestimated. It means the virtual disintegration of any long term planning. It sort of leaves you in a state of suspended animation.
Following that, the organization of another organization, political issues involved there and other practical matters took priority over all else, since without them, there is no sport, so to speak.
I hope these next two weeks will bring some stability to everything.
Sincronicities considered, it is amusing that I was procrastinating writing the chapter on periodization on my book. Recent events have just shown me how flexible a coach must be and how much she must understand principles of non-linear periodization…
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Marilia Coutinho, Ph.D.
