Pre – During – Post Competition Routines
In addition to general daily routines, like the bookending strategy just covered, developing specific routines to prepare for competitions and workouts can significantly improve energy, focus and performance during these crucial times.
The use of pre/during/post competition and workout routines varies some depending on your role.
Athletes in a team setting will approach these routines differently than someone looking to improve their fitness.
I’ve broken down when and how to use pre/during/post competition and workout routines based on these two categories so you can get a better idea of how to implement this strategy in your specific situation.
The health/fitness setting
Developing routines around workouts can provide a powerful cue that it’s time to transition from their real self (work/parent/student, etc.) into your performing or competitive self.
This translates into more focus and energy during workout sessions — something that’s a real challenge for many people.
Similarly, the post-workout time period is a great opportunity to leverage a natural trigger (the end of a workout) to build in positive actions/habits.
The team/athletic setting
When it comes to competition, any edge we can provide athletes to “turn it on” and perform their best when it matters most is something we should train.
A personalized routine to help direct focus and energy during these crucial times can be the difference between an athlete stepping into a competition calm, focused and prepared and an athlete battling distraction and struggling to perform to the level of his or her capabilities.
There’s really no downside to developing personalized pre/during/post competition routines — only positives.
Pre-Competition Routine Examples
The purpose of the pre-competition routine is to:
- Provide a cue to transition from your real self (student, work, parent, etc.) into his competitive self (athlete, competitor).
- Remove distractions so as much focus as possible can be directed toward the workout/competition.
Not to keep things too open-ended, but anything that accomplishes those goals can be included in a pre-competition routine, such as:
- Listening to a particular song or playlist.
- Putting on a uniform or workout apparel in a particular order.
- Doing a certain set of stretches.
- Eating a pre-workout/competition snack or supplement that sends the cue “it’s almost game/workout time.”
- Doing a few minutes of mental imagery in silence (picturing what a successful game, workout, etc., looks like as outlined in the pillar on mental imagery).
… to name just a few ideas.
As long as it is a ritual/routine that the person who’s doing it enjoys and finds useful, there’s really not a wrong way to do it.
Consistency is the key.
In-Competition Routines
During competitions and workouts, there are routines separating play to play, exercise to exercise, providing more opportunities to implement routines for increased focus and performance.
The primary goals of the in-competition/workout routine are to:
- Help focus on the play, lift, rep, etc., in front of you while removing outside distractions.
- Help recover from mistakes or lapses in performance and get back into focus as quickly as possible.
The two strategies outlined earlier, “Flush it and make the next best decision” and “Creating a recognize, release, refocus routine” — make excellent in-competition routines.
Revisit those strategies and implement a in-competition routine to build resilience against distractions and/or negativity during workouts or competitions.
Post-Competition Routines
The primary goal of the post-competition/workout routine is to:
- Allow yourself a process to decompress after competition and shift back into recovery mode.
- Reflect on performance to determine what was done well and what improvements can be made for next time.
- Transition out of competition mode and be ready to focus on the next task at hand.
Many people naturally include a post-game meeting as a routine but there are some other strategies that can be used to improve the decompression and reflection goals mentioned above, including:
- Write down three things you did well (their accomplishments) and one thing they could improve based on their performance during the competition or workout.
- 2-5 minutes of meditation using the 6-2-8 method explained earlier. This has psychological and physiological benefits following intense exercise/competition and has been shown to reactivate the parasympathetic nervous system so the recovery process can begin.
Again, you need to discover what activities/routines you will enjoy doing as part of a post-competition/workout routine to accomplish the goals outlined above — it’s hard to go wrong here, just remember… consistency is more important than duration.
Here is a Mental Performance Daily Podcast where I discuss In Competition Routines.
