CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE July/August 2020 | Page 21

your responses, I develop your mental game plan. I identify your key mental coaching areas and provide you with reading and worksheets that target those areas. Phone or video follow-ups are done to keep you accountable and on track as well as to target any ‘hiccups’. attach your self-worth to how you place in a competition? How many bodybuilders do you know that hire a mental game coach? Athletes who train for the Olympics do, so why not bodybuilders? The answer is because there aren’t many Mental Game Coaching Professionals (MGCPs) around and bodybuilders do not have the information about how MGCPs can help them. Mental Game coaching provides specific strategies in a specific format that is custom tailored to a specific bodybuilder’s challenges. How do you know what challenges you have? As an MGCP, I provide and you complete the AMAP (Athlete’s Mental Aptitude Profile). Once I receive your completed responses, and based on Think of the mind muscle connection when training the muscle. How do you train the mind? Like a muscle, it takes guided practice by incorporating mental focus in your routines. Such examples address learning how to do the following: increasing self-confidence, letting go of mistakes, increasing motivation, expecting the unexpected (especially on show day: this helped me when I competed at the Arnold’s not knowing 24 hours before the show whether the show would go on and later on competing without an audience), increasing focus, feeling more excited rather than a nervous wreck on show day, avoiding over analyzing mistakes, technique, weak body parts, etc., addressing the perception that post-injury you cannot perform the way you did preinjury even when recovered, managing expectations, processing disappointments from past undesired placing, and so on. Whether it’s low carbs, life/personal stresses, getting too much in your head, or going off the diet/training plan, mental training gets you to refocus and practice your new found skills allowing you to be more confident, focus better, stay composed under pressure, practice more efficiently and overall performance enhancement. Contact me at [phone] when you are ready to get your mental game on and gain a mental edge on your competition. [email protected] Lesley 21