Skatergirl is in the middle of her 20 minute warmup session. She is getting ready for her long program later in the day.

Yesterday, Skatergirl skated a stellar short program and is currently sitting in first place.

Since this competition is early in the season, Skatercoach wants Skatergirl to attempt her Triple Flip in her long program. The Triple Flip is a new jump for Skatergirl and she is very inconsistent with it.

Unfortunately, after warming up her other jumps Skatergirl is struggling to land a triple flip.

“Let’s move on,” Skatercoach says. “It’ll be fine once the music starts.”

Skatergirl shakes her head. “One more try,” she says. “I know I can land it.”

“Ok,” Skatercoach says. “One more attempt, but after that we have to move on.”

Unfortunately, Skatergirl falls on her next attempt and the one after that. Then she pops a couple, before Skatercoach forces her to move on.

But, the damage is already done. Now, Skatergirl can’t get her mind off of the Triple Flip. And as a result, the rest of her practice is a mess.

Thankfully, Skatergirl ends up skating a good long program. She lands her Triple Flip, and finishes the program with only a couple small mistakes.

But, the question remains. Was there something she could have done to avoid the meltdown on her warmup session?

Mentalgamecoach’s Tips

In the previous article I introduced the Front Brain and Hindbrain. But now, I want to get into the nitty gritty details. Specifically I want to answer the question, how do you unlock your Hindbrain?

If you didn’t read the previous article, here is a quick refresher on the Front Brain and Hindbrain.

Your Brain is split into two parts. The Front Brain and the Hindbrain.

The Front Brain is where your critic lives. You know, the voice in your head that yells at you whenever you make a mistake.

The Hindbrain is where your muscle memory lives. And when you’re at competition, this is where you want to spend most of your time.

Of course, there’s a catch. You see, you can’t be in both your Front Brain and Hindbrain at the same time.

Think of your Hindbrain as a garage and your muscle memory as the valuable “junk” stored inside of it.

When you are in your Front Brain, the garage door (to the Hindbrain) is closed and you lose access your muscle memory. When you are in your Hindbrain the garage door is open and you have full access your muscle memory, but you can’t access your critic (yay).

So, how do you access your Hindbrain on demand? You focus on the feeling of your current action.

What does this mean? Let me explain.

Let’s say you’re doing a spiral. A nice easy forward spiral around the end of the rink.

First you want to figure out what your current action is. In this case, it’s the spiral.

Once you know what your current action is, you want to pick a feeling to focus on. It might be the stretch you feel in your chest. It might be the gliding sensation of the ice under your blade. It might be the tension of the extension in your free leg. It might be the tension of the muscle contraction in your back.

Now that you’ve picked your feeling, you want to focus on that sensation. But, here’s where it gets tricky.

There is a difference between Front Brain feeling, (i.e. this feels ‘off’) which is a judgement, and Hindbrain feeling.

Hindbrain feeling is all about immersing yourself in what the action you are doing feels like, (i.e. the sensation  of being “in the ice” rather than “on top of the ice”).

When you focus on a specific feeling and experience it, you are truly in your body which means you are in your Hindbrain. When you are in your Hindbrain, you have full access to your muscle memory.

Start small. Notice the difference between feeling in your body, and when you are not in your body. Start with easy skills like spirals or footwork. Then, once you get the hang of it, start practicing it on your jumps and spins.

With practice and perseverance, you’ll be able to get into your body and access your Hindbrain, and your muscle memory, on demand.

Mental skills training can make a difference because it can help you access what is already there during competition and practice.

Start here: download “Confidence Myth Busters,” a complimentary eBook and make a change.