Mental Skills Audio Training Library
To perform your best at your sport, you need to train your body and your brain. Coaches say that when you're playing against an opponent of equal ability, mental skills account for between 50% to 80% of the outcome. But, how do you improve your mental skills? What skills do you practice? How do you practice them? The VCU Athletics Mental Skills Audio Training Library is an attempt to answer these questions. The audio files below will teach you evidence-based, practical techniques to improve your mental toughness so you can perform to your potential in your sport. Most student-athletes recognize the importance of the mental game to their sport, but they don't have the time to practice mental skills and don't know what skills to practice or how to practice them. This audio library will guide you through the most widely recognized mental skills techniques to help you mange your emotions, stay positive in the face of adversity, build your confidence, handle competitive stress, and much more. Listen to the audios anytime, anywhere, and start training your brain!
Chapter 1: Introduction To The Mental Skills Training Library
1-1 Listen To This First (2:27)
This audio describes how the audios are organized and how you can use them in the most efficient way to strengthen your mental toughness.
1-2 What Mental Skills Are And Why You Should Care (3:16)
This audio describes why mental skills are important to sport performance and how they can be used.
1-3 Mental Tools And Mental Tasks (4:03)
This audio briefly describes the most commonly used mental skills tools to help improve sport performance.
Chapter 2: How To Evaluate Your Mental Skills
2-1 Find Your Peak Performance Mental State - Part 1 (2:41)
This audio, along with the next one, will help you identify the mental factors that contribute most strongly to your peak performance mental state.
2-2 Find Your Peak Performance Mental State - Part 2 (4:23)
This audio, along with the previous one, will help you identify the mental factors that contribute most strongly to your peak performance mental state. It will also show you how you can find your mental skills strengths and weaknesses.
Links For This Chapter:
Checklist of Performance States
Two-Minute Journal - Self-Awareness
Athlete Inventory Of Mental Skills
Self-Awareness Training Article
Chapter 3: Goal-Setting
3-1 Why You Hate Goals And What You Should Do About (5:11)
This audio explains why goal-setting is usually done poorly, and shows how it can be a tremendous advantage to your improving your sport performance - if you do it right.
Links For This Chapter:
Goal-Setting Worksheet - Sample
Goal Setting Worksheet
Goal-Setting Training Article
3-2 Setting Goals The Right Way (4:17)
This audio gives specific examples of how to set goals the right way and how to cope with the things that will get in the way of your achieving your goals.
Chapter 4: Self-Talk
4-1 Self-Talk: What You Say Is What You Get (4:08)
This audio describes what self-talk is and how it can affect your sports performance – for better or worse!
4-2 Stop Negative Thinking (3:50)
This audio describes ways to anticipate the situations where you get negative and to break the spiral of negative self-talk.
Links For This Chapter:
Self-Talk Worksheet - Sample
Self-Talk Worksheet
Two-Minute Journal - Self-Talk
Self-Talk Training Article
4-3 Changing Negative Self-Talk To Positive Self-Talk (4:14)
This audio tells you the specific steps you can take to be more positive mentally, and gives examples of how to practice this mental skill.
4-4 A Mindful Approach To Negative Thinking (2:49)
This audio describes how use mindfulness as an alternative to thought stopping to manage your negative thinking.
4-5 Mindfulness Meditation Exercise (5:38)
This audio walks you through a mindful meditation exercise to strengthen your “mindfulness muscle.”
Chapter 5: Imagery
5-1 Introduction To Imagery Training (5:17)
This audio describes what mental imagery is, how it works, and the two keys to using it in the most effective way.
Links For This Chapter:
Imagery Training Article
5-2 Strengthening Your Imagery Muscles (5:44)
This audio will help you identify your imagery strengths and weaknesses and walks you through several exercises to improve the effectiveness of your imagery.
Links For This Chapter:
Two-Minute Journal - Imagery
5-3 Designing Your Imagery Training Program (3:53)
This audio will give you the nuts and bolts on how to begin designing your own specific imagery training program.
5-4 Writing Your Imagery Script (4:02)
This audio will guide you through the process of making an imagery script designed to meet your specific needs.
Links For This Chapter:
Imagery Outline Worksheet - Sample
Imagery Outline Worksheet
Chapter 6: Intensity Regulation
6-1 Finding Your Optimal Intensity Level (3:16)
This audio describes how being too intense or not intense enough can have a negative impact or your sport performance.
Links For This Chapter:
Two-Minute Journal - Intensity
6-2 Diaphragmatic Breathing (4:16)
This audio will teach you a quick and effective breathing technique that can help you manage your performance anxiety in many different situations.
Links For This Chapter:
Intensity Regulation Training Article
6-3 How To Do Progressive Relaxation (3:12)
This audio describes a deep relaxation technique that will help you sleep better, recover faster, and even help you manage pain from an injury.
6-4 Progressive Relaxation Exercise (26:38)
This audio is a guided progressive relaxation exercise that will walk you through the technique so that you can achieve a deeply relaxed state. It it the longest of all the audios by far, but it will get you very relaxed.
6-5 Quick Relaxation Techniques (3:34)
This audio describes how you can shorten the progressive relaxation exercise in various ways and the situations in which these shortened techniques can be most effective.
6-6 Psyching Up Techniques (6:33)
This audio describes how you can shorten the progressive relaxation exercise in various ways and the situations in which these shortened techniques can be most effective.
Links For This Chapter:
Psyching Up Mental Planning Worksheet - Sample
Psyching Up Mental Planning Worksheet
Chapter 7: Creating Mental Plans And Routines
7-1 How To Make A Mental Plan (4:13)
This audio describes what mental plans and routines are and how you can create a pre-competition mental plan and a pre-performance mental routine.
Links For This Chapter:
Pre-Competition Mental Planning Worksheet - Sample
Pre-Competition Mental Planning Worksheet
Mental Planning Training Article
7-2 The Refocusing Mental Plan (3:14)
This audio describes another important mental plan that every athlete should have at the ready – a mental routine to refocus and stay positive after you make a mistake or something goes wrong.
Links For This Chapter:
The "4-R's" Refocusing Plan
Chapter 8: Where Should I Go From Here?
8-1 Creating Your Own Mental Routines (3:55)
This audio will show you how you can take everything you’ve learned in these audios and put them together to make your own mental skills plans to meet your specific needs.
Links For This Chapter:
Mental Planning Form
