The Super Mental Training Book (20 page)

The purpose of this lengthy aside is certainly not to criticize Benoit Benjamin. Instead, I merely wish to point out that the use of personality tests, interviews, and the like in attempting to derive a "psychological profile" of an athlete can in many instances yield misleading information. The error becomes compounded if, thanks to the misread and/or faulty information, which is then combined with a desire to take action from such, management imposes some intervention strategy—we'll call it Solution X—upon Problem Y, when, in fact, Solution Y is what is really called for.

14. Michele Himmelberg, "Head Start: Psychological Tests Help Evaluations," Orange County Register, August 20, 1985, p. C7.

15. Don Greenberg, "Clippers, Others Wary of Draft," Orange County Register, June 22, 1987, p. Dl.

16. Bill Shirley, op. cit.

17. Marty Bell, "Hypnosis in Sports: How to Slip Into a Trance and Out of a Slump," Sport, March, 1974, pp. 93-97.

18. Ralph Barbieri, "A Visit with Bill Walton... and from FBI," Sport, August, 1975, p. 74.

19. Jack Ludwig, Games of Fear and Winning, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1976).

20. Dick Douce, "Hypnosis: A Scientific Training Aid for Bodybuilders," Joe Welder's Muscle magazine, July, 1979, p. 51.

21. George Leonard, "Redesigning the Body," Esquire, May, 1986, p. 146.

22. Art Parra, "Hypnotism and Schooling? Even the Pros Need Help," Orange County Register, May 5, 1983, p. El6.

23. Susan Edmiston, "Winners and How They Win," Women's Day, September, 1976, p. 174.

24. Dan Lauck, "The Science of Psyching," Delta Airlines Sky magazine, June, 1978, p. 25.

25. Laura Saari and Jane Glenn Haas, "The Man: Serious, Private and Driven," Orange County Register, July 1, 1990, p.N5.

MENTAL TRAINING STRATEGIES TIME LINE (TRACK & FIELD/LONG DISTANCE RUNNING)

Self-hypnosis Training

(Ninja learn both self-hypnosis and how to hypnotize enemies; discussion of Dr. Morgan and Dr. Kroger)

Imagery Sessions

(Ed Burke practiced both external and internal imagery, as well as deep breathing; Bruce Jenner's workouts included such)

Hypnosis Sessions

(See George Frenn's work with Steve Brown; Arthur Ellen thwarted in hypnotizing Bill Toomey at USA-USSR meet)

TRACK & FIELD/LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING:

RECORDS FALL TO VISUALIZATION AND OTHER MENTAL DISCIPLINES

There are few sports that require from the athlete such a large amount of motivation as track and field, and long-distance running. Athletes rarely become rich from participating in these two sports, and the physical demands are great. Getting in shape and staying in condition to seriously compete in events like the 10,000 meter run, decathlon, or discus is not the easiest thing in the world. Even the top athletes in track and field or long-distance running find it hard not to "throw in the towel" and retire. After all, it is no fun fighting pain, injuries, and poverty all the time. With two strikes against him already, the athlete in either of these sports cannot afford to possess a poor mental attitude. He cannot afford to compete without properly preparing himself mentally because if the athlete simply "let's the chips fall," he invites disaster; for a lousy performance during competition in a sport which seldom provides financial rewards even for great performances is devastating to one's morale. Whenever such a disaster befalls the track and field athlete or longdistance runner, he will often think to himself, "Why am I wasting my time on this?" Retirement becomes a viable option.

To overcome profitless "glory" many track and field athletes and long-distance runners use visualization, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, and other mental training strategies to advantage. In many instances, world records and national records have fallen after such strategies were adopted. In this chapter we shall note the experiences of some of these record-setting athletes who employed mental disciplines. You will see that they all followed the "Five P's to Success." The 5 P's are: Pre~Plaooiog Prevents Poor Performance. By following the 5 P's, you too can achieve success. Become physically and mentally tough. To get mentally tough, regularly practice self-hypnosis or some other mental discipline.

Lisa Vogelsang, one of the champion athletes I have assisted, came to realize the value of the 5 P's; as a result, she ended up setting a national collegiate record in the discus. Her testimonial, which follows, illustrates the improvement you can expect to achieve by adopting a mental training strategy:

Before learning self-hypnosis I had thrown the discus for about 12 months, having a best mark of 154 feet, 1 inch. I had not thrown further than this because the discus was a new event for me, and I was having trouble learning to concentrate and compete in it.

In mid-February, 1977 I went to an all-comers track meet at Orange Coast College. My intention was to throw 160 feet. To my surprise, my arch rival, Monette Driscoll, showed up. I had not expected her to appear, and was not mentally ready to compete against her.

The competition began. Monette threw very far on her first throw, totally ruining my concentration. I began to press. In fact, of my six throws, five were fouls. My only legal throw barely went 150 feet. Monette smeared me.

At this time I knew a visit with Bob Stevenson [the author] was in order. So, the next day I learned self-hypnosis from him.

I quickly had a chance to apply what I had learned. The following day there was yet another all-comers meet, this time at University of California, Irvine. I went to the lady's room before the discus competition began; there I put myself in the hypnotic

state, and gave myself these suggestions: 1) "be relaxed and confident," 2) assorted technical suggestion, and 3) to "throw over 160 feet—a new personal record."

My warm-up tosses were great; some of these throws flew over 170 feet. During the competition, though, my first two throws only went in the low 150s. It was then that I realized that when I had told myself to "throw over 160 feet," I had not specified "in the meet." My third throw was a PR, but not over 160 feet. However, my fourth throw did go 161 f 3 ff . Unfortunately, it was only a 4-throw competition; so, that was my last throw.

But, there is always another competition. At a track meet March 19 at Cal State Hayward I put self-hypnosis to work again. A half hour before the competition began I lied down under a tree near the discus ring, and put myself under hypnosis. This time, along with my regular suggestions, I gave myself the suggestion to set a PR of 165 feet.

My series turned out all right. My first three throws were 161 f 3 ff , 160 f 5", and 160'10". These did not feel too good, but they weren't bad. At this point my coach informed me that Lyn Winbigler, another rival, had thrown one foot under the American record that day. This news motivated me to reinforce my suggestions. Doing it again helps.

I proceeded to finish my series with three tosses: 165 f 10", 163'10", and 167'10". This last throw established a new women's national collegiate record in the discus.

Four weeks later in April, 1977 at Cal State Long Beach, Lisa broke her own national collegiate record, this time throwing the discus 173 f 6" (see "Track Highlights," Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1977). Once again, Vogelsang used self-hypnosis to mentally prepare for the competition. "Self-hypnosis," she told me at the time, "has provided me the ability to relax and just throw. I can really feel what I'm doing, too."

Several years ago, Dr. George Knox, a U. S. Master's Track Team member, set age group records in the shotput, discus, hammer throw, and 7 1/2 mile run. Like Lisa Vogelsang he credited self-hypnosis for much of his success. [1] On the surface this should come as no surprise because Dr. Knox is former President of the Association to Advance Ethical Hypnosis. However, what makes the man's accomplishments particularly remarkable is that his involvement in track and field began only after he had suffered a heart attack. In a 10-year period after the attack Dr. Knox, using a lot of positive thinking, completely turned around his physical condition. This being the case, one can well appreciate Dr. Knox's partiality towards self-hypnosis.

Dr. Warren Johnson, a hypnosis expert, feels that there is a way to determine scientifically whether or not hypnosis definitely helps the athlete. In his paper, "Hypnosis and Muscular Performance," contained in Contemporary Readings in Sport Psychology, the following question was posed: "When an athlete performs well after having received hypnotic suggestions, might he not have done just as well on that occasion if hypnosis had not been employed?" Responded Dr. Johnson, "This question is unanswerable. Sports like track and swimming would provide an excellent testing ground for studying the entire question experimentally; but sports in which one is working directly against an opponent—sports like wrestling, boxing and football—would be useless in this regard because they lack controllable conditions."[2]

Dr. Johnson says track and swimming are ideal sports to test the effectiveness of hypnosis, because it is in these sports that one's time or distance might change if a new variable is introduced (such as the athlete practicing self-hypnosis while doing everything else in his training regimen the same). In the Swimming chapter we witness the case of the University of Oregon swimmers substantially improving their times after they incorporated self-hypnosis into their training regi-

THE SUPER MENTAL TRAINING BOOK

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(Bob Stevenson photo)

Lisa Vogelsang, who in 1977 set a NCAA record in the discus, adopted the traditional way to program oneself via self-hypnosis: she relaxed her entire body, then gave herself autosuggestions (which is what she is doing in this picture). Vogelsang employed this approach before breaking the record.

men; conference records and personal records were smashed. Swimmers attending Servite High School also experienced similar results with self-hypnosis. The Oregon and Servite swimmers were not part of an experiment, so strict scientific controls, of course, were not in place. It is reasonable to assume, however, that the basic outcome would have remained the same had such controls existed.

In track and field, several examples highlight the effectiveness of hypnosis. Lisa Vogelsang, after adopting self-hypnosis, improved her distance in the discus by 20 feet, and set two national collegiate records—all this occurring in the short space of two months. Another example, substantiating the dynamic potential hypnosis holds for track and field athletes, comes from the testimonial of Steve Brown. Brown, who set a national junior college record in the discus in 1976, had a taste of hypnosis, and came away from the experience a believer. He met George Frenn, the former world record holder in the 35-pound throw, who had introduced hypnosis to other athletes, allowing them to overcome various mental blocks. As Brown related to me, he took part in many interesting hypnosis sessions with Frenn during April and May, 1977:

I wanted to see how hypnosis would help me with my discus performance because I was at a disadvantage coaching-wise. I knew more about throwing the discus than the coach. As a result, I opened the track season really dynamite; then, I started stagnating.