MICRO GOALS
Overcoming the Fear of Pain one “micro-goal” at a time
AIMEE SCHMITT THE ULTIMATE SWIM LOG AND GOAL PLANNER
In the sport of swimming—winning is a matter of pain. Practices = Pain. Competition = Pain. To be faster, coaches and swimmers understand that they need to practice faster and harder than they did the day before. This is an accepted, but not easily participated in, reality that constantly pushes the boundary of improvement to the next level-and along with it the boundary of pain management. Pain becomes a problematic part of the process.
well as mentally managing the fear of feeling that effort. Many elite athletes in all sporting disciplines are finding success in overcoming fear of pain in training by using a technique called “micro goal setting”.
Most athletes aren’t afraid of being successful or of failing. But sometimes along the pursuit of success there develops a fear of how much that success or failure will ultimately hurt. It is the fear of the process to become better that often is the biggest impediment to personal improvement.
What is “micro-goal setting”? • Micro goal setting involves breaking down practice and larger “sets” or distances into a series of smaller more digestible sets with minigoals to accomplish to create virtual finish lines and victories in the mind of the athlete.
Athletes physically go through self-inflicted suffering to improve every day which is something the brain’s self-preservation instinct generally does not embrace. This is a common reflex that naturally occurs for athletes and breaking through the pain barrier is the mental challenge. Physiologically athletic pain has a lot to do with lactic acid build up—the body hates it and in protest, the agony begins. Proper training involves conditioning the body to become better at managing lactic acid as
Fear and anxiety come from strong emotional source triggers. For an athlete the source trigger is often competition, or race type challenges. Setting microgoals within the practice environment that mimic these types of triggering events is essential for overcoming the actual performance pain as well as the anticipation fear of that pain. Why does micro-goal setting work? • There are neurobiological reasons why goal starting block magazine | p. 5
