By Paul Cater
As mega doses of caffeine and related supplements are championed within the training industry, I would like to offer some additional strategy for increasing performance. Thankfulness, as well as providing motivation, has been proven to limit the stress hormone Cortisol, which can have negative effect on training gains.
Routine Problems
After a successful run as a strength coach in London and Baltimore, I decided that it was time to do my own thing in my small home town. This decision was lead not just by marrying a local girl, or a decade of travel weariness, but a real desire to offer something unique and needed to my hometown community. 3 years into business development, I have observed patterns of stress and anxiety that come with starting a small business but that also may represent psychological stressors present in the daily routine of any athlete. Preparing for an optimal physiological training scenario is most often dependent on psychological factors. University students have social and academic pressures, and large degrees of autonomy that demand honing routines just to focus on training itself.
I tell the high school athletes I’m preparing for college that not only learning proper lifting technique, speed and agility is important but learning how to balance academics, the sport itself and training with sleep and diet is imperative to learn prior to getting to college. When discussing a recruit, colleague Isaac Salazar, head strength and conditioning coach at Cal State Fullerton recently backed this up, stating: “I always tell our recruits it’s not that they aren’t prepared for the collegiate level skill wise or with levels of physical ability, but that the frequency (of training) is higher and the intensity is higher and the time management is more challenging (than high school).
Though more difficult than high school in terms of volume of training and other life management, university athletes have much of their day planned for them. The routine brings success in study and athletics. I remember that during football season, my grades actually were better because of the disciplined routine I was under. When I go to work Spring Training I love just knowing when I have to be somewhere and working till I am bone weary tired, then collapsing in bed at night. I can sustain a positive mental state through this grind for 50-60 days in a row simply because there is no mental energy expended creating a reality.
Harkening back to my college football days, I am finding it is imperative to construct accountability into my daily routine. Yet, without the defined goals of national championships and grade point averages, my attention shifts to surviving my start-up phase and keeping my marriage intact. I have found that mentorship exchanges create the accountability climate I need to simply train hard. My highest motivational state is when I am surrounded by people mentoring me or those I am pouring into. In placing oneself under wiser people as well as younger coaches and professionals who challenge me to lead, the motivational coals are stoked.
Encouragement DNA
There came a point when ergogenic aides and pre- workout formulas would not call me into a training mindset. Goals of winning championships, getting a girl or hitting certain weightlifting PR’s became peripheral. I even had my own gym, set up exactly to my own specification with every piece of equipment I could ever dream of. I had to go even deeper to the root of my motivation to train and what would set my daily routine. I determined that encouraging others was the purest form of instrinsic motivation stimulant I could take. It is really the idea of receiving and giving encouragement that moves me deeply and changes the mindset of my self-constructed workday, handles energy sucking anxiety, and gives me drive to retain my strength, speed and agility into my 40’s.
Strength Coaches are natural born encouragers. This is part of the DNA of really anyone who chooses coaching as their profession. We can do it pretty much on autopilot for others, but for ourselves- that is the question. How was I going to motivate myself? I have determined that Thanksgiving- being thankful for things I have received- ushers in encouragement for others and ultimately oneself. The natural outpouring of thankfulness and encouragement is then competition.
Competition is the manifestation of thanksgiving. In the day and age when competition is frowned upon and everyone gets a medal, I believe some have lost their way in celebrating competition. They have eliminated it all together. Conversely, others have taken a winner take all mentality where competition and crushing opponents creates a fear based motivation. Competition is a celebration and act of thanks, therefore completing the cycle of first giving thanks. Those hyper or hypo competition mindsets miss the point. I think this is what the NCAA and essential roots of amateur sport in England tried to retain, but fight a losing battle as money and performance enhancing drugs permeate sport culture.
My most memorable days as a coach gradually shift from defeaning Twickenham stadium during the final moments of a cup final or a playoff win at Camden yards over the Yankees, but that of a late night game of dodgeball with my highschool athletes. Competition born from Thankfulness, with encouragement as the prime mover, is as close to a worshipful religious experience than the corporate raising of arms and chanting that happens at any stadium. Because Thankfulness acknowledges something received, not taken, the resultant competition is pure in the ideal of any sportsman, administrator or parent.
Maybe for this reason lower levels of the stress hormone Cortisol are found in the bloodstream after practicing the simple mental process of gratitude. Increased awareness of Heart Rate Variability correlated with less stress were seen in this study (McCraty et al, 1998). There are other studies that reveal how gratitude leads to less depressive states and stronger relationships.
Tactical Thankfulness
I not only use this Tactical Thanksgiving leading into training, but employ it at the end of most sessions. I want my athletes to go from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest”. We want to athletes to enter a time of peace and calm to better metabolize proteins for repair and rejuvenation and this requires psychological and breathing integration to relax the body. As athletes engage in breathing techniques to de-activate the sympathetic nervous system a transfer blood to the internal organs, I use a 3 minute cycle of 5 second in/out breath cycles lying of their back with eyes closed. During this time, I ask them to think of 3 things they are thankful for and then 3 people they can encourage. This 3/3/3 system is something I use now regularly to stave off anxiety and bring a focus to my life. This focus is the root of my day where I create all the structure.
This is essentially what a strength coach does. Yes we program and instruct, but the reason I have not pursued other careers is because I was born to encourage others through intense physical activity and preparation. I need to remind myself of this when all the administration and the dreaded marketing sucks the life out of me. Like my athletes, I need to return to the basics of thankfulness and encouragement; then I can go forth and compete. When motivation even for my own training wanes, I use the Thankfulness, Encourage others, and Compete Method. My morning routine becomes not to focus on emails and social media first, but to meditate on gratitude, have an outpouring of encouragement for others, then get ready to compete – which may help write better emails or simply train my ass off. This brings momentum, creativity and energy for further coaching.
When the body can’t handle more caffeine, try these 10 strategies to invigorate training motivation and competition.
- Tactical Thankfulness: as explained above, implementing this strategy prior to training brings focus and intrinsic motivation, as well as better team skills. Journaling may be included in this exercise. You don’t have to be Hemingway, but writing these things down is beneficial and solidifies the process. Journaling guides my TEC process and results in even more focused training and coaching; any whiffs of self-pity or depression are blown away and intrinsic motivation engaged.
- Vitamin D from Sun Exposure: After living in London for nearly 7 years, I know just how photo-sensitive a human can become. I think I actually have some sort of PTSD from the lack of sunlight, whereby I become anxious if I am indoors when there is good light and heat outdoors. Currently, I make time to sit in the sunlight at some time during the day for at least 15-20 minutes. Not enough to incur too much sun damaged on my Northern European skin, I time these Vitamin D injections appropriately before I have to perform/coach or after instances of stress.
- Auditory Stimulation: Music is the way to a man’s soul, or is it food? At any rate, research proves that the right music arouses the sympathetic nervous system and elevates mood. Finding the right music and decibel level is an important factor to any session. Though learning to train without any auditory stimulation is important, a DJ set will bring any session to maximum vibe levels. Leading researcher on the subject of music and performance Costas Karageorghis, which I studied under at Brunel University in London would agree, stated that music is “a type of legal performance enhancing drug”.
- Sustained Cardiovascular Exericise: When body fat shoots up due to higher cortisol levels (which may be a function of sleep loss and anxiety) shift back a weight lifting session with a longer run. For speed strength athletes as I consider myself, limit light interval-tempo- hill based run to under 40 minutes. Past this time, structural and metabolic changes take places at the cellular level. Muscle damage and joint stress may cancel out psychological advantage of “distance” run.
- Change of Training Venue: Simply go to a different gym for a session: the track is my go to for inspiration and change of focus. I often get a day pass to other gyms to change my environment, especially when I spend long hours in my own training facility.
- Different Coaching Input: Being coached by someone else is imperative. I have taken up Gymnastics on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Aside from the benefits of learning tumbling and a different type of strength and awareness, the simple act of placing myself under someone else’s instruction has been a game changer in my overall health. Moreover, it reminds me why I do what I do as a strength and conditioning coach
- Hydro Therapy: Whether or not ice baths are beneficial at the cellular level, simple submersion of water has huge psychological benefits. The ocean, with its rhythmic motion and high alkalinity post session or on a day off brings calm and sleep. Hydrostatic pressure also deloads joint structure and aides in venous blood return.
- Sauna Therapy: Sauna treatments shift blood, elevate mood and lubricate joints. Avoid dehydration.
- Family meals: Community brings stress release for myself. The feeling of shared labor and relaxation for myself alters my mood. I also eat slower and take my time with meals. After living and working in Spain and France, I have understood how slower pacing of meal times, usually shared with bigger groups, affects digestion. No wonder all the Europeans are skinnier, and not just from copious amounts of cycling, soccer and cigarettes.
- Hypertrophy Session: A good ol’ fashion outdoor lifting session. Especially if your legs feel beat up, get a meat head upper body hypertrophy session. Take off your shirt, go off plan and don’t stop till you get a pump. External motivation from the opposite sex will work just as well as coffee, but like caffeine has its limits.
Founder of Alpha Project at Central Coast Athletics
Salinas High School, Varsity Baseball, Football 1995
UC Davis: Studied pre-law while playing UC Davis Varsity Football 2000
NSCA, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist 2001
Poliquin Certified Level, 2
Internships include UCLA, San Jose State, San Francisco 49ers
Graduate Degree Exercise Science, Human Performance, Brunel University, London 2010
MSC Strength & Conditioning from Middlesex University, London 2011
Over 15 years of experience as an International strength and conditioning coach working with London Wasps Premier Rugby, Baltimore Orioles, USA Rugby and consulting numerous other High School, College & Professional Athletes
Late Stage Rehab Specialist
USA ambassador for advanced training technology equipment including: Versapulley, Kbox and Smartcoach.
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