Get Your Head Together!
Thinking Parkour…

For those who are new to the sport, there are many hurdles to finding free expression through parkour; poor physical conditioning, lack of experience with new techniques and new ways of thinking, and many other things that can sideline your progress and keep you from flowing freely. For the new traceur these are not just obstacles to progress, they are also opportunities, jumping-off points that will bring you to a higher level of athleticism, and to new forms of expression.

Just as with physical obstacles, they make forward progress interesting by taking you out of the linear train of thought. But what of the experience traceur, the one who knows the sport well but seeks to improve their runs even further? It can be a frustrating experience to try again and again to improve one's physical actions, especially when there seems to be little room for improvement. Just as a new traceur learns to see the world differently, the experienced runner must bring their mind in line with their body. Only then can they consistently perform at a level that will allow them to expand beyond their current boundaries.

Every sport has a mental dimension, and athletes and sports psychologists are increasingly finding that experienced athletes can gain more from sharpening their minds than from honing their physical skills. There are several tricks that can be used to bring the mind in tune with the body and to prepare the mind to perform at consistently high levels. These techniques have been used by many athletes for centuries, but only in recent years have they been scientifically examined and it may be many years yet before scientists discover the exact reasons that these techniques are so effective. Nevertheless, consider the following ideas to get your brain geared up for top performance.

Use of Routines
In order to more frequently experience that state of focus and performance known as 'the Zone', it is important to create circumstances under which those experiences can occur. One way to do this is through repetition. By repeating certain acts and associating them with certain attitudes, thoughts and feelings, you bring yourself into harmony and into a consistent place where excellence is the norm. The use of these rituals and routines can be seen in the actions of every professional athlete – baseball players going up to bat, basketball players preparing for a free throw; each will perform small, set behaviours to bring them into a mindset to succeed. The traceur can use this same tactic in preparation for a challenging run.

Use a set stretching routine, preparing both the body and the mind to run faster, jump higher and push further. Repetitive motion activates a phenomenon known as 'muscle memory'. As a certain activity is performed again and again, it is learned, not only in our brains but also in the muscles used for that activity. This muscle memory allows once difficult moves to become second nature and lets us string together combinations of moves that are each complex combinations of muscle contractions and releases. By teaching your mind and your muscles that a set stretching routine is always a precursor to physical activity, your body will learn to prepare for that activity with increased blood-flow, hormonal responses, changes in circulation and breathing and a refocusing of the mind to centre upon the task at hand.

Music
Music is a powerful tool to bring the mind into focus and to guide its energies. According to Dr. C. I. Karageorghis, PhD and sports and exercise psychologist at Brunel University, "…music alters arousal levels and can therefore be used as a form of stimulant prior to competition or as a sedative to calm over-anxious athletes." If you want to calm jittery nerves, some soft classical music can bring swift serenity and clarity to the mind. If you want to energize yourself, find a pop song with a fast beat and a catchy tune. If you want to push yourself further, to extend beyond past limits, find yourself some hard driving rock. The specific selections will be up to you, but the effects will be the same. Music has long been known to produce a variety of neural and physiological effects, influencing emotion, hormone release and heart rate.

Studies have shown that music can enhance many aspects of athletic performance. In one sense, it does this by distracting you. Instead of noticing the sound of your breathing, or the ache of your bad knee, you're busy grooving on K.C. and the Sunshine Band. This makes exercise more enjoyable and a lot less tedious. The second way that music effects performance is by stimulating the mind and body. Some music triggers many of the hormones and physiological changes that accompany athletic performance. Third, your game will be improved by the rhythm of the music. A steady beat has very organic qualities, and help to synchronize breathing, repetitive actions, and more. All in all, the right music will do wonders for your game.

Visualization
Many experts agree, visualization is one key to gaining the mental edge in any activity. By mentally performing the tasks and steps before physically doing them, it gives your brain a chance to practice and then improve. Your mind then prepares the body for the predetermined plan of action. Dan Edwardes has written an excellent article on the topic, "Where's Your Head At? Focus and Visualization", and he touches upon many of the benefits of visualization.

The basics to visualization are simple. By imagining the performance of a specific task, the mind is able to prepare itself to actually do it. Motions are sequenced, distances estimated, surfaces accounted for. Instead of throwing yourself into a situation and hoping for the best, we allow ourselves to examine the many parts of the situation and figure out the best approaches to each. Additionally, visualization prepares the body through small neural impulses, called micro-muscle movement – essentially the small firing of the same nerves and muscles that will be used in the activity.

Mantra/Self-Dialoguing
Often, we defeat ourselves by telling ourselves that we can't do something, that it's impossible, that we aren't good enough or even just telling ourselves that we're scared. Generally, this inner-dialogue goes on without consciously doing it – it's just a part of how we relate to ourselves. However, if this negative self-talk is wrong, if it limits us from doing what we are capable of then it needs to change. This can take many forms. Some may actively talk themselves up. "Alright, you can do this. It's not too big a jump – it's only a little bigger than that jump I made the other day at the park. That jump wasn't that hard. I could have done better. I can do better. I can do this."

Others focus instead upon a word or phrase. If I repeat to myself the word 'power', chances are high that I'll respond physically in a manner that reflects my mental focus – with power. If I repeat the phrase 'I can fly', it isn't hard to understand that I will certainly jump higher and farther. I can do this because, instead of focusing upon my limitations, I am bringing my mind to bear on my abilities and potential. I become free to do more because I expect myself to do more.

Breathing
Is breathing a mental activity? Wouldn't it be better classified as a physical activity? Granted, there are physical elements to breathing, but there are also physical aspects to the use of music, visualization and other primarily mental acts. By focusing on our breathing, we do two things: First, we exert mental control over our physical processes. Often, by leaving so many physical acts to reflex and instinct, we never improve upon them, instead doing things the same way every time. If we always do things the same way, we'll never change, and such is the antithesis of parkour.

Second, we synchronize our mental and physiological rhythms. The steady in and out of our breath will influence the pattern of our steps, the timing of our movements and the beating of our heart. By synchronizing these things, we enter a state of oneness where we can perform beyond the limits of what we've done prior.

Think About It…
These few suggestions are only a handful of the mental techniques that athletes might employ to gain a mental edge. Look on them as an opportunity to enhance your own performance and progress and there is little doubt that your own experiences with parkour will benefit. You will find yourself pushing beyond what you could previously do and you will find yourself more often experiencing the fluidity that makes a good run great. Keep on training and practising, but remember to exercise the muscle that does the most – your brain.

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