The Answer.

According to our new coaches at Atlantic Performance Training, the five factors of athletic performance, in order, are:

Preparedness
Effort
Attitude
Talent
Skill

As I am not one to just accept information as fact, I researched this on my own. Jim Loehr is a human performance psychologist and probably a leading expert in the field. He expands his knowledge base to help people succeed in business as well. He adds toughness as number 1, but most others don't include it on their list. Self-confidence and a sense of control could be listed, but they could be considered a result of preparedness.

What does this mean?

Natural talent will only get you so far. If someone is preparing properly for competition (training, nutrition, tactics, visualizations, etc...) they will beat the natural athlete who is not properly preparing. This gives me a lot of hope and a lot of motivation.

One aspect of training that is not used as often as it should be is sports psychology training. Has anyone ever done this? Does it work? For people that I have talked to so far, it works. Professional athletes of all sports do it. Cycling is so much a mental sport, you would think it would be beneficial.

There is one coming up at Atlantic Performance Training on November 22nd. They are going to start having them on a regular basis I think.

An Advanced Sports Performance Seminar
Registration

Atlantic Performance Training is proud to present the “Mental Preparation for Competition” seminar on
Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 12pm to 4pm. Topics covered in this seminar
include motivation, recovery, distraction, selective attention, focus, anxiety, imagery, creating success...
and more. Location: Atlantic Performance Training, 2529 Virginia Beach Blvd, VA Beach, VA 23452.
For directions, visit www.atlanticperformancetraining.com. Seminar includes reference materials, water
bottle and tee shirt. SEATS ARE LIMITED. Cost: $199 per participant.
For further information, please contact Nick Luciano at 757.275.7636.