WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.580 For lifters I would say to first of all try to 00:00:04.580 --> 00:00:07.040 figure out early on what is the cause. Learn 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.960 from your mistakes. If you process your mistakes 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.169 constructively you can return to competition 00:00:12.169 --> 00:00:15.410 much stronger much more resilient athlete control 00:00:15.410 --> 00:00:17.329 what you can in the meantime just get back to 00:00:17.329 --> 00:00:19.690 training focus on what you can and then very 00:00:19.690 --> 00:00:22.690 very slowly you know work on building up your 00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:24.809 mental resilience play around with different 00:00:24.809 --> 00:00:27.489 techniques that might help you to focus whether 00:00:27.489 --> 00:00:29.510 that's a pre -performance routine whether that's 00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:31.789 certain music whether it's breathing techniques 00:00:31.789 --> 00:00:33.829 like figure out what works for you and do it 00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:38.320 in training Hi Hilary, it's my pleasure to have 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.039 you on Evidence Strong Show. If you could briefly 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.979 introduce yourself. Hi, thanks so much for having 00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:45.179 me. My name is Hilary Galvin. I'm a weightlifting 00:00:45.179 --> 00:00:47.420 coach, personal trainer and recent psychology 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:50.280 graduate. Congratulations. Thank you. And your 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.380 thesis was on weightlifting, so I'm stoked about 00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:56.079 it because any thesis on weightlifting, but that 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.719 was your undergrad thesis, wasn't it? Yes, yes. 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:01.920 So I did an undergraduate degree in humanities 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.500 with a psychology major, so psychology and philosophy. 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:06.840 And for my final year... project, I wanted to 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.060 look at choking under pressure in competitive 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:11.459 weightlifting athletes. Awesome. Very excited 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:13.599 for the topic. And let's start with some kind 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:16.680 of definition what choking is. Cool. So choking 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.579 is a recognized phenomenon within sports psychology. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.239 It describes a sudden and significant performance 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:25.680 decline under perceived pressure. So the key 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.799 two parts of that definition is that it is sudden, 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.659 unexpected. It's usually doing something that 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:33.780 the athlete could do any day of the week, could 00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:35.549 do in training, so in weight. lifting that would 00:01:35.549 --> 00:01:37.769 be like a lift that they know that they could 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:39.569 normally achieve something that's automatic and 00:01:39.569 --> 00:01:41.450 the other part of the definition that's important 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:44.310 is the perceived pressure so it might not be 00:01:44.310 --> 00:01:46.969 a pressurized situation but the athlete perceives 00:01:46.969 --> 00:01:49.209 there to be pressure all right why did you decide 00:01:49.209 --> 00:01:51.670 on this particular topic because you're a weightlifting 00:01:51.670 --> 00:01:53.849 coach you could research anything related to 00:01:53.849 --> 00:01:56.349 weight eating or not but you have decided to 00:01:56.349 --> 00:01:59.069 research choking why so i just think it's such 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:02.430 an interesting phenomenon and when for my own 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:05.430 like knowledge i was looking at all in the research 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:08.569 I couldn't find anything to do with weightlifting 00:02:08.569 --> 00:02:11.729 there was a lot of papers on golf basketball 00:02:11.729 --> 00:02:14.330 even some martial arts but I couldn't find anything 00:02:14.330 --> 00:02:16.610 on weightlifting and just from my own experience 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:20.599 in what is involved in the sport like there is 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.219 appears to be a lot of pressure in the competition 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:26.080 environment it's a kind of all eyes on you moment 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:27.960 when the weightlifter you've got your six lifts 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.240 you've got your one minute clock so i wanted 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:33.740 to see like was there anything specific to weightlifting 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:36.159 that we could find um what does this look like 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.259 for weightlifters essentially why choking happens 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:43.629 from what we know from other sports so what we 00:02:43.629 --> 00:02:46.250 know about choking under pressure in other sports 00:02:46.250 --> 00:02:48.550 the research kind of shows that it's not caused 00:02:48.550 --> 00:02:51.129 by like one specific thing it usually comes from 00:02:51.129 --> 00:02:53.330 like a combination of a psychological factors 00:02:53.330 --> 00:02:55.889 emotional factors and environmental factors that 00:02:55.889 --> 00:02:59.110 can then all like interact in the moment so psychologically 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:02.370 there's kind of three main explanations well 00:03:02.370 --> 00:03:04.789 three like front runners there's there's a few 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:07.849 diversional theories but so the first main two 00:03:07.849 --> 00:03:10.250 theories are attentional models so they are like 00:03:10.250 --> 00:03:13.409 distraction and self -focus so distraction model 00:03:13.409 --> 00:03:16.229 suggests that anxiety can distract the attention 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:19.210 from the task relevant cues to like total irrelevant 00:03:19.210 --> 00:03:21.849 things so this could be internal or external 00:03:21.849 --> 00:03:25.090 which will then overwhelm the attentional resources 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:27.830 of the athlete so you know for example athletes 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:29.990 going to lift and either a thought comes into 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:32.560 their head about something else or they're thinking 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.120 about lots of different things or there's a noise 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.240 or something like another athlete something else 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:40.919 has diverted their attention away so that's this 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:44.960 sort of distraction model then the second attentional 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.520 model is a self -focus so this is when the perceived 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.840 pressure makes the athlete overthink the movements 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.319 that are normally automatic to them so like instead 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:54.759 of just lifting the bar they'll start consciously 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:57.219 monitoring like oh like where's my hand like 00:03:57.219 --> 00:03:59.639 what you know how it feels and that disrupts 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:02.039 the performance And my thought behind it was 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:03.639 weightlifting could potentially be particularly 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.319 vulnerable here because it's so technical and 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.599 often taught very explicitly, like it's very 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.680 cue focused. So it could potentially make things 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.539 easier to like overanalyze under stress. So they're 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:17.779 the two sort of attentional models behind why 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:20.959 choking might happen. And the other model is 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.100 self -presentation. So that's basically worrying 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:26.339 about how others perceive them. So yeah, so this 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:28.910 would be like more like. is the athlete identity 00:04:28.910 --> 00:04:31.870 tied up into themselves as a weightlifter do 00:04:31.870 --> 00:04:34.029 they have a self -imposed pressure to appear 00:04:34.029 --> 00:04:36.990 competent behave in a certain way especially 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:39.709 might be more athletes who are already have like 00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:42.889 high trait anxiety or perfectionism well this 00:04:42.889 --> 00:04:45.769 trait this theory in itself is like highly reliant 00:04:45.769 --> 00:04:48.709 on personality theory so it's not very generalizable 00:04:48.709 --> 00:04:50.870 but essentially all three the most important 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:52.589 thing to think about with those is that anxiety 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:56.430 is like at the forefront of those three theories 00:04:56.430 --> 00:04:59.970 so that then ties in with how the athlete can 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.730 regulate their emotions and how they experience 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:06.449 anxiety. Will there be some lifters who will 00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:09.790 cope with these situations better than the others? 00:05:09.850 --> 00:05:12.990 Are there types of lifters that are more prone 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.310 to having problems in these situations? Yes, 00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:19.550 definitely. So when it comes to these theories 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:22.769 that like essentially the anxiety from whichever 00:05:22.769 --> 00:05:25.649 um whatever kind of pressure internal external 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:28.149 like if that can take over it could that what 00:05:28.149 --> 00:05:30.689 happens is the brain's focus is overloaded and 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:32.350 there's only so many things that you can think 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:34.970 about so therefore they can't execute the movement 00:05:34.970 --> 00:05:38.089 and so but there are certain types of athletes 00:05:38.089 --> 00:05:40.889 who might be for example better at regulating 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:43.990 their emotions or they have spent a lot of time 00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:45.970 this may have happened before so they've figured 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:48.279 out right okay Like, I know this happens. Where 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:50.360 is it coming from? What can I do to like, to 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.519 get some techniques in to actually improve this? 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:55.360 So yeah, I would say there are definitely some 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.379 athletes that can experience this, are more likely 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:00.319 to experience this. There is some interesting 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:03.220 research about choke susceptibility and it's 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:04.740 actually a measure that you can look at, but 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:06.459 it's not something that I looked at for my project, 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:08.399 but I think it would be really interesting to 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.680 look at on a broader scale. Do we know how to 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.319 measure choking in other sports? So choking susceptibility 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.319 is a relatively new... concept that can be measured. 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:21.040 However, it's not been practiced enough. The 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.100 majority of choking research that I have read. 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:27.579 has been qualitative because a lot of the experience 00:06:27.579 --> 00:06:30.459 is so personal to the athlete and it can't be 00:06:30.459 --> 00:06:33.040 generalized really because there is like it's 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.480 not black and white what other factors could 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:38.000 be influencing you said there are some psychological 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.660 aspects how the athlete is experiencing the competition 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:44.959 and or or situation doesn't have to be competition 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.600 but the situation and how anxious they are what 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.740 coping strategies and and how much of them they 00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:53.120 can use so that's the psychological part what 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.740 else so So emotionally, again, so the emotional 00:06:56.740 --> 00:06:59.740 side and the psychological side are very interlinked. 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:02.819 So it's down to their own like emotional regulation 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:05.439 and how when they have those physical sensations 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:07.439 of the emotions, how they're able to bring that 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:10.720 back down because it's essentially like overloading 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:13.759 the capacity of the athlete to execute the movement. 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:16.699 Being too aroused can throw off the rhythm, the 00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:19.160 coordination, but also how the athletes interpret 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:21.259 the pressure does matter in this. So if they 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:23.100 see competition as a threat rather than... than 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:25.120 a challenge they are more likely to have a choking 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:28.319 incident also previous experiences could make 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.300 this worse something like you know it's happened 00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:34.259 before or they might have bombed out I could 00:07:34.259 --> 00:07:36.860 not find a single paper that had the words bombing 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:40.819 out in it in my in my literature review but it's 00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:42.759 something that's it's real it's obviously a colloquial 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:44.879 term but something that is so real in the world 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.319 of weightlifting as a fear for athletes so bad 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:50.060 experiences in the literature can you know get 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:52.699 people into a bit of a cycle of creating that 00:07:52.699 --> 00:07:55.959 anticipatory anxiety before they even go to like 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:58.459 lift essentially if it was a weightlifter then 00:07:58.459 --> 00:08:00.779 when it comes to the environment like the environment 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:04.399 in the literature is very varying because things 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:06.680 like the audience presence is something that 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.360 was studied quite a lot across different sports 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:11.220 varied so much in different sports like it was 00:08:11.220 --> 00:08:15.389 seen as a bit of a distraction in some team sports 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:17.949 but then with powerlifting I think I looked at 00:08:17.949 --> 00:08:19.730 a bench competition and they found the audience 00:08:19.730 --> 00:08:23.279 to be like really motivating so that Being a 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.300 strength sport, I know you can't generalize, 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:27.079 but maybe that might have had more in common. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:28.980 That was the theory. Again, it wasn't really 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.819 looked at so much in weightlifting. Other like 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.840 influences that could potentially get in the 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.740 way is like the order of the competition. Obviously, 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:41.440 Olympic weightlifting is a little bit like unforgiving 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:44.240 in you've got your attempts. They can be changed 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.259 any time. You've got your time limits. You've 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:48.879 got your live rankings. So that dynamic type 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.740 of competition also could be like an influence. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:54.779 pressure influence on the athlete we looked at 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:57.480 warm -up rooms and how that could be stressful 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.840 the tournament structure of the weightlifting 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.059 competition means that athletes are temporarily 00:09:02.059 --> 00:09:04.899 ranked in real time they don't receive their 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:06.779 final placements until everyone has made their 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:09.200 final attempts and that ongoing ranking could 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.639 potentially create fluctuating pressure environment 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:15.620 so in other sports that might have a type ranking 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:18.019 it could show that athletes who are near the 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:20.659 top might be more likely to choke because of 00:09:20.659 --> 00:09:22.730 the height and like stakes that kind of like 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:26.049 do or die additional pressure and then or there's 00:09:26.049 --> 00:09:28.789 also like the seemingly like minor environmental 00:09:28.789 --> 00:09:31.509 disruptions such as unexpected noise during a 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:33.870 lift or last minute changes to the order could 00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:37.029 potentially interrupt that attentional focus 00:09:37.029 --> 00:09:39.309 i think the key to it is keeping it calm because 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:42.070 keeping the athlete calm because central to all 00:09:42.070 --> 00:09:44.710 of these theories around why athletes choke is 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:48.330 unregulated anxiety so it might come from external 00:09:48.330 --> 00:09:50.909 it might come from internal but it's still the 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:53.509 same thing so you at the end of the day what 00:09:53.509 --> 00:09:55.789 you want to do is keep the athlete calm so however 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:58.429 that looks like totally individual to the athlete 00:09:58.429 --> 00:10:01.590 right how did you design your study let's start 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:04.769 with what was your research question and who 00:10:04.769 --> 00:10:08.029 did you invite to the study so my research question 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:12.070 was what psychological emotional and situational 00:10:12.070 --> 00:10:15.029 factors influence the likelihood of choking in 00:10:15.029 --> 00:10:17.629 competitive weightlifting so the aim of that 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:19.590 study was i wanted to understand choking under 00:10:19.590 --> 00:10:21.700 pressure from the perspective of competitive 00:10:21.700 --> 00:10:24.059 weightlifters themselves. So rather than measuring 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:26.039 like performance outcomes, I wanted to explore 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:28.539 the athlete's lived experience of pressure and 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.679 choking in competition. So eventually after recruitment 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.059 period, I managed to get eighth athlete. I believe 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:39.440 it was three. men and five women they who had 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.059 all competed at at least a national level we 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:44.139 had a couple of people who had competed internationally 00:10:44.139 --> 00:10:47.259 as well which gave for a good mix of perspectives 00:10:47.259 --> 00:10:49.980 so once we had recruited everyone had signed 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:52.639 their consent forms I invited participants to 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:55.419 take part in an interview on zoom we just recorded 00:10:55.419 --> 00:10:59.340 voice only which was then anonymized and transcribed 00:10:59.340 --> 00:11:03.440 so when I was designing the questions I once 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.980 the athletes signed up they took part in a one 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:08.110 to one semi -structured interview, which was 00:11:08.110 --> 00:11:10.360 conducted via Zoom. Each interview was around 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.019 30 minutes, which allowed enough time to explore 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:15.820 experiences in depth without being overly demanding 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:19.000 for the athletes. We followed a flexible, semi 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.120 -structured interview. We started with background 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:23.080 questions just to build that rapport and moved 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.779 into discussions about pressure, choking experiences, 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.940 how the athlete was thinking and feeling throughout 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:31.399 the competition and how factors like the audience, 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:33.899 coaches and the competition environment affected 00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:36.500 their performance. Athletes were also asked about 00:11:36.500 --> 00:11:39.070 coping strategies, resilience and... whether 00:11:39.070 --> 00:11:41.870 or not they'd experienced a positive performance 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:44.370 under pressure which is called a clutch performance 00:11:44.370 --> 00:11:46.629 and while this isn't something that I was specifically 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:49.490 looking at it's good practice when looking at 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:52.029 choking under pressure to also ask about the 00:11:52.029 --> 00:11:54.070 opposites just to see as well how the athlete 00:11:54.070 --> 00:11:56.629 can handle pressure and can perform under pressure 00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:59.190 so once the interviews were done they were audio 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:01.990 recorded transcribed and then checked very very 00:12:01.990 --> 00:12:05.980 carefully for accuracy and then we well I used 00:12:05.980 --> 00:12:08.299 the four stage interpretive phenomenological 00:12:08.299 --> 00:12:12.299 analysis process, which essentially you immerse 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:14.559 yourself in the data. So it was a four step. 00:12:14.659 --> 00:12:18.279 You read, read, read, read again until you know 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:21.080 them back to front. And then you will go individually 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:24.279 through each transcript and pick out some themes 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:26.960 with each athlete's story. And then once you've 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.120 got all the themes individually. of your each 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.320 transcript you then look at it on a broader scale 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.779 and see can we identify anything across the data 00:12:34.779 --> 00:12:37.799 any patterns that's coming through so very time 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.919 consuming but this method is really really good 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:44.120 for getting that like lived experience of the 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.720 participant the analysis found for superordinate 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.240 themes with each of them having two sub themes 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:53.960 so it was quite a lot of information so the first 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:57.279 major theme was the perceived precursors of choking 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:59.779 for these weightlifters so the two sub themes 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:03.159 within these main themes was self -imposed pressure 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:05.860 and expectations so the athletes reported that 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:08.340 the majority of the pressure they felt came from 00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:10.720 within which was really interesting like it was 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:14.389 didn't come from coach or other athletes came 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:17.730 from their own standards their own like goals 00:13:17.730 --> 00:13:20.809 expectations the desire to win the desire to 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:23.269 get medals that's where the pressure seemed to 00:13:23.269 --> 00:13:26.529 come from for the majority of lifters there was 00:13:26.529 --> 00:13:28.490 a couple of lifters that spoke about bombing 00:13:28.490 --> 00:13:31.289 out and what would happen if you bombed and potentially 00:13:31.289 --> 00:13:34.049 getting into that cycle of it happening again 00:13:34.049 --> 00:13:38.840 because of the fear and so that did seem to cause 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:41.639 like a quite a lasting emotional impact for the 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:44.639 athlete the other precursor of choking like main 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.559 one was overthinking and intrusive thoughts so 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:49.360 the athletes described being trapped in their 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:52.580 own minds like fixating on missing the lift before 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:55.000 they'd even had a chance to try the lift which 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.320 then was disrupting that automatic movement and 00:13:57.320 --> 00:13:59.960 the focus and they said that the intrusive thoughts 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:02.019 could temporarily block the execution of the 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:05.899 lift particularly on the platform so do they 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:10.220 have any words of advice or maybe you have some 00:14:10.220 --> 00:14:13.320 advice from your reading how to block the the 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:17.639 circle of these building up consequences and 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.919 pressures and overthinking going to the next 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.740 competition and so on how did the athletes deal 00:14:23.740 --> 00:14:26.179 dealt with that i think particularly in this 00:14:26.179 --> 00:14:28.960 study the athletes who had experienced the failure 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.639 and moving on from that the ones that were like 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:34.580 that were successful in this took a bit of time 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:37.059 like they took took their time to be upset and 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:38.879 you know whatever that was a cup might have been 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:40.799 an hour might have been a couple of days but 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.519 then went back and said okay like what happened 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.360 here really looking into like how am I thinking 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.600 about this like what's what what has got in my 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:52.019 way to take away that focus on on what I'm doing 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:55.820 so a lot of the athletes who have struggled with 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:57.399 this said that getting back into competition 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:01.240 relatively soon with like a less pressure environment 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:04.710 would be and by less pressure I mean not going 00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:07.350 necessarily for like personal best like going 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.370 in to try and get a consistent competition feel 00:15:10.370 --> 00:15:12.610 what it's like to be on the platform again feel 00:15:12.610 --> 00:15:14.809 what it's like to you know have your one minute 00:15:14.809 --> 00:15:18.230 clock and and all that and so that was a takeaway 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:20.950 from athletes who had looked and that was just 00:15:20.950 --> 00:15:22.870 getting back getting back to it getting back 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:26.049 getting back on the platform okay so our next 00:15:26.049 --> 00:15:29.690 major theme was the how athletes themselves actually 00:15:29.690 --> 00:15:33.169 experienced choking so the first first way they 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:35.350 did described it was a kind of cognitive disruption 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:38.570 so the athletes experience like mind blank or 00:15:38.570 --> 00:15:41.129 like mental blackout where they knew what to 00:15:41.129 --> 00:15:43.230 do but they felt like they couldn't do it like 00:15:43.230 --> 00:15:45.809 so a cognitive overload and they would approach 00:15:45.809 --> 00:15:47.690 the buyer and think oh i don't know what i'm 00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:49.809 doing here so this would represent a more extreme 00:15:49.809 --> 00:15:53.549 form of intentional disruption rather than simply 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:55.870 just overthinking what you're doing it's essentially 00:15:55.870 --> 00:15:58.370 a disconnection between the mind and the body 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:02.730 and how that manifested physically was very very 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:05.110 specific to the athlete like there was some athletes 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:07.690 found that they were really tense some athletes 00:16:07.690 --> 00:16:09.590 found that they were had like uncontrollable 00:16:09.590 --> 00:16:12.610 shaking others found that they had quite like 00:16:12.610 --> 00:16:16.210 panicked responses like feeling afraid and really 00:16:16.210 --> 00:16:19.409 doubting themselves so the kind of physical sensations 00:16:19.409 --> 00:16:21.649 and then the psychological side were like interact 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.500 in creating like a force that then impaired their 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.720 performance. So that was the experiences, how 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.950 the athletes felt the choking. Yeah. And then 00:16:31.950 --> 00:16:35.830 there was quite a few perceived social and environmental 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:39.570 influences, which was quite interesting. And 00:16:39.570 --> 00:16:42.730 I think potentially specific to weightlifting. 00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:46.090 So the athletes talked about the like social 00:16:46.090 --> 00:16:48.809 pressures and mental games of being in the competition 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:52.009 environment. It was interesting. Quite a few 00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:54.909 of the athletes recognized that other athletes 00:16:54.909 --> 00:16:57.750 were getting in their heads. Whether that was 00:16:57.750 --> 00:17:00.230 intentional or not, that was something that was 00:17:00.230 --> 00:17:02.950 repeated by quite a few of my participants. They 00:17:02.950 --> 00:17:06.309 spoke about verbal intimidation or non -verbal, 00:17:06.349 --> 00:17:11.190 as if they were trying to create stress. So having 00:17:11.190 --> 00:17:13.910 an awareness that, okay, the other athletes, 00:17:14.069 --> 00:17:17.400 maybe they're nervous. Let's make them more nervous 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:19.920 kind of thing, which was really interesting. 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:23.279 So the stress in the warm -up area was quite 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:26.339 prevalent in the athletes I spoke to anyway. 00:17:26.619 --> 00:17:29.839 When we spoke about audience, it was pretty mixed, 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:32.569 but actually... most athletes felt that they 00:17:32.569 --> 00:17:34.390 didn't really see the audience at all that the 00:17:34.390 --> 00:17:36.970 audience had either a motivating effect when 00:17:36.970 --> 00:17:39.730 they were getting cheered on or that they were 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:41.890 pretty unaware that the audience was even there 00:17:41.890 --> 00:17:44.150 which you know obviously shows that that focus 00:17:44.150 --> 00:17:46.829 that focus is there I look at it a little bit 00:17:46.829 --> 00:17:48.890 more when I speak about coping strategies but 00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:51.529 a lot of the athletes spoke about like a pre 00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:54.750 -performance routine so that the platform lifts 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:57.390 felt no different to the lifts in the back room 00:17:57.390 --> 00:18:01.509 or the lifts in training so the other social 00:18:01.509 --> 00:18:04.269 influence that was really really prominent actually 00:18:04.269 --> 00:18:07.490 was the coach athlete relationship we had athletes 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:09.670 that found if they could trust their coach it 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:11.609 took away a lot of the other stresses of the 00:18:11.609 --> 00:18:14.109 competition so the thought of like where am I 00:18:14.109 --> 00:18:16.410 at on the board what lift what weight am I gonna 00:18:16.410 --> 00:18:19.740 lift all of this And while if you're for the 00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:21.339 majority of us, if you're at a really high level, 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.220 you potentially will have a consistent probably 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:27.319 two coaches consistently. But, you know, national 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.539 level in Scotland, you might not have that. Or 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:31.779 for coaches that were athletes that were coached 00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:34.160 remotely, having to have someone on the day that 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:38.420 they wouldn't necessarily even even see for one 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:40.240 part of the year to the next. And then they have 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.920 someone there that might not be their coach, 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.559 might not be the person who does their program. 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:47.579 And that was an additional stressor for. some 00:18:47.579 --> 00:18:49.519 of the athletes that I spoke to so yeah that 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.839 that coach athlete relationship and that trust 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.619 was a huge buffer for the stress and other environmental 00:18:55.619 --> 00:18:58.519 factors meant that the weightlifter could literally 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.420 just focus on their lifting they didn't they 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:04.059 didn't worry about anything else so yeah it was 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:06.559 really really really interesting would it be 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:09.859 okay to go as far as saying that if you want 00:19:09.859 --> 00:19:13.480 to reduce the likelihood of choking as a coach 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:17.619 you do everything to make it predictable the 00:19:17.619 --> 00:19:21.519 same as in the gym keep it calm what else yeah 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:24.720 I think that is I mean in an ideal world if we're 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:26.519 not in a situation where a coach might have like 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.619 a few athletes in the one session like you know 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:31.160 you do what you can but I do think that the communication 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:35.240 and the trust is key for the coach and athlete 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:38.380 in especially in the back room especially if 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.940 the athlete is kind of a tendency to feel a bit 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:45.740 anxious anyway I think as well as a coach you 00:19:45.740 --> 00:19:47.619 get to know your athletes you get to know their 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:51.220 needs that seems to be the most important aspect 00:19:51.220 --> 00:19:53.039 of it because it's not a one -size -fits -all 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.039 you might have your athlete that is super confident 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:58.440 has done so many competitions and actually would 00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:00.900 just rather they do their little routine you 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:02.559 just tap them on the shoulder when it's time 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.599 to lift and that's it where you might have your 00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:07.059 athlete that kind of needs a bit more kept calm 00:20:07.059 --> 00:20:09.220 kept things like light -hearted even they might 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:12.740 need like some jokes you know it just it's so 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:17.359 like specific to to the athlete awesome and then 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:21.420 the final like superordinate theme that we found 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:24.279 was coping perceived coping strategies and mental 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:27.759 preparation so this was so unique every single 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:30.240 athlete had their own like method that worked 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.519 for them which is really interesting yeah really 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.220 interesting actually so some of the athletes 00:20:35.220 --> 00:20:38.359 had like a pre -performance routine and that 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.079 would be like you know tapping their foot with 00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:44.119 a belt like they or it would be like pacing back 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.839 and forth like there was so many different ones 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:50.099 and other people really liked the breathing management 00:20:50.099 --> 00:20:53.990 um like deep breathing management grounding and 00:20:53.990 --> 00:20:57.769 visualization was mentioned other athletes spoke 00:20:57.769 --> 00:21:00.509 about isolating themselves mentally with either 00:21:00.509 --> 00:21:02.789 headphones or like the towel like we mentioned 00:21:02.789 --> 00:21:05.809 earlier other athletes mentioned positive self 00:21:05.809 --> 00:21:08.910 -talk like you know reminding themselves that 00:21:08.910 --> 00:21:11.670 they can that they can do it and social support 00:21:11.670 --> 00:21:14.539 was another one so A couple of athletes mentioned 00:21:14.539 --> 00:21:16.880 that their having known that their like family 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:18.900 was present or knowing that like that loved one 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:21.180 was there made them feel that bit more calm when 00:21:21.180 --> 00:21:22.910 they would they knew they would go out. And they 00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:24.569 would see that person and everything would be 00:21:24.569 --> 00:21:27.529 OK. So very, very unique to the athlete. And 00:21:27.529 --> 00:21:29.849 then the kind of training and mental preparation 00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:32.809 that athletes use to reduce that choking likelihood. 00:21:32.849 --> 00:21:35.970 So a really important one actually was to focus 00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:38.589 on the controllable factors within training. 00:21:38.690 --> 00:21:41.369 So athletes spoke about, you know, if your training 00:21:41.369 --> 00:21:43.670 is on point and your nutrition is on point and 00:21:43.670 --> 00:21:46.210 your sleep is on point, like you've you've controlled 00:21:46.210 --> 00:21:48.390 all the controllables you can like. So you've 00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:51.000 taken away like. a lot of the stress that could 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.460 be seen there you know there was also general 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:57.500 like positive mindset training all of this outside 00:21:57.500 --> 00:22:01.059 of competition and then also regular competition 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:03.920 experience was really important into building 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:05.859 that resilience and confidence and like coming 00:22:05.859 --> 00:22:08.539 back after a hard like a bad competition or a 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:11.799 choking experience is to like come back out and 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:14.519 do it and know that you can do it And, you know, 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:16.680 that helps to build that confidence, keep the 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:20.960 athlete calm and carry on after having experiences. 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:23.940 If an athlete does have an episode where they 00:22:23.940 --> 00:22:28.019 choke, I think try early on to figure out why. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.640 Like figure out, is it because they're like constantly 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:32.940 thinking about something? Like whatever it may 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:34.599 be, like there's something on their mind that's 00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:36.059 getting in the way. Like you need to kind of 00:22:36.059 --> 00:22:38.160 figure out what's the root cause early, I would 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.859 say, before it starts becoming into a cycle where... 00:22:41.150 --> 00:22:43.809 it's affecting training and you know it kind 00:22:43.809 --> 00:22:46.289 of spirals into other things you know it's one 00:22:46.289 --> 00:22:47.869 of those things about like if you're going for 00:22:47.869 --> 00:22:50.130 your one rep max and it's your sixth attempt 00:22:50.130 --> 00:22:53.170 would we really consider it to be choking like 00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:55.390 because what's important is that the athlete 00:22:55.390 --> 00:22:57.710 is capable of it you know and like if you're 00:22:57.710 --> 00:22:59.750 testing something like you don't know yet if 00:22:59.750 --> 00:23:03.069 you're capable of it so yeah I think the most 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:06.609 important thing is just early recognition figure 00:23:06.609 --> 00:23:09.089 out why and then you can start developing your 00:23:09.089 --> 00:23:11.619 own like techniques your coach to help you or 00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:14.000 get you know a sports psychologist and get your 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.759 own techniques to figure out how you're gonna 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:18.539 like get that focus dialed in because it's so 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:22.519 unique so unique I've learned to the athlete 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:24.579 and how that they can cope with this so yeah 00:23:24.579 --> 00:23:27.339 anything unexpected you discovered from the athletes 00:23:27.339 --> 00:23:30.940 you interviewed I think I didn't anticipate just 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:35.980 how much the coach would be like pretty much 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:38.940 like seven out of eight athletes mentioned how 00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:41.500 important the coach inside of things was and 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:43.779 how important it was that they could trust their 00:23:43.779 --> 00:23:46.299 coach in the competition so there was a lot of 00:23:46.299 --> 00:23:48.680 reliance there that was kind of unexpected for 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:51.220 me how much that was brought into it But yeah, 00:23:51.380 --> 00:23:55.299 overall, pretty much all of the information that 00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:57.359 the athletes had to give me was fairly tying 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.170 in with other research. And then... There was 00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:02.890 some sport specific stuff. So like the back room 00:24:02.890 --> 00:24:05.609 and yeah, the back room was the majority was 00:24:05.609 --> 00:24:08.430 quite a surprise as well. How much sabotaging 00:24:08.430 --> 00:24:11.970 there was perceived to be, which I hadn't really 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:15.450 thought about, to be honest. Interesting. I wonder, 00:24:15.549 --> 00:24:18.410 is it the athletes thinking about it or is it 00:24:18.410 --> 00:24:21.609 really happening and kind of is imposed on them? 00:24:21.829 --> 00:24:24.009 It's really hard to know. Like, I think maybe 00:24:24.009 --> 00:24:26.950 a mix. I think it was maybe a mix because the 00:24:26.950 --> 00:24:30.490 intimidation tactics. I got like the people who 00:24:30.490 --> 00:24:31.910 mentioned them I said could you tell me a bit 00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:34.589 more about that and totally ranged from someone 00:24:34.589 --> 00:24:37.690 just totally staring into someone's eyes and 00:24:37.690 --> 00:24:41.029 opposite platforms to actually commenting on 00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:43.789 each other's lifts or taking plates off other 00:24:43.789 --> 00:24:45.789 platforms like coaches taking plates off other 00:24:45.789 --> 00:24:49.349 lifters platforms and stuff so that was yeah 00:24:49.349 --> 00:24:52.029 it very very interesting but I will caveat and 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:54.990 say that like my study was taken in a Scottish 00:24:54.990 --> 00:24:58.049 sample like at one particular point in time so 00:24:58.049 --> 00:25:00.509 there's so many things that like might not be 00:25:00.509 --> 00:25:04.089 like general like a generalized view across weightlifting 00:25:04.089 --> 00:25:06.450 worldwide but that was just the results that 00:25:06.450 --> 00:25:09.789 I got interesting what would be your advice for 00:25:09.789 --> 00:25:13.230 coaches and lifters around choking and how to 00:25:13.230 --> 00:25:18.490 deal with it so for lifters I would say to first 00:25:18.490 --> 00:25:21.109 of all try to figure out early on what is the 00:25:21.109 --> 00:25:23.490 cause learn from your mistakes if you process 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:26.539 your mistakes constructively you can return to 00:25:26.539 --> 00:25:29.000 competition much stronger, much more resilient 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.319 athlete. Control what you can in the meantime, 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.400 just get back to training, focus on what you 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:36.460 can and then very, very slowly, you know, work 00:25:36.460 --> 00:25:38.920 on building up your mental resilience. Play around 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.240 with different techniques that might help you 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:43.420 to focus, whether that's a pre -performance routine, 00:25:43.660 --> 00:25:46.140 whether that's certain music, whether it's breathing 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:48.039 techniques, like figure out what works for you 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:50.119 and do it in training. Don't train at the new 00:25:50.119 --> 00:25:52.460 one competition day, as we all know. And then 00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:55.039 for coaches, just be that stabilizing force. 00:25:55.150 --> 00:25:57.789 for your athlete be there be supportive as you 00:25:57.789 --> 00:25:59.890 can try and help reduce that pressure for them 00:25:59.890 --> 00:26:02.609 like try not to be an additional source of pressure 00:26:02.609 --> 00:26:04.809 for the athlete if they're already dealing with 00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:07.009 a lot of pressure just be consistent build that 00:26:07.009 --> 00:26:10.170 trust and remember that each athlete is unique 00:26:10.170 --> 00:26:13.349 so yeah choking happens but with the right skills 00:26:13.349 --> 00:26:16.150 support preparation lifters can learn to stay 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:18.390 calm confident it's not going to be something 00:26:18.390 --> 00:26:20.750 that happens forever you can get out of it and 00:26:21.309 --> 00:26:23.690 carry on a successful weightlifting career awesome 00:26:23.690 --> 00:26:26.890 i think we could think about it as a similar 00:26:26.890 --> 00:26:29.470 to a technical mistake during the heavy lift 00:26:29.470 --> 00:26:32.450 you know how to lift You know how to lift heavy 00:26:32.450 --> 00:26:35.309 weights. You made this particular mistake, which 00:26:35.309 --> 00:26:39.890 was you lost focus. So unexpected. Do you like 00:26:39.890 --> 00:26:42.230 it? Of course not. But it's not the end of the 00:26:42.230 --> 00:26:46.329 world. It doesn't define you as a lifter necessary. 00:26:46.650 --> 00:26:49.589 It's just about going back to it, learning the 00:26:49.589 --> 00:26:52.349 skills to be better in general, to have better 00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:56.609 technique or better ability to focus and or deal 00:26:56.609 --> 00:26:59.589 with the stress. So maybe that's how we should 00:26:59.589 --> 00:27:01.869 think about it. Definitely, definitely. It totally 00:27:01.869 --> 00:27:03.950 doesn't define who you are as an athlete. You 00:27:03.950 --> 00:27:07.049 see it as like a tiny little like pinprick on 00:27:07.049 --> 00:27:09.789 the whole colourful career you'll have as an 00:27:09.789 --> 00:27:11.750 athlete. It doesn't, yeah, absolutely doesn't 00:27:11.750 --> 00:27:14.650 define you. And it's so easy to go into the gym, 00:27:14.750 --> 00:27:17.089 do your squats, do your pulls, you know, work 00:27:17.089 --> 00:27:19.609 on that, do your accessory work. But the mental 00:27:19.609 --> 00:27:21.789 side of things can sometimes feel like another 00:27:21.789 --> 00:27:25.269 task. But it is just as important for athletes 00:27:25.269 --> 00:27:28.319 to... practice i have two short questions i usually 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.799 ask the first one is what is your favorite lift 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.900 my favorite lift is snatch from the blocks oh 00:27:33.900 --> 00:27:38.039 why because you can get really really explosive 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:42.180 all right and if people want to see what you're 00:27:42.180 --> 00:27:45.160 doing where should they go online um you can 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:48.299 find me on instagram at hillary .weightlifting 00:27:48.299 --> 00:27:50.819 awesome thank you so much hillary all the best 00:27:50.819 --> 00:27:52.240 thank you thank you so much