Science of Why Athletes Choke Under Pressure

Why is that some athletes can keep their calm and perform in moments of extreme pressure and others cannot? How it is that some athletes can perform in situations so stressful that even the spectators are too anxious to watch. Why it is that when everything is on the line, some athletes can pull off the seemingly impossible while others choke under the bright lights
In this video, I summarize sport psychology research to answer these questions. This is the first video in a multiple part video series that describes why we choke under pressure and what we can do to stop this from happening.
When you are in a situation in which you perceive that there is something valuable on the line and you aren’t sure that you have the skills to rise to the occasion, your body initiates a physiological and psychological response called the stress response. All of us are familiar with this response. It is the butterflies we feel when talking to the person we are attracted to, the shaky legs we feel when speaking in front of a group of people, the sweaty hands we get when we experience heights, or the tension we feel when looking at snakes. These situations cause our heart rate, blood pressure and breathing to increase, and our attention to narrow. These physiological effects can negatively influence our focus, which is what often leads us to choke. There are 4 theories that explain how this happens:
1. Distraction Theories (Miss relevant information, fixate on unhelpful stimuli)
2. Signal Detection (hypersensitive to stimuli)
3. Conscious processing (focus on the step by step mechanics)
4. Ironic Effect (focus on a bad outcome as you try to suppress it)
Sources:
Choke by Sian Beilock: amzn.to/31q2Wzf

[@barbaramauro-aninipot5666]

Never stop posting content, Please! Love your work.

[@jamesbishop3091]

Amazing content, keep it up!

[@makomenteshashvili6959]

Thank you. Amazing. Keep going.

[@MrLottoLife]

This was a really great video! I'm studying this for my performance on online slots.

[@jordantravis9144]

Were you able to complete the other videos for this multi-series video? Good info, very nice summary!

[@masteryblueprint_]

Once you understand WHY you choke under pressure, it becomes easier to figure out HOW to prevent it. In other words, you first need to identify the PROBLEM in order to be able to come up with a SOLUTION. This video was about the WHY / PROBLEM. More specifically, the purpose of this video was to explain how the stress response impairs our attention in different ways (which leads to sub-optimal performance). The next few videos will be about the HOW / SOLUTION. This is the 1st video of a 3 part series about choking under pressure and what we can do to prevent it. Stay tuned!

[@mukeshgidwani5863]

Your videos are helping me making progress in my Game😍💯 Keep Posting Such Videos Mate✨ Love From India ❤️

[@MatrixCryptoMovement]

I love how everything you learn us is Evidence Based. Thanks for filtering the important things for us man!

[@alisaleemali1290]

Amazing content that's beautifully said and summarized. Wow your really well spoken 👍 Can't wait for next video. Also If possible can you do a "Wim Hof method" video, it be super helpful, thanks.

[@masteryblueprint_]

Thank you :) I had done a video on Wim Hoff in the past but deleted it. I'm still undecided who I feel about it. I'll give you a short summary of how I feel about it here - I'll make a video about it in the future. If you break it down, there are 2 components to WHM: 1. Hyperventilating breaths 2. Cold water immersion First of all, definitely don't do the hyperventilating breaths in water! When you hold your breathe after exhaling lots of CO2, you can pass out and drown. The reason is because our brains use levels of CO2 and acidity in our blood to initiate breathing. When we hyperventilate, we lower CO2 levels in body, so we can hold our breath longer. The downfall is that since the body does not initiate breathing as it normally would, we can pass out. When we pass out, our body will initiate breathing automatically, however, if you are in water, you will drown. Do NOT do Wim Hof in or around water! The hyperventilating breaths can feel great, I usually do them in the morning. When you hyperventilate, you activate the sympathetic nervous system (the stress response). When you hold your breath, the parasympathetic system kicks in (relax) up until you need to breathe again. When oxygen levels drop and CO2 levels rise, the sympathetic response kicks in again to initiate breathing. Overall, I find that alternating between the stress response and relaxation while focusing in the present moment (on the breath) really grounds and relaxes me in the morning. That being said, it's important to be cautious. When you hyperventilate, you rid your body of CO2. We need CO2 for oxygen to reach our muscles and tissues. So, when we hyperventilate, less oxygen reaches our muscles, tissues, brain, etc (temporarily). I don't know if this could potentially be harmful long term. In terms of providing an athletic advantage, I'm not sure. Many professionals use cold water immersion for recovery, but I am not very familiar with the research. I've heard that the research is inconclusive on whether Cold water immersion actually speeds up recovery, but don't quote me on that. It does feel great though. I used to like doing them when I used to play soccer, but whether or not it sped up recovery I don't know. The hyperventilating breaths can be used as a self-regulation strategy (to relax before a competition, for example). However, I believe diaphragmatic breathing (5 in, 2 hold, 7 out) is a better strategy for this. Diaphragmatic breathing increases heart rate variability, which can help us relax and focus. I guess which you use can come down to personal preference. There's a book called What Doesn't Kill Us that dives deeper into how the breathing could potentially provide an athletic advantage. I know that Laird Hamilton and Brian McKenzie have played around with it. You may want to look those guys up. I've seen that people increase the amount of push ups they can do after doing the hyperventilating breaths. That's interesting, I wonder if it's a placebo. Perhaps ridding their body of CO2 helps delay the onset of build of acidity and lactic acid in the blood, which allows them to do more push ups. This is all speculation though, I don't actually know. To summarize: - Don't do the WHM breaths in or around water - The hyperventilating breaths can be used as a sort of mindfulness exercise and relaxation strategy - Cold water immersion could help in recover (but I think the research is inconclusive about this) - The breaths seem to allow people to do more push ups (from what I've read on reddit, quora, and other forums). Not sure what's going on there.

[@alisaleemali1290]

@@masteryblueprint_ thanks so much for the info I can't wait for you next video 🙏❤️Also I recently been reaching about the keto diet and it's benefits for athletic performance, and there is a great book called "The art and science of a low carbohydrates performance", which is written by two researchers studing the so called "Ketogenic" diet for more than two decades and they talk about it's benefits, it's a great read from I what hear, I will probably read it eventually, but totally recommend it 👌

[@faheemmohammedv7553]

Pls make a video on soccer fitness for 90 min game

[@masteryblueprint_]

Maybe in the future, I don't know enough about that topic yet.

[@daankegarcia2555]

How can we outwork these mechanisms

[@masteryblueprint_]

Stressful situations affect our ability to focus optimally. Strategies typically either help to improve our ability to focus or improve our ability to reduce stress/anxiety. Here are some prevention and mitigation strategies. Prevention: - Mindfulness meditation to strengthen our ability to focus and dampen our stress response - Mastering the breath to master reaching calm state - Fear-setting exercises (check out Tim Ferriss) Mitigation: - Deep breathing - Self-talk - Perception shift (from threat to challenge or opportunity)

[@ay613]

thats why we need to stay calm and trust God will deliver us

[@StarboyAce7]

Amen brother amen

[@masteryblueprint_]

Trust is important - regardless of whether that comes from a belief in a God or that the work you have put in has prepared you. Also Self-regulation strategies to stay calm: deep breathing (5 in, 2 hold, 7 out) to increase heart rate variability and calm us down. External focus: Accepting that failure is a possibility, yet maintaining our attention on the goal (solely and exclusively on the goal while letting any doubts or negative thoughts come and go without believing them and without caught up in them). Mindfulness meditation is helpful for this.

[@ay613]

@@masteryblueprint_ Yh well said.

[@6maxmessi225]

Pleaaaaze french subtitles!!!

[@masteryblueprint_]

Ok, je le ferai mais ca va me prende plus temps. (Mon francais n'est pas tres bon mais je peux essayer)

[@savant502]

So what is the solution?

[@masteryblueprint_]

It depends on which of the attention mechanisms are being impaired and are causing you to choke (there are different mental strategies for different mechanisms). It also depends on how deep you want to go to solve the problem. There are prevention strategies and mitigation strategies. I will make future videos on this. Practicing under pressure is the best way to approach it. Generally speaking, meditation and visual imagery (visualization) are the best mental strategies. However, it depends on many variables

[@savant502]

@@masteryblueprint_ but the main issue is that we don't get the pressure during practice sessions No matter how hard we try to get the real game pressure situation. So currently iam trying to do as much repetition as possible so that it becomes as automatic as possible. Anyway i agree with the visualization practice. It helps me to focus on the things i have to do and not on the negative outcome. In other words visualization keeps me positive.

[@masteryblueprint_]

@@savant502 Have you tried implementing meditation into your daily routine? There is good research suggesting that it can rewire our brain and reduce the anxiety response

[@masteryblueprint_]

@@savant502 Another strategy used is to try to change your perception of anxiety. Instead of telling yourself that it is a bad thing, tell yourself that you're excited and that it is a good thing (because it is getting your body ready to perform). Research has shown that this is also an effective strategy. Physiologically speaking, it's also rooted in reality. Whether or not anxiety negatively affects our performance depends on how you perceive the anxiety. So, next time you feel the stress response, remind yourself that it is your body's way of getting you ready to perform. Hope this helps. Will have more in-depth videos later on

[@savant502]

@@masteryblueprint_ ok this is something new. I will definitely try this.

[@aimcricket1381]

Depend on nurotype

[@masteryblueprint_]

what is a nurotype?