Have you ever heard of the term “practice champion”?

It basically refers to athletes that do well when they’re training, but as soon as you put them out on the floor – where it counts – they choke up (or get a mental block) and can’t seem to duplicate what they were able to do in the gym.

Every coach I’ve talked to has their own opinion as to why this happens. Some say it’s the pressure, some say it’s the lights, some say the loud crowds create a distraction, and so on and so forth.

While those reasons may be true, they don’t exactly help athletes get past their mental barrier. It’s not like we can get rid of the crowds, lights or extremely loud and proud cheer moms!

Science To The Rescue

As it turns out, the University of Chicago did a study to really find out how and why this happens – because as you can guess, Cheer isn’t the only sport which suffers from athletes choking when it counts.

There are countless professional football and basketball clubs that pay a lot of money to have their athletes perform to the highest level, and one small choke at a crucial moment could cost them millions!

So here’s how it all went down…

They took two groups of golfers; one were novices, and the other were very experienced. They then tested the putting skills of both these groups in two different situations – while rushed, and while they could take their time.

Now regardless of experience, common sense tells us that when you’re allowed to take your time and really think about what you’re doing, your performance will improve. I mean, how could it not, right?

Well as it turns out, science says “not always”.

When the novice golfers were rushed, they performed poorly versus when they were allowed to take their time. This makes sense, and it’s generally what we expected to happen.

However, when the experienced golfers were allowed to take their time, they actually performed poorly! They racked up their best putts when time was of the essence, and were in the heat of the moment.

How can that be?!

The Secret Lies In How Your Brain Functions

As it turns out, when you train something to the point where you are unconsciously competent (so good you don’t have to think about it), you are using the part of your brain called the cerebellum. The cerebellum is designed to be activated on auto-pilot so that you are still able to do things under pressure. It’s responsible for “instinctive actions,” and it’s damn good at it.

A good example of the cerebellum at work, is if you were being chased by an big angry dog. If this happened, you wouldn’t think about it logically and say “hmm, I see a big angry animal with vicious teeth running at me full speed, maybe I should turn around in the opposite direction and run for my life”… would you?

Hell no, you’d be chewed alive in seconds. Instead, you just instinctively react and bolt the other way. This is the power of the cerebellum, and you can actually train any physical skill or task into it for when you need it the most. This is why Martial Arts takes so long to master – you need to make sure a punch or kick is trained with so much repetition, that you can use it on instinct when you’re in danger, not on thought.

So what exactly happens when your cerebellum isn’t engaged, and you start “thinking”?

Well when you consciously think about something, you’re now using your cerebral cortex, which is designed to be used actively. The advantage the cerebral cortex has over the cerebellum, is that it’s a fast learner and very adaptable; but at the expense of sloppy execution. This is why when you just “get” a tumbling skill such as a tuck or a layout or even a full, it doesn’t look as good as someone who’s been throwing it for years, because they barely have to think about it.

Now here’s the money question: What happens when you have a skill that you’ve mastered, but start thinking about it?

You choke.

In the time it takes for the brain to transfer your motor skills from the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex, you freeze up. And now all of a sudden, you just can’t seem to do what you’ve always done.

This is exactly what happens to our beloved practice champions. When in the gym, they’ve trained their skills so many times that they just do it without too much thought. These athletes are good at running on instinct and auto-pilot, but when they get on a stage in front of people, they start thinking. 

And thinking about your routine when you already know how to do it well is a recipe for disaster. (tweet this)

The next time you’re out on the mat, trust your training. And if you can’t trust your training, then you haven’t practiced it enough times for it to be stored in your cerebellum.

Make sense? Great!

Now I’d like you to do me a small favor. Do you happen to know a practice champion? If so, be sure to share this article with them – you could save them years of frustration! And if you’ve ever “choked” in the past, go to the comment section below and tell me what you did to overcome it.

Image Credit: Erine Hardin. Photo by: Walt Hester

The Secret Lies In How Your Brain Functions

As it turns out, when you train something to the point where you are unconsciously competent (so good you don’t have to think about it), you are using the part of your brain called the cerebellum. The cerebellum is designed to be activated on auto-pilot so that you are still able to do things under pressure. It’s responsible for “instinctive actions,” and it’s damn good at it.

A good example of the cerebellum at work, is if you were being chased by an big angry dog. If this happened, you wouldn’t think about it logically and say “hmm, I see a big angry animal with vicious teeth running at me full speed, maybe I should turn around in the opposite direction and run for my life”… would you?

Hell no, you’d be chewed alive in seconds. Instead, you just instinctively react and bolt the other way. This is the power of the cerebellum, and you can actually train any physical skill or task into it for when you need it the most. This is why Martial Arts takes so long to master – you need to make sure a punch or kick is trained with so much repetition, that you can use it on instinct when you’re in danger, not on thought.

So what exactly happens when your cerebellum isn’t engaged, and you start “thinking”?

Well when you consciously think about something, you’re now using your cerebral cortex, which is designed to be used actively. The advantage the cerebral cortex has over the cerebellum, is that it’s a fast learner and very adaptable; but at the expense of sloppy execution. This is why when you just “get” a tumbling skill such as a tuck or a layout or even a full, it doesn’t look as good as someone who’s been throwing it for years, because they barely have to think about it.

Now here’s the money question: What happens when you have a skill that you’ve mastered, but start thinking about it?

You choke.

In the time it takes for the brain to transfer your motor skills from the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex, you freeze up. And now all of a sudden, you just can’t seem to do what you’ve always done.

This is exactly what happens to our beloved practice champions. When in the gym, they’ve trained their skills so many times that they just do it without too much thought. These athletes are good at running on instinct and auto-pilot, but when they get on a stage in front of people, they start thinking. 

And thinking about your routine when you already know how to do it well is a recipe for disaster. (tweet this)

The next time you’re out on the mat, trust your training. And if you can’t trust your training, then you haven’t practiced it enough times for it to be stored in your cerebellum.

Make sense? Great!

Now I’d like you to do me a small favor. Do you happen to know a practice champion? If so, be sure to share this article with them – you could save them years of frustration! And if you’ve ever “choked” in the past, go to the comment section below and tell me what you did to overcome it.

Image Credit: Erine Hardin. Photo by: Walt Hester