You know you’ve got plenty of height, good power, and your coaches are barely spotting you. They are confident in your ability, and give you the green light to go ahead and try it.

But as you gear up at the edge of the floor, all of a sudden, a rush of thoughts come into your brain out of no where.

• “What if I don’t make it all the way around?”
• “What if I don’t land clean and my coaches are disappointed?”
• “I really NEED to get this down before next competition. My teammates are relying on me… but I’m not sure I can do this”

As you start thinking about everything BUT the actual task at hand, anxiety levels rise, you feel nervous, your palms get sweaty and so you instead head back to you comfort zone — the pit. Or maybe even the Air Track.

Does all of this sound familiar?

While there’s nothing wrong with going back to drills or on a surface you’re comfortable with, eventually you will have to face the music. At some point, you will have to take you skill to the floor.

Question is, what will you do?

Repeat the same pattern? Hope that magically you’ll be able to tumble on floor?

I mean, you could do that. Or instead, you can use a simple 4-letter strategy that will help you snap out of all these negative thoughts, and refocus on what’s actually important.

I call it F.A.S.T

Before I reveal what each letter stands for, let me show you why it’s so powerful over what we usually do.

And what do we usually do?

We focus on the following 4 things (which by the way, have been proven to decrease our level of performance):

1. The Negative (e.g, “What if I land on my head?”, “This looks scary, I’m not sure I can do this”)
2. The Outcome (e.g, “I need to land this skill”, “I need to win Nationals!”)
3. The Past (e.g, “I can’t believe I touched down yesterday!”, “Last time I tried this, it didn’t end well soo…”)
4. The External (e.g, “What if that mat moves while I tumble?”, “What if a tornado his the gym while I’m going?”)

Or basically, N.O.P.E for short.

So when you allow yourself to constantly think about these 4 things, is it any surprise that when it comes time to actually perform, your brain does exactly what you were focusing on, and goes: “Yeah NOPE!”

Luckily, there is one thing you can focus on that will not only help you refocus and regain confidence, but has shown to actually improve your performance — even during intense competition, where pressure is high.

That one thing is called The Process. And F.A.S.T just happens to be one of them. In fact, even though you may not have heard of F.A.S.T before, I bet you already know what it feels like to follow it.

I’ll give you a quick example: Ever been to an open gym session where everything you throw just feels effortless? Everything you try just hits and you feel like a tumbling god (or goddess)? It almost feels like you can do no wrong.

But then, a day or two later when you’re at team practice trying to do the SAME skills in the SAME gym, nothing seems to be going right.

Ever had that happen? I know I have. So what changed?

Well during Open Gym, you subconsciously aren’t really worried about N.O.P.E. Instead, you’re just focusing on what actually matters — The Process of what you’re doing.

Wouldn’t it be great if we can bring back some of that energy and conference into our high pressure practices and competitions? Well now we can! Take a look at the video below…

Here’s what F.A.S.T stands for…

• F – Focus
• A – Awareness
• S – Speed
• T – Technique

I’ve found that when my athletes get these 4 things dialed in, success is almost guaranteed. Think about it: isn’t it better to think about the actual Technique of your layout full versus The Negative (i.e, “omg what if I don’t land it?!”) ?

Duh!

This isn’t rocket science. So why don’t athletes do this all the time?

Well either they weren’t taught, or they seem to forget the cues their coaches have given them. And that’s ok, that’s normal. We humans actually have terrible memory.

This is why I came up with F.A.S.T, and why is so valuable. Not only is each piece of the acronym proven to help you tumble better, but it’s so much easier to remember!

How To Actually Use F.A.S.T

Before going for any pass or skill (especially one that’s new), just remember FAST and say each word to yourself along with companion questions and phrases that will dial your mind in. Here’s a quick example:

• Focus – “Am I focused on what I’m doing? Time to ignore what Suzy is throwing on the rod floor… I’m training for ME here!”
• Aware – “Do I know where to look during take off? Oh right, at that banner on the wall!”
• Speed – “Am I holding back? I should put in 100%. A slow pass is a dangerous pass”
• Technique – “Remember what coach told me? Tight and strong through the shoulders!”

To help make it even easier to remember, I’ve created a handy Infographic that you can carry with you right on your phone. It’s like having me coach you any day, any time 24/7 (pretty sure that sounds a nightmare to some of my kids ??). Either way, it’s designed for quick glances and it will guide you through the right questions to ask yourself. This way you can spend more time saying “HECK YES” instead of N.O.P.E!

Here’s a sneak peek…