The BTM Book Report: ‘Mental Training for Peak Performance’

Dr. Steven Ungerleider’s Mental Training for Peak Performance offers a lot of insight into the mental game, including numerous sport-specific examples that can be applied to bowling as well.

Like most books that deal with the mental game, Ungerleider talks about the concept of self-talk and affirmations. These are both key aspects of sport psychology that are used across all sports. He prioritizes the value of using self-talk and staying in the present in order to focus on the goals at hand. It’s easy to get caught up in doubts about the future, but self-talk must be focused on the present and on what athletes can control.

Visualization is another key component of the mental game, and Dr. Ungerleider discusses not only its value but also why it works. Using CAT and PET scans on patients, doctors have proven that the same region of the brain is at work when you are seeing something in front of you or picturing something in your mind.

Rather than having an image pass through the eye’s retina, through the visual cortex, and to the higher centers of the brain, visualization starts in the brain before going to the visual cortex. The fact that both processes use the same parts of the brain reinforces the importance of imagery, because the brain literally treats real experiences and visualized experiences as the same thing. An imagined situation is the same as something experienced in real life.

Mental Training for Peak Performance also offers insight into an often overlooked element of the mental game: relaxation. In addition to using relaxation techniques before competition, top-level athletes also have some form of relaxation practice every day of the week to complement their training schedules.

Athletes from every sport use different relaxation rituals before competing. The author recommends experimenting to find what works for you, from quiet moments of meditation to listening to music from a specific playlist. If professional athletes are any indication, then there’s no single best way to do it. It depends on you.

In the section including sport-specific mental preparation, there is a common thread across all sports: visualizing your performance in its entirety. Whether ...