The Olympic motto – “Faster, Higher, Stronger” – is about exceeding limits. An experience in competitive swimming when I was in school gave me a glimpse of what researchers are finding in their studies – that giving mental consent has a huge impact on athletic performance. In my case, the difference was almost unimaginable.
“Athletes themselves have long insisted that mental factors are paramount“. Recently I read this in an interesting 09/19/2011 article in The New York Times by Gina Kolata entitled, “A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit”.
Two cyclists training for the Tour De France courtesy of Flickr user Guus Krol
She shares an experiment conducted by Dr. Kevin Thompson, Head of Sport and Exercise Science at Northumbrian University in England, and his assistant Mark Stone. They had cyclists ride stationary bicycles for 4,000 meters (about 2.5 miles). As they cycled they observed a display of themselves next to an avatar (computer-generated rider) that they were told was moving at the pace of their own best time. But the avatars were actually going 1 percent faster than that – faster than the cyclists had ever achieved.