WALSHE, NOW WITH RED BULL, ON MENTAL TRAINING
ABOUT ANDY WALSHE, AND HIS TIPS ON TRAINING...
Andy Walshe has left USSA and gone to Red Bull, where he is the new High Performance Manager. He will work with the athletes sponsored by the energy drink company---the top contenders in both the X-Games and the Olympics.
It's a new position for Red Bull, but not for Walshe. Way back when the U. S. ski team couldn't win a race or even place, the congenial Australian was hired as the Sports Science Director for USSA. Within two years, American skiers and snowboarders were hard competition, and everyone on the World Cup knew it. The athletes Walshe trained began cleaning up hardware, taking all the gold medals in X and Olympic games. Now he will do the same for Red Bull's athletes.
Few know that the man has a PhD. in applied biomechanics, the science of movement. He has even more knowledge about what it takes to make athletes reach beyond their limits, from specific workouts to nutrition. Red Bull has 150 sponsored athletes in the U. S., and several hundred around the world that are sponsored under the Red Bull program. Walshe is in charge of giving them all service and support when it comes to their performances.
"We are going to provide resources that they can access to allow them to achieve their goals; whether it's training, nutrition, career management, the same stuff we did for the ski team," Walshe says.
He says "we," with his customary modesty, insisting that his success with USSA athletes was part of a team effort, with a lot of pieces to the puzzle. Yet it was Walshe who set up the performance programs across the board that turned U. S. snow athletes into winners. As for Red Bull's athletes, he says the same principals apply, he is just applying them to different sports. He adds, "Athletes have to pay attention to all aspects of performance if they want to improve. My job is helping them figure out how to do that."
Right now, Walshe is in Los Angeles, where the summer X-Games start July 31. He says of the X-Games, "These athletes are approaching (physical) limits in their sports, so the level of competition is very, very high. They have taken it to a phenominal level. Across the board, there will be some amazing things happening. surfing, freestyle motocross, skateboarding, it's all off the air."
But can someone on this level, who will be training X-Game winners, help you if you are a recreational athlete? Yes, because no matter what the level you are on, the basic principals remain the same. Even if you only want to be more active; even if you don't want to compete.
Walshe gives the same advice to you that he gives to Olympic gold medal winners. He says for starters, "The best thing anyone can do is to set up goals, really simple goals, where they want to be in terms of their fitness, in terms of their health and mental approach. Write them down. Setting goals about where you want to be, that gives you a roadmap to follow. Whatever your level, set a plan, 'this is what I want to do in my sport,' everybody can benefit from that process."
The difference between you and the athletes Walshe trains is that he helps them set up their step-by-step goals, and you will have to analyze your own requirements to set up your list of goals. One important area to work on is mental training, which will help you not only in sport, but in life.
He suggests starting with the most elementary kind of mental training: mental rehearsal, envisioning the activity. "Imagine yourself doing it perfectly. Focus on that performance in your mind, so that when it comes time to actually do it, you have a mental picture of where you're supposed to be. A perfect time to do this is when you're lying in bed, ready to fall asleep.
Walshe adds that breaking things up helps your analysis of the perfect place you want to be. "Practice smaller parts, practice in a safe environment," he says.
Mental imagery is the basis of training for many elite athletes; but you must know how to do it right. It's more than visualizing your head on some incredible athlete's body. Look at a video of a great athlete doing your sport. Look at the way they hold their hands and put your hands in that position. Look at the angles of their body: where is one knee in relation to the other knee? Notice whether it is forward or back, angled to the inside or the outside. Stop the tape, go to a full length mirror and put your legs in the same position. Support yourself on a chair if necessary to perfectly imitate the position of the athlete in action.
At the same time, Walshe says not to allow your mental perception of your sport to get grim. "Have fun with it, have fun. That's the one thing every athlete, on every level, should do."
Walshe says the object of mental training is to get the athlete into a mindset to perform. That is what he will be doing for the Red Bull athletes. For now, he is analyzing some of the 50 or so athletes he will be training.
From the X-Games, Walshe says, "Red Bull only sponsors the best, so some of them are the best athletes in the X-Games." But, he adds, "We haven't started to work with the athletes here, we're still doing evaluations. Part of the evaluation is to watch from a ringside seat." He chuckles. "It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.