Improving Specialised Athletic Skills Development
Athletic Peak Performance – Train Your Brain
Dan Landers PhD did an EEG measurement study of novice archers undergoing a 15 week training course in archery. He did not give any neurofeedback.
He just recorded EEGs (brainwaves) over time, while the students got traditional instruction in archery. He found that as the archers’ skills improved (if they improved), there was a change in the brain wave patterns they displayed during shooting.
Toward the end of the training, the archers had improved their scores more than 60%, and they had begun to show the same burst of alpha waves right before a shot which researchers find in the elite archers.
When Landers took the next logical step of providing neurofeedback training for athletic peak performance, he found that training the proper pattern was very important.
Neurofeedback on one pattern could help archers shoot significantly better, but training on a different pattern caused them to shoot far worse.
This clearly demonstrates the role of the brain in athletic peak performance and how precise and powerful neurofeedback is in training the brain for athletic peak performance.
You can physically train your brain directly with neurofeedback like you physically train your body with gym equipment.
Neurofeedback is fitness training for your brain, which can accelerate and heighten your skills training at a high level of achievement.
U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) in peak performance training
US Army Special Forces operate at a level equivalent to the highest achieving athlete and higher as they have no off season.
Due to the high competitive extremes and states of continued readiness for action, as well as ongoing training, anything that substantially improves their peak performance levels will do the same for elite athletes and professional sports people.
Hardt provided alpha neurofeedback training to two teams of US Army Green Berets being trained for classified missions, requiring the highest possible mental and physical fitness, and their seamless integration to both achieve mission objectives and to survive and remain functional under the most extreme and challenging conditions.
During this training, three of these elite soldiers (12% of those trained) discovered they had unresolved doubts, fears, and reservations about their mission. Once these three soldiers realized they did not have sufficient inner alignment with their mission to remain in the Army, they could then move on to apply their high motivation and skills in suitable ways in civilian life.
Their commanders were relieved and grateful to have a training technique to weed out those who might falter under field conditions, and the 88% who remained were clearer in their purpose, and far more highly skilled in self regulation and peak performance on demand.
They reduce anxiety, defensiveness and fatigue and increased mental flexibility.
Another interesting feature of Hardt’s program was that the soldiers were sent on a one month meditation retreat, which Hardt found caused the action oriented soldiers stress rather than enhancing them.
However, the neurofeedback training did the opposite and in fact when the equipment was provided for ongoing training at their base, two thirds chose to do it during their free time instead of sport!
As many senior level managers, executives, entrepreneurs, sales people, sports people, academics and even performing artists are very similar in this way ie action oriented highly aroused, very goal oriented people alpha neurofeedback training would be much better suited to them than meditation.
Hardt has trained world class athletes in both team and individual sports for athletic peak performance.
References
Allman, W.F., The Mental Edge, Science & Society, In U.S. News & World Report, 113(5), 50-56, August 3 (1992).
Hardt, J.V. Alpha EEG responses of low and high anxiety males to respiration and relaxation training and to auditory feedback of occipital alpha. Dissertation Abstracts, International, 35(4), Catalog No. 74-19309, 1912B-1913B, (1974).
Hardt, J.V. and Kamiya, J. Anxiety change through EEG alpha feedback: Seen only in high anxiety subjects. Science, 201, 79-81, (1978).
Hardt, J.V. EEG Biofeedback Method and System for Training Voluntary Control of Human EEG Activity, United States Patent #4,928,704, May 29, (1990).
Hardt, J.V. The Ultimate Peak Performers: Alpha Feedback Training for US Army Green Berets. Advanced Neurofeedback Training Cases. Biocybernaut Institute
Martindale, C., Hines, D., Mitchell, L., Covello, E., EEG Alpha Asymmetry and Creativity, Personality & Individual Differences, 5(1), 77-86 (1984).