Mental Block

[_fiercerthanU]

I have a huge mental block when it comes to running tumbling and im slowly getting a mental block on my standing tumbling... what can i do for it to go away

 

[EliteCamdenCoach]

Mental blocks are miserable for athletes! I'm sorry you are going through one! Before you figure out how to "treat" the block, you have to think about why you are blocking. Is it a fear of falling due to a recent fall? Are you having performance anxiety from the pressure of needing the skill? There are a number of reasons blocks occur and to figure out how to overcome it requires you to figure out what caused it. Not all approaches will work for all athletes, but I have seen several athletes break their block through private tumble, particularly if they are blocking out of fear of "not measuring up" to their teammates. In a private, it is just you and the coach, so it's easier to concentrate on your skill and not what everyone else is doing. As an added bonus, private tumble keeps the spotter concentrating on you for the entire class, so it sometimes works for overcoming the fear of injury. Others will break their block by having their spotter start hands off and quickly go in for the assist. Of course, this technique really only works if the block is on standings, but it is very effective at getting past the fear of throwing without someone physically touching you during the skill. We preach "repetition, repetition, repetition" to our athletes that block out, even if that repetition has to be with a spot for now. We have them take a deep breath and visualize a perfect pass before they throw. We teach them the mechanics of the skill, not just the "how-to", but the "why". This technique for some reason works well for those with a fear of falling. I have seen some bust through a block with the tough love approach, but I have also seen that approach make blocks worse in some athletes. It's called a "mental" block for a reason, it really is all in your head! So, no matter what approach you choose to try you will need positive reinforcement, whether that is from your coach, teammates or family - hopefully all three! You CAN overcome the block! Best of luck to you and I hope any of our tactics are helpful to you!

 

[GreenStormLucy]

I´ve found this website very helpful:
For the "Love" of Tumbling | by Debbie LoveFor the "Love" of Tumbling
And we worked our way back with cp with no pressure, not calling it "mental block" and her visualizing how she throws her skills perfectly a hundred times.
She throw her BHS last week by herself on the tramp and that was a big step - a year ago she would stand there with two spotters crying and not doing anything and being dissapointed by herself.
I don´t know if there is something that caused the feeling you can´t throw your tumbling or that makes you uncomfortable - did you have an injury? Did you have a growth spurt? Is there pressure from coaches, parents or teammates that you have to have a certain skill?
Find to try out what is it that causes your struggles and try to get your confidence back.

 

[Mental Coach]

A mental block in tumbling is one of the most common reasons why gymnasts and cheerleaders seek out mental training. One day you are tumbling fine, the next day you won’t go backwards, and you don’t know why. There have been many articles written about “How to overcome fears and mental blocks” and we read the articles and follow along with the recommended advice.

1. Make sure you are physically ready to perform the skill.
2. Get rid of any labels you, your parents, coaches, or teammates have placed on you like “I don’t tumble” “I am a mental case” “I don’t go backwards”
3. Make sure your self-talk is encouraging like “I got this” and “I am strong” and you don’t say negative comments to yourself like “I am going to fall on my head” or “I am going to break my ankle”.
4. Take calming breathes before each turn to relax if you feel anxious, or jump up and down and speed up your heart rate if you want to pump yourself up.
5. Say your performance cues before, during, and after the skill. For example when performing a standing tuck the performance cues may be “ chest (for the set), pull (during the tuck), strong (for the landing)”
6. Make sure you know you are going to throw the skill before you walk up to go. If you think that you are not going to do it, don’t play around. The more you walk up and continue to balk, the more you are “proving” to yourself that you can’t do it. So be honest with yourself. If you know you aren’t going to go for it…don’t go up until you know you will.

You have heard this all before and you practice all these steps consistently, but you still won’t throw the skill by yourself. You will throw it with your coach standing there with one finger on your back, you know they are not helping you at all, and that you can throw it by yourself…but something is stopping you. You don’t trust yourself.
When your coach is standing there, you have your security blanket, and whether you need a spot or not, one part of you is thinking that you are not capable of putting 100% trust in yourself. One part of you still thinks that just the presence of your coach standing there is the reason you can throw your skill. Start to trust yourself. Logically you know you are doing the skill by yourself, you can do the skill by yourself, and you want to throw it by yourself.
Here’s a scenario: you walk up to do the skill by yourself, as you are walking to your spot you “know” you are going to go for it. Then in a snap this blanket of doubt and anxiety rush over you, and you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and scared. You lost that feeling of wanting to go for it and your fear of doing the skill won. So here is the secret. You have to fight through that point.
And it is going to be a fight. You have one voice in your head saying “go, go, go” and then you have that other voice that says “stop, stop, stop”. And you usually listen to the “stop” voice because you think that in order to go for it; the only voice you will hear is the one saying “go”. But it isn’t like that. You may hear that voice that says “stop”, so be ready to hear it. And when you do hear it, be prepared to fight. Don’t let it win. Fight the battle, keep pushing through, and understand that you will feel uncomfortable, you will feel vulnerable, and you will feel scared but that is O.K. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t throw the skill, it just means that you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and scared. Fight through it, it won’t be easy, but you can will this battle.
The more times you can will the battle the better prepared you will be to be to fight through issues in the future. So start on a surface that you feel comfortable with and build your confidence. Each time you move your skill to a new surface (moving from pit to resi-pit to hard ground) you may need to be ready to fight another fight. This is normal. And be ready to fight. Little by little you will notice that the fight may be less and less, but don’t be surprised if one day you have to fight harder or not at all. There is no perfect feeling you will have, just stay in your focus, say your performance cues, and be ready to fight for it.

 

[cheermom02]

My 8 yr old is having a really hard time. She can't get over her fear or anxiety of tumbling. She is amazing but her head won't let her go. It's one step forward and two steps back. I want to read this to her and maybe/hopefully it will click.


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[Cheermom4lyfe]

Tumbling mental blocks are terrible!!! My cp managed hers but it was always an uphill battle. No amount of "if you're going to be a cheerleader, you have to tumble" helped. The only positive from it is that she totally overcompensated with other skills. She was determined to be a beast at base and backspot, jumps were beautiful and she could learn new choreo in record time. She strived to make teammates love her and coaches need her in spite of the tumbling deficit. Tell all your cp's to NEVER stop trying, but know that tumbling alone doesn't make an awesome cheerleader! Good luck to everyone dealing with this issue.


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[Caitlinb1]

I have a huge mental block when it comes to running tumbling and im slowly getting a mental block on my standing tumbling... what can i do for it to go away

I have the same problem! my coach tells me to imagine me doing the skills perfectly and just throw it! I'm still working on it, because i have skills , my mind just wont let me, but we're in our own way! just focus have confidence and throw it! if you fall get back up! you may get hurt but everyone does!just do it! Good Luckkk <3

 

[alexamarysouza]

I wish I would've had access to all this help before I stopped tumbling...I got hurt and didn't tumble after that, and it was only about halfway through my now 11-year career...yall are so lucky! I would suggest reading into Debbie Love's articles. They did a tumbling clinic at my gym with her and she worked some magic with several girls.

 

[Jasmine Amira]

I personally font believe in mental blocks. If you have done the skill more than once your body knows how to do it automatically. You need to train your head that is telling you that you can't do it and make it say I can do it and just go for it. You can't have fears because that's not what tumbling is for I hope this helps and keep a smile on your face and just go for it with confidence

 

[Lyerin]

I´ve found this website very helpful:
For the "Love" of Tumbling | by Debbie LoveFor the "Love" of Tumbling
And we worked our way back with cp with no pressure, not calling it "mental block" and her visualizing how she throws her skills perfectly a hundred times.
She throw her BHS last week by herself on the tramp and that was a big step - a year ago she would stand there with two spotters crying and not doing anything and being dissapointed by herself.
I don´t know if there is something that caused the feeling you can´t throw your tumbling or that makes you uncomfortable - did you have an injury? Did you have a growth spurt? Is there pressure from coaches, parents or teammates that you have to have a certain skill?
Find to try out what is it that causes your struggles and try to get your confidence back.

Thank you so much for the link to that website! I think that is really going to help my DD. She is currently throwing her round-off backhandspring, but she has stopped throwing her round-off tuck and round off BHS back tuck.

 

[stuntjumptumble]

I wish I would've had access to all this help before I stopped tumbling...I got hurt and didn't tumble after that, and it was only about halfway through my now 11-year career...yall are so lucky! I would suggest reading into Debbie Love's articles. They did a tumbling clinic at my gym with her and she worked some magic with several girls.

That's where I'm at now. I tumbled until I got hurt in October and I was out for a few months, now I'm scared to do anything. It's super frustrating


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[alexamarysouza]

That's where I'm at now. I tumbled until I got hurt in October and I was out for a few months, now I'm scared to do anything. It's super frustrating


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Personally, I just overthink everything. I don't know if I'd call it a mental block...maybe so. But after doing permanent damage to my ankles...it's more of a fear of "what if..." More than a "my body won't let me". Because I know I could probably still whip out some skills, but I'm just terrified to now that I know the pain I had to go through with am injury. I'll stay back-row-Betty for jumps and not complain lol.


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[allstarcheer2u]

I was thinking about hypnosis. Has anyone else tried it ?

 

[CheerMama62]

A mental block in tumbling is one of the most common reasons why gymnasts and cheerleaders seek out mental training. One day you are tumbling fine, the next day you won’t go backwards, and you don’t know why. There have been many articles written about “How to overcome fears and mental blocks” and we read the articles and follow along with the recommended advice.

1. Make sure you are physically ready to perform the skill.
2. Get rid of any labels you, your parents, coaches, or teammates have placed on you like “I don’t tumble” “I am a mental case” “I don’t go backwards”
3. Make sure your self-talk is encouraging like “I got this” and “I am strong” and you don’t say negative comments to yourself like “I am going to fall on my head” or “I am going to break my ankle”.
4. Take calming breathes before each turn to relax if you feel anxious, or jump up and down and speed up your heart rate if you want to pump yourself up.
5. Say your performance cues before, during, and after the skill. For example when performing a standing tuck the performance cues may be “ chest (for the set), pull (during the tuck), strong (for the landing)”
6. Make sure you know you are going to throw the skill before you walk up to go. If you think that you are not going to do it, don’t play around. The more you walk up and continue to balk, the more you are “proving” to yourself that you can’t do it. So be honest with yourself. If you know you aren’t going to go for it…don’t go up until you know you will.

You have heard this all before and you practice all these steps consistently, but you still won’t throw the skill by yourself. You will throw it with your coach standing there with one finger on your back, you know they are not helping you at all, and that you can throw it by yourself…but something is stopping you. You don’t trust yourself.
When your coach is standing there, you have your security blanket, and whether you need a spot or not, one part of you is thinking that you are not capable of putting 100% trust in yourself. One part of you still thinks that just the presence of your coach standing there is the reason you can throw your skill. Start to trust yourself. Logically you know you are doing the skill by yourself, you can do the skill by yourself, and you want to throw it by yourself.
Here’s a scenario: you walk up to do the skill by yourself, as you are walking to your spot you “know” you are going to go for it. Then in a snap this blanket of doubt and anxiety rush over you, and you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and scared. You lost that feeling of wanting to go for it and your fear of doing the skill won. So here is the secret. You have to fight through that point.
And it is going to be a fight. You have one voice in your head saying “go, go, go” and then you have that other voice that says “stop, stop, stop”. And you usually listen to the “stop” voice because you think that in order to go for it; the only voice you will hear is the one saying “go”. But it isn’t like that. You may hear that voice that says “stop”, so be ready to hear it. And when you do hear it, be prepared to fight. Don’t let it win. Fight the battle, keep pushing through, and understand that you will feel uncomfortable, you will feel vulnerable, and you will feel scared but that is O.K. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t throw the skill, it just means that you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and scared. Fight through it, it won’t be easy, but you can will this battle.
The more times you can will the battle the better prepared you will be to be to fight through issues in the future. So start on a surface that you feel comfortable with and build your confidence. Each time you move your skill to a new surface (moving from pit to resi-pit to hard ground) you may need to be ready to fight another fight. This is normal. And be ready to fight. Little by little you will notice that the fight may be less and less, but don’t be surprised if one day you have to fight harder or not at all. There is no perfect feeling you will have, just stay in your focus, say your performance cues, and be ready to fight for it.

 

[CheerMama62]

Very informative. Will keep this in mind as my daughter went through this before.