Before a race you often hear phrases like these.
“I feel charged.”
“My head is somewhere else.” “I'm too tense.”
“Today I feel in flow.”
These are very common ways athletes describe what's going on in their minds. But if we stop and think for a moment, we realize that we often talk about the mind in very general ways.
We say that mentally we're either "there" or "not." That our minds are either "working" or "not spinning.".
In reality, mental preparation works much more precisely.
The mind is not a single state. During a sports performance, several factors come into play. different mental states, which can change rapidly and influence the way an athlete moves, decides and reacts.
It is precisely from this observation that the model used in was born 2flow.
Instead of talking about the mind in a general way, 2flow helps the athlete to observe five states
key mental factors that influence performance:
Flow
Focus
Stress
Calm
Peak Performance
These five targets represent some of the most important mental conditions in sport and performance.
Let's look at them briefly.
Flow
Flow is that state in which everything seems to flow naturally. The technical gesture becomes fluid, the mind is present but not intrusive, and the actions follow one another seamlessly.
Many athletes describe flow as a feeling where "the game just happens." It doesn't mean there's no effort or commitment, but rather that the mind and body are working in the same direction.
Focus
Focus is about the ability to maintain attention on what really matters at the moment of performance.
In sports, there are many distractions: the score, the previous mistake, the crowd, expectations. Focus allows you to refocus on the task, the gesture, the action to be performed at that moment.
It is one of the most trainable mental states in mental preparation.
Stress
Stress isn't necessarily a bad thing. A certain level of activation is often helpful in entering into performance with intensity and responsiveness.
The problem arises when stress exceeds a certain threshold. Muscle tension, stiffness, repetitive thoughts, or a loss of clarity can appear.
Recognizing your stress level is essential to learning how to regulate it.
Calm
Calmness is the ability to maintain mental and emotional stability even in pressured situations.
It doesn't mean being passive or inactive, but being able to stay focused even when the game gets complicated, when a mistake occurs, or when the moment becomes decisive.
Calmness is often what allows the athlete to quickly return to the present.
Peak Performance
Peak performance represents the moment when mental and physical conditions align in the best way to express one's level.
It is not something that can be directly forced, but is often the result of a good balance between other mental states: regulated stress, present attention, a stable mind and an active body.
When this balance is created, the athlete is able to express his potential with greater continuity.
These five mental states aren't fixed. They can change during a workout, during a race, or even in a matter of minutes.
An athlete may start the game with good focus but high stress. After a few minutes, they may calm down and get closer to the flow. Or they may lose focus after a mistake.
The mind, in sport, is dynamics.
This is why one of the most important aspects of mental preparation is learning to
recognize where we are mentally at a given moment. And this is exactly what allows you to do 2flow.
Through a brief self-assessment, the athlete can pause for a few seconds and observe their state of mind relative to these five targets. This isn't about overanalyzing or overcomplicating the performance.
On the contrary, it is about developing a greater awareness of one's mental state.
It's a bit like checking the dashboard of a car.
A driver not only looks at the road, but also occasionally observes some indicators that allow him to understand how the vehicle is performing.
Similarly, an athlete can learn to observe certain signals in their mind. This isn't to judge themselves or label a performance. It's to do something.
much more useful: knowing where to start to train your mind. Because in mental preparation there is a very simple rule: First observe the mental state, then intervene on it.
And this is where the most practical work begins.
In the next chapter we will enter into this fundamental step: once you have recognized your mental state, How can we intervene to regulate it and improve the quality of the performance?
Find out how to train your mind:
