The "twisties". We learned about them from Simone Biles and things seemed to spiral from there. What if we had called what she was experiencing "Balance Dysregulation"? Would the haters go away? Would we look at just how smart of a decision a gymnast can make when they lose their ability to judge balance? The term "twisties" took us down a unhealthy and very familiar path. We should be so far past this issue by now. We are making strides, but we are still not there. I'd like to share my perspective as a performance coach:
Elite athletes spend countless hours optimizing their bodies to compete and succeed at the highest levels. We still to this day separate “body” from “mind” and that is not only inaccurate, it has unfortunate consequences. Every action Simone Biles takes is the result of a complex interplay of every part of her body all driven by a central nervous system that originates in the brain. Athletes can be derailed by an injury to a body part as easily as they can be derailed by a malfunctioning of their nervous system. A cold virus, a health condition like diabetes, vertigo, the twisties, migraines. Dehydration, the list goes on and on. And athletes do everything they can to be as healthy as possible to prevent these central nervous system conditions from derailing their performance.
We use terms like “mindset”, “mental toughness”, “in your head too much” to describe how an athlete’s thoughts and emotions impact their performance. The real answer however, what is really going on, is that every thought, every emotion, every impulse, inclination, every single one has an impact on their performance.
Athletes don’t train their bodies and their minds. They train themselves. They train the entirety of who they are to engage in certain actions in a certain way. And because society separates “mind” from “body” we often focus on how the body is being trained. The body will not perform if the brain is not working. The body will not succeed if the wrong signals are being sent.
Fear, doubt, guilt, anger, passion, frustration, rage, boredom, shame, and on and on impact how an athlete performs as much if not more so than reaction times, reflexes, strength, flexibility, cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
I work with athletes competing at the highest levels. It’s not their conditioning that takes them out. It’s their fear that their conditioning is not good enough. It’s not just the injury that takes them out, but the hesitation about trusting their body once the injury has healed. It’s not a lack of motivation or enthusiasm, but an inability to regulate emotional intensity which then translates into poorer execution of skills.
EVERYTHING an elite athlete does emanates from how they think about, perceive and feel about themselves, others and the world. The athlete who is in peak physical condition but doubts the path they are on, will not succeed. The athlete who has elite coordination and physical skills but feels that their personal acceptance and worth is tied to wins and losses, will not succeed. The athlete who has the ability to be the absolute best but believes they are not deserving of a happy life will implode.
Don’t misunderstand me. Athletes cannot think their way to success independently. They cannot breathe their way to a championship. They cannot have faith in a higher power and that be it. An athlete must put in the work. But an athlete who is not constantly working on how they think, feel and perceive themselves and others in the world, is an athlete who will never reach the highest levels. They may have started their sport to have fun. They may have evolved that to be the best. But the process starts and ends with their thoughts and emotions. In the middle is the hard physical work.
Simone Biles won gold because she has immense coordination, strength, endurance and flexibility AND because her thoughts and emotions are aligned with what she wants from life. Did misalignment of thoughts and feelings cause the twisties in 2020? Probably not. But the twisties DID signal to the greatest of gymnasts that her brain needed as much attention as the rest of her body. Simone Biles is older, wiser, and more whole. Whole in mind, spirit and athletic ability. It’s that wholeness (and a little luck) that makes the greatest the greatest.