Today I’m sharing 3 Techniques That I’ve Just (re)learned For Peak Performance, based on my experience here in Nimes for a tennis camp with teenagers.
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Technique #1: Load- Load- Deload
In order to reach our highest potential, I believe we all need to push our limits, going beyond what we thought were impossible, and at least out of our comfort zone.
Based on this principle, the past 2 years in this Champion’s camp for teenagers, I went full blast, push them hard, till they show some signs of fatigue and at that time I either asked them to push further or I used this opportunity to rest.
This year, I believe I’ve been wiser and I decided to use a principle that I read from Pavel Tsatsouline, amazing fitness coach, who teaches to decrease intensity right after we’ve broken our Personal Record…in order to prevent upcoming fatigue.
In his words in his book Power To The People:
Russian researcher Leonid Matveyev analyzed a great many athletes’ training logs and concluded that things worked out a lot better if the athlete voluntarily backed off after a push instead of carrying on at full throttle and waiting for a crash.
So, I did the camp with this idea to load 2 days with high intensity, then 1 day deload, with easier intensity.
It worked very well in a sense that nobody broke down, none of them got seriously injured and most important they all kept enthusiasm and receptivity to continue to improve.
Technique #2: Focus On Your Real Victory
I know I know, I keep talking about it, and I will continue to do it for a while.
Why?
Because it works!
Instead of focusing on winning, which I never mention, I’m doing a strong assessment with them about what they really want in terms of improvements, in terms of game style, and then we come up with ONE single focus for the whole 2 weeks.
This again proved to work wonders: it gave them something to focus on they can control, therefore more calm and therefore some positive influence towards their opponents.
The most significant has been with Luc, a 12 years old boy that I didn’t know much before. We’ve decided to base his Real Victory on his serve and forehand, and every day adding a technical piece into it. After 12 days of training and matches, it’s amazing to me how much he has improved and gained confidence.
Technique # 3: No Comment
I’ve decided to use the same strategy than my previous camp the week before in Le Mans, where my partner in Flow Tennis, Celine Regnier taught the students…to just stop commenting, stop talking, basically just shut up!
This has the effect to stop our monkey reactive mind, helps us to recover faster in between points, and again, to have a positive influence towards our opponents.
As Melchior, one of the boys said: “it’s not easy. It takes a lot of focus and efforts. And now I feel more confident.”
Simple. Not easy. Worth it. Go for it!
Ok, this is is for this week.
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