The Brain-Training Secrets Of Olympic Athletes

The Huffington Post:

With the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics well underway, millions of spectators are marveling at the physical skill and talent of the athletes competing in the Games.

But behind these athletes’ physical feats is an arguably even more impressive mental prowess cultivated through years of training the mind to tune out distractions, reduce stress and anxiety and build the focus and stamina they need to achieve optimal performance. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that great athletes succeed because they know how to stay at the top of their game mentally.

Former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlon runner Bruce Jenner once said, “You have to train your mind like you train your body.” He’s echoing an athletic maxim that’s practically a cliché: sports are 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.

“The physical aspect of the sport can only take you so far,” said Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shannon Miller during an interview with the Dana Foundation. “The mental aspect has to kick in, especially when you’re talking about the best of the best. In the Olympic games, everyone is talented. Everyone trains hard. Everyone does the work. What separates the gold medalists from the silver medalists is simply the mental game.”

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post