198: Simon Capon on Mental Training, Body Language and Staying in the Present for Better Athletic (and Human) Performance | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features sports psychologist, Simon Capon. Simon is a hypnotherapist, Master NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioner, as well as the author of the book "It’s Time to Start Winning." Since 2006 Simon has worked with professional athletes, using variety of techniques including skills from NLP and hypnotherapy. He has inspired athletes, footballers and numerous others to achieve national, international and world titles. Simon’s philosophy is simple, create self-belief and your behaviors and actions will change and so will your results, this will have the effect of reinforcing your belief as a winning performer. Belief in your ability is imperative at high-level competitive sport. For all of the time we spend on learning about training our muscles and nervous system, we probably look into the impact of our mind and belief systems on our results with about 1/100th of the intensity. This is ironic, because the linchpin for so many athletes in their sport success is one of a limiting self-belief, rather than gaining a few more inches on one’s vertical jump or tenths of a second in sprinting speed. Not only this, but one’s belief systems have a massive impact on how we train and condition our bodies to the point where a stronger mind can create better physical training results as well. I found Simon Capon’s book after coming across his hypnosis for sprinting (his is the only one I’ve been able to find across the entire world-wide-web). Shortly thereafter, I read Simon’s book, and found it a tremendous source of information, particularly on using our physiology in a positive way to impact our mind. On the show today, Simon talks about his process of assessing mental training needs, the link between our body and mind (and how to “hack” into our deeper emotional brain), how to unwire limiting belief systems, and the importance of the present moment (and how to live there, rather than in the past or future). This was an awesome show that has relevance far beyond just the field of play. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 Simon’s introduction to Sports Psychology and Neuro-linguistic Programming 14:20 Simon’s process of assessing mental skills and needs 23:50 The link between our body, our posture, and how it connects with our minds and our performance 34:20 Methods for using one’s body language and posture to create a mental and emotional response 44:15 How we can get a better handle on our emotional brain to keep our performance consistent and at a high level 55:45 How to unwire one’s thoughts caused from prior negative feedback from a coach 1:00.30 How athletes can fully engage themselves in the present moment “I had a great fear of what people expected from me as a player” “If I was more mentally prepared, I would have fulfilled my full potential (as a player)” “We need to create a state of mind that is exactly the same as whatever we are doing. So whether we are training or in a competitive state it makes no difference. The reality is that we are creating habits and automatic responses, so whatever you are doing, it is the same response time after time” “Whenever there has been a poor performance, we get a piece of paper and write all the ways we can make the next performance better… We don’t ask “what went wrong”” “We have to fail to be able to improve. Failure is a must and it must be accepted as feedback” “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, there is always someone who will come along and take the top spot” “Whenever I come out, you either get all of me, or none of me, and my confidence comes purely from my physiology: proud, tall, shoulders back, head held high, confident in each step” “If you can put your focus onto your state (your physiology) and your actions, the energy and the results, will take care of themselves” “If you said to yourself “I will not let myself go below an 8 (in enthusiasm) just imagine how much more productive you will be in your training session” “If you fall below an 8 (in enthusiasm), the first thing to do is to create some emotion” “Our (emotional/limbic) brain is designed to avoid failure” “Anxiety is very much based on things that have gone wrong in the past, or a perceived problem in the future. When we are in the moment, we can think about the job at hand” “Golf is about playing one shot multiple times. When you tee off, you will tee off like it’s the only shot you are going to play all day“ About Simon Capon Simon Capon is a sports psychologist, NLP Master Practitioner and NLP Trainer, as well as a Hypnotherapist. Since 2006 Simon has worked with professional sports men and women. He is committed to his clients achieving the goals and ambitions they strive for. Simon has the ability to make huge psychological changes in an astonishingly fast time. He uses a variety of techniques including skills from NLP and hypnotherapy. His beliefs are that everyone has the resources to change the programmes they run in their minds so they become focused, confident and generate total self-belief. Many clients including established professional sports people have battled for years to overcome the psychological problems of coping with pressure of match play. Simon has inspired athletes, footballers and numerous others to achieve national, international and world titles. He has written articles about his work for Tennis life UK magazine, and is the author of the book “It’s Time to Start Winning”. He has a selection of mind programming recordings available on MP3 downloads from Amazon, iTunes and Nokia.