Want to Ride Better Under Pressure? Talk to Yourself Like THIS | Podcast #66
Why do MTB skills seem to disappear the moment you feel scared, frustrated, overwhelmed or under pressure? You KNOW how to brake. You KNOW where to look. You KNOW what your body should be doing — and yet, on a difficult section of trail, suddenly none of it seems accessible. In previous episodes I've talked about how a lack of automaticity may be the cause, in THIS episode we talk about how you may be sabotaging yourself mentally!
Because maybe it's the way you talk to yourself. In this episode of the Ride & Inspire RAWcast, we explore a sport psychology tool called Ileism. It's actually ridiculously simple — but psychological and neuroscience research into self-distancing and emotion regulation helps explain why changing the way we talk to ourselves can influence how we respond under pressure.
In this episode, you'll learn:- Why your MTB skills can feel inaccessible when pressure rises
- How self-talk influences fear, attention and performance
- What third-person self-talk and ileism are
- Why psychological distance can help us regulate emotions
- Practical examples on how to replace identity-based thoughts with useful process cues
- How to coach yourself through difficult MTB sections
- Why the RIGHT technical cues still matter
- How this technique can also help with overwhelm, procrastination and stressful situations away from the bike
Because becoming a better mountain biker isn't "just" about learning what your body needs to do. It's also about learning how to "coach" your brain when it matters.
Try the practical self-talk exercise from this episode on your next ride and notice what changes. And DO share it with me 😍
Work with me on our doorstep with my remote courses, where we turn these generic tips into individual guidance:https://roxybike.podia.com/mountain-bike-online-courses
FREE Balance course: https://roxybike.podia.com/trackstand-challenge-drill-to-skill-with-roxy
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📚 Research mentioned in this podcast:Kross et al. (2014): Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: how you do it matters.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, PMID: 24467424
Across seven studies (N=585), participants used either first-person language or non-first-person language (their own name/other pronouns) when thinking about themselves. Third-person/non-first-person self-talk increased self-distancing. Under social stress, these participants showed less distress and better performance, including during public speaking. They also tended to appraise future stressful situations more as challenges and less as threats.
Lieberman et al. (2007): Putting feelings into words and the brain, PMID: 17576282
In an fMRI experiment, labeling emotional stimuli was associated with reduced amygdala/limbic responses: Useful evidence that language and emotional labeling can alter measurable neural responses.
Moser et al. (2017): Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI, PMID: 28674404
Using EEG/ERP and fMRI, the researchers found evidence that third-person self-talk facilitated emotion regulation without requiring greater cognitive-control engagement. A strong basis that this can be useful when cognitive resources are already under pressure.
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