Peak Performance:
EEG Neurofeedback Article With Peak Performance for an athlete one thinks immediately of the winner. Someone who races to their potential and crosses the line first. The training that a person does to reach this state at the very top level has become a complex subject. Structured programmes following per iodisation for in and out of season. But what happens when the training is good, then what? Well it comes down to mental strength, I’m sure you’re thinking. You are right, and how does this equate to performance? If someone is focussed and believes in themselves surely this will give them an edge too! This is why athletes for years have turned to sports psychologists to iron out the negatives and produce the very important ‘winning mind’. However EEG Neurofeedback goes much deeper than this coming originally from a medical field for example ‘Epilepsy Research’ and it is much more physiologically based than Sports psychology so it can be measured. Most successful competitors either are naturally focussed or to some degree have trained themselves to become like that, so what now? As coaches we are taught to keep on learning, never be satisfied with what you know and because of this and by a chance meeting I have now embarked on an even deeper learning that is in fact a science, in order to improve my knowledge and perhaps make me a better coach. As with anything I use I always have to try it for myself before I can seriously advise anyone of its merits, and as such I am now in my EEG Neurofeedback programme that I hope is going to prove every bit successful as a 100% of all other clients that have been using it. Already I can see some initial effects, such as the feeling I get when I know I am in the correct brain wave pattern to improve and heal. My expectations are extremely high that it will be fully successful as this impressive start. I would first like to explain a little background of why I jumped into it realising that it was potentially useful to me personally as an athlete and even more importantly as a coach. I teach Studio Cycling and the classes not only use progressive training principles to improve students but just as important is the focussing and visualising aspect to help class members strengthen their minds so that they can concentrate for longer, push harder and even work hard but imagine they are somewhere else, making it easier to train and even forget what they are actually doing. On talking with Dr Surinder Kaur we discovered that this was in fact going to work on different levels within the brain and as it was being done with a high heart rate was playing a role almost more effectively than the usual Sports Psychology because it ran in parallel to the actual physical feeling of working hard but being able to still focus positively for extended periods. However during my classes I know that quite a few people experience problems doing this. It is quite an advanced form of mental imagery. The distraction of the exercise for some is too great and so can be negative. For a third of the people however it can be outstanding and within these techniques not just individuals but teams of people are finding great success. Can we do better than this by finding and maintaining peak performance for everyone? All my ideas can be hard to take in and from discussions I thought Dr Kaur through Neurofeedback could actually prove my theories by using me as her guinea pig. Naively I thought because I have been competing at a high level for many years as well as doing visualisation for over four years on the Studio Cycling Bikes I would have great results. What I failed to think about was other problems that can obstruct progress. Nobody is perfect and since giving up full time Triathlon I have been hiding a few underlying problems as I tried to train as I used too, but with work and family commitments. Subsequently I couldn’t do it as I wanted and this was getting to me gradually. Yes I was fit enough, but where was my peak performance? I realise now that I could have been a much better Triathlete had I met Dr Kaur ten or more years ago and that with her help I could adjust my limitations and move on to greater achievements as long as I was positive and learnt the techniques she showed me. First to see an improvement has been constant shin problems developed as I have got older. We worked on this and already my overdeveloped muscles next to the shin bones are relaxing instead of pulling and causing shin splints. My running performances in training are starting to improve. Dr Kaur BSc. MSc, PhD, FRSA is the leading Neurofeedback practitioner in Britain, she has had strong links with the eminent Henley Management College, working with corporate clients and their business performance. Also she has had 100% success rate treating debilitated and ill patients suffering from a multitude of ailments. Some physical and some mental. For example her work with people suffering with chronic pain and injuries or depression is incredible, she can facilitate the brain to heal itself. These sorts of problems can be cured and thus the progress measured. But her work with Peak Performance is what interested me. I found out that areas of the brain govern certain areas of the body that can help with performance. We all knew that, but they also at the same time help with effecting our responses and attitudes, such as relaxing, speed, endurance, Co-ordination and being in “the zone”. This can be measured and improved and can take any athlete to a new level. On a personal note my first mistake was to think that I would immediately be able to measure my own physical performance improvement. What I hadn’t reckoned on however was what was stopping my high level performance in the first place. Through a getting to know you session we discovered that my sleep problem (I kept waking during the night) that made me too tired and lethargic sometimes to go training, was in fact stress related. I was anxious and suffered from actual ‘chronic anxiety’. Better still Dr Kaur could verify this by taking measurements from the brain EEG. All through my career I struggled to sleep properly, so to catch up I used to sleep through the day because I had time, but that was never going to solve it. I should have tried to get to the heart of the problem and with many things in my life I learnt to suppress it for ten years. Then everything else would have improved. I am also ‘hypervigilant’, which means that my brain is not relaxing, it continues to talk across itself all the time despite existing relaxation methods I was using. This means that without EEG Neurofeedback I will continue to struggle with stress because the brain is so active, hence my poor sleep patterns. Dr Kaur explained. Another result of tests done was to find out that my concentration span was ok for a 10 minute period but then it dipped dramatically. No good if I wanted to focus during a long training session or race. After a time negative thoughts would be creeping into my head and the focus would go. During my demonstrations as head studio cycling instructor I found that I could focus for long periods. I was using another method to gain focus. The next tests would be to see what part of the brain I used to do this and to learn to do this at other times when I needed to. The treatment is even more interesting and involved than I had imagined. Dr Kaur has the skills to be able to monitor exactly what area of the brain is working ( due to electrodes measuring and analysing different brain wave patterns in micro-voltages of electrical activity) and because she knows exactly what part of the brain does what she can give you exercises that stimulate the correct part of the brain and get it working correctly. With thisknowledge of the brain Dr Kaur can treat every part of the neuromusculature which is invaluable for acute and chronic injuries, especially old injuries that will not heal and treatment of acute injuries in a fraction of the normal healing process. And recovery time. During the last few weeks many interesting initial effects are happening for me, such as mental clarity, improved sleep and better judgement and decision making of situations. The problems that I have suppressed during the last four or five years have also been surfacing themselves as I become more consciously aware of them. I know now that to gain my Peak Performance, part of the treatment has been to combat these before I can move on to actual peak performance techniques which I am just starting. With the other things so much improved every area already feels boosted and there are many improvements already. I am preparing further data on these and other athletes that Dr Kaur has started working with for a further article based on a variety of results. Dr Kaur is now looking for any competitive Athletes, Triathletes, Cyclists, Runners plus team game players who are looking for other ways on top of structured, progressive training to find that winning edge. As you can see this is an exact science that up till now has not really been used other than for the ill and debilitated. The science is exactly the same, the human brain can learn how to develop itself and take you to another higher level of Peak Performance.
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