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A Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment-Based Approach to Athletic Performance Enhancement: Theoretical Considerations

APA Citation

Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2004). A mindfulness-acceptance-commitment-based approach to athletic performance enhancement: theoretical considerations. Behavior Therapy 35, 707-723.

Publication Topic
ACT: Conceptual
Publication Type
Article
Language
English
Keyword(s)
Sports, ACT
Abstract

While traditional cognitive-behavioral skills-training-based approaches to athletic performance enhancement posit that negative thoughts and emotions must be controlled, eliminated, or replaced for athlete-clients to perform optimally, recent evidence suggests that efforts to control, eliminate, or suppress these internal states may actually have the opposite effect. Interventions based on mindfulness and acceptance suggest that internal cognitive and emotional states need not be eliminated, changed, or controlled in order to facilitate positive behavioral outcomes. Rather, it is suggested that an alternative or supplemental approach to the enhancement of athletic performance may be achieved through strategies and techniques that target the development of mindful (nonjudgmental) present-moment acceptance of internal experiences such as thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, along with a clarification of valued goals and enhanced attention to external cues, responses, and contingencies that are required for optimal athletic performance.

Comments
Case study. An ACT protocol with an emphasis on mindfulness helps with sports outcomes.