Progressive muscle relaxation By Bethany Aldus

Description  Focuses on the difference between tension and relaxation, most commonly used by athletes to be effective.  Practised for minutes daily.  Techniques involves progressively tensing and relaxing major muscle groups, normally from head to toe.  Each muscle group is contracted slowly and held ‘tight’ for 5-10 seconds then slowly released.  Working all the way down the body in the order:  Athletes tense muscle and then ‘let go’ of physical tension, this decreases mental tension.  Athletes use this technique (during practice, recovery, during time-out, end, time on beach or stoppages in play) to bring them back into the zone to improve subsequent performances.  Suitable and comfortable location which to practise PMR.  Learning to identify muscle groups, how to tense and relax the muscles takes time.  Muscles should be tensed between 4-8 seconds, controlled, deep, slow breathing during PMR.

Justification of how it will improve performance  A decrease in generalized anxiety.  A decrease in anticipatory anxiety related to phobias  Reduction in the frequency and duration of panic attacks  Improved ability to face phobic situations through graded exposure  Improved concentration  An increased sense of control over moods  Increased self-esteem  Increased spontaneity and creativity.

Athlete that uses progressive muscular relaxation  The second trainer I spoke with, Tom Smith, had a very pro-massage view. Smith is the head athletic trainer for the NBA franchise, Orlando Magic basketball team. He is a veteran athletic trainer with many years of experience working with professional athletes. Just like the NFL team, the Magic do not employ therapists, but use local massage therapists on call. Smith is a huge believer in touch as an important healing component and feels that if done properly, massage can bring about very powerful healing results. He also mentioned that although he, along with the team's assistant trainer and physical therapist, do perform massage themselves, they do not have the time needed to bring about therapeutic change and it's also not what they do best. I was glad to hear Smith's positive thoughts about massage and the ongoing endorsement.

Clip that enhances/explain the benefit of the strategy 