Can We Apply Craft & Art Therapy To Sir Dave Brailsfords Marginal Gains Theory?
This four week series aims to look at some ‘Secret Gems’ that not only support the mental health of those players and exercise participants you work with in their daily lives but also have a huge effect on their actual performance within a session. They can support those at the very lowest level of participation to move up another level and actually access something that is more structured and tailored around their needs.
Through the sequence of blogs we’ve scrolled through some Visualisation, Relaxation and Breathing. All based around Sir Dave Brailsford’s Marginal Gains Theory - Improving everything we do by 1% to enable a cumulative effect. This isn’t just for elite athletes and can be applied in many settings including health and mental well being.
To conclude the series we focus on possibly be the one that people are most sceptical about and that is ‘Art & Craft Therapy’
In case you have missed the introduction and previous blogs to this theory, this short video Road To Glory is a brilliant way to understand it. The brains behind it is Sir Dave Brailsford, who revolutionised British Cycling. The video talks heavily about focusing on the outcome and not the process. Developing knowledge about everything the sport or exercise requires to perform and then picking it apart and making it happen and continually looking for 1% improvements in any area that you can.
That’s where our 4 ‘secret gems’ come in.Look at each of these three blogs as 3 tiers of a Rainbow Cake! I.E. There is something for everyone, doesn’t matter what level you are at. Could be Professional, perhaps Performance/Club level or home/non participant. You can start where you like as we entice you into this deliciously different sequence of blogs. You can skip to whichever area you wish or read them all through. The choice is really yours to digest, enjoy and hopefully try!
Optimum Performance/Professional Sport/National & Above
Those participating at a Club Level, Gym or regular Fitness Sessions
The ‘Wanna Be’s’ and the Home Exercisers Wanting More.
This week the focus is on our final ‘Secret Gem’ that we believe could help all participants to engage, access, encourage and help performance. That is Art and Craft Therapy.
So could art and craft give you the edge or the first tentative steps into the exercise/sport environment? Perhaps it could help higher level athletes. Not expecting a coach to turn up to a football session with card making kits but there are some things here to explore, not only are they good for mental health but they can have a knock on effect for many in helping to focus goals, improve hand eye co-ordination and perhaps become a hobby away from training to allow for some additional interests.
The goal being to utilise what we have learnt through this process of challenging ourselves to look at the use of visualisation, relaxation and breathing through use a variety of arts and craft ideas to create vision boards and experiment with art therapy that can be carried forward to improved health, well being and participation. Not only that, what we create will be portable.
The Craft Council report that there are four reasons why Craft is great for your mental health;
Engaging with the arts helps mental wellbeing
Has been used to help alleviate anxiety
It can bring people together
Positive links with cognitive skills
All of these can be read in detail though the link above.
What you can do at home and what you can do when travelling, exercising and competing will of course be different. Through all three tiers of participation an example of using various types of media to create something that you can find great value and belief in which will guide you carefully, selectively and help you to refresh your goals each day. These will clearly need revisiting, allowing craft skills to continue!
Art Therapy is also a great addition to your tool kit. This is something Time To Heal have covered comprehensively in the past. You can view the blogs here. But within each tier there is a working example of how you can take this with you wherever you go and how to develop and assess these ideas. It can be defined as;
’a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing, or modelling, used as a remedial or diagnostic activity’. (https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/)
For the purpose of this we will focus on colouring which is known to have fantastic benefits for anyone, men included!
Ensuring we understand what the difference is between the Process, Performance and then Outcome goals that we are striving for are is important. Research has proven that goal setting has a huge impact on performance. In fact, according to a study done by Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor of the Dominican University in California: found that you;
“…you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis…having something physical that you can see everyday will create impressions in your mind that will “trick” your mind into believing in bigger things. It’ll also help you gain more confidence’. (Dr Gail Matthews)
This definition from the BBC represents three types of goals that we need to focus on;
‘A performance goal helps the athlete to focus on an aspect of performance that they are in total control of. ... Performance goals allow the athlete to focus in on details of the performance, not just winning and losing. An outcome goal helps the performer to focus on the big picture of what they are trying to achieve’. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwr34j6/revision/2)
So now we turn to the vision board itself and exactly it is we are trying to create. It’s a visual representation of your goals, dreams and hopes through pictures, photos and words that describe your goals but also include information in other areas of your life like hobbies, health conditions, positive motivational sayings and quotes. Thinking about our ‘secret gems’ of visualisation, relaxation, breathing and now the benefits of craft and art therapy and bring them all together, along with representation of your training and physical routine.
These are used extensively by elite athletes across the globe and links into all the marginal gains theory we have focused on, they can be used by anyone and applied to health, mental health, friends, family, personal challenges, favourite places.
Making your Vision Board - Time to Get Creative!
We are going to use a Gymnastics Vision Board example taken from; Gymnastics HQ as an example. (https://gymnasticshq.com/create-a-gymnastics-vision-board/). It walks us through seven easy steps, which are;
Decide on your goals and visions for the year.
Decide what kind of paper you want to use.
Gather up some photos and magazines that relate to your sport
Workout the layout of your pictures
Glue everything down in a way that represents you
Decorate your board
Find a space where you will see it everyday.
Some athletes prefer to create a board on their computer and print it out or set it as their desktop wallpaper. Others like to use a proper notice board to pin up their photos. Whatever the method, the aim is the same and that is to create one place that serves as a daily reminder of all your goals and dreams for the year/season.
You can download the basic document here for your own use or for your athletes. Although this is gymnastics orientated it’s purely a way to get you up and running. Pinterest provides a platform of inspiration. Just type in the kind of board you want to make and you’ll find plenty of examples. Not to mention motivational saying that you can use instead of coming up with your own.
Optimum Performance/Professional Sport/National & Above
At any level your training will be very focused on your process goals and your desired outcomes. But in what format? Are they just written down and given to you by your coach? Are the goals achievable? Focusing on your goals each day utilising a method that works for you as an individual is crucial.
Continuing with Gymnastics the development of this is based on the use of boards by Olympic Gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Nastia Liukin. In a question and answer session Douglas who has three Olympic Gold Medals is quoted as;
“Making the vision board is very important to me and my family. My mom taught us that looking at the vision board would give us inspiration to keep striving for the dreams we had in our hearts even though we couldn’t yet see the outcome with our eyes. She told us that as we had faith, our dreams would one day become our reality!” (https://gymnasticshq.com/create-a-gymnastics-vision-board/)
Nastia Liukin, 5-time Olympic medalist, used a vision board to help her train for the Olympics. In her interview with People, she said that she always advises gymnasts to create vision boards. Even after retiring from competitive gymnastics, Nastia still uses vision boards to help her in achieving her life goals. According to the article, ‘The Artistic Wellness Habit’ she reports;
“Something I’ve always done while training and continue to do now is that every New Year’s Eve, I sit down and make a new vision board for the year,” Liukin told Byrdie. “I jot down my goals, things I want to accomplish, places I want to visit, etc. I also make it a fun project by adding motivational quotes, stickers—you’re never too old for those, right?!
To make sure she sees her vision board every morning, Liukin keeps the work of art by her vanity mirror:
“I think seeing your goals in front of you instead of just remembering them in your mind is a great way to stay motivated, especially on those days you feel like giving up,” (https://gymnasticshq.com/create-a-gymnastics-vision-board/)
These boards allowed both Gymnasts to then break down their goals into individual moves, perfecting the details of a skill, adding it to a routine and then connecting the skills together. At each step in this process they are perfecting the skill to ensure they don’t loose points for technique and artistry. Then joining them to gain an extra 0.1 to 0-3 on their difficultly start value. A painstaking task requiring serious commitment and attention to detail but adding marginal gains as they go.
Colouring is now well known for its relaxation and support for mental health. There’s a great book called ‘Anatomy of Colouring’, by Wynn Kapit and Lawrence Elson, published by Harper and Collins which is perfect for athletes at this level. Whilst enabling you to gain those benefits from the Art Therapy you can also be learning about the body, the different systems, the make up of muscles and how they all work. Another asset to your locker and a book and pencils are once again transportable. A greater understanding of how you body works is another marginal gain and excellent for our top two tiers!
Those participating at a Club Level, Gym or regular Fitness Sessions
For this level we are going to look at a slightly different and possibly more complex environment with Team sports and how you can all work together to achieve the ‘Coaches Expectations’ and vision board, but also have your own specific board within that.
You only have to watch some Professional Football or Rugby to see coaches and managers using various tools especially when substitutions take place to recognise what goes on behind the scenes. The use of iPads, boards, visual and spoken instructions to explain what players are expected to do. Coaches fully aware on the impact each player can have and the skills they have acquired and perfected in training. They know how to get the best out of each player and what the outcome of a substitution could be, reacting to unavoidable circumstances such as injury or sending offs or adapting to the way the opposition are playing. Not just that the players digesting what they are expected to do also have a vital role to play in communicating with team mates to explain changes to their play. To get ahead knowing your goals and others goals and skill levels could really improve your performance and raise you higher up in your coaches eyes.
A great way to look at this is to;
Have a team vision board (if not already established)
Each Player to have their own vision board. (Talk to your coach or instructor for guidance is you aren’t already sure of their expectations of you)
Share your boards with each other
Select a skill you need to improve on, break it down and then work on each part paying attention to detail at each step.
Simple steps but marginal gains here on a personal level and for your team are at stake.
Art therapy on this level could be the use of a weekly colouring diary. Each page has your diary schedule and a page to colour throughout the week. Stick a copy of your vision board inside your diary, collect some colouring materials and you have everything that you need! Johanna Basford’s 2021 Weekly Colouring Planner would be a great resource for this. Plus if your are inspiring to the Elite Level you could also try The Anatomy Colouring Book mentioned above.
The ‘Wanna Be’s’ and the Home Exercisers Wanting More.
For the entry level participation we are going to be using We are Undefeatable 5 in 5 Cards which are great for beginners to use. It contains exercise cards that you can cut up and stick onto your own vision board. These include;
Warming Up exercises
Stress Busting ideas
Mood Boosting ideas
Exercise with Accessories found around the house
Blank templates so you can create your own.
Each of the cards have instructions on how do each exercise properly and as a bonus they have included an example of someone standing and someone in a wheelchair. The ‘My Five in Five’ is excellent for the people already doing some kind of exercise as the blank templates allow you to personalise the cards and then use them to create your board. You might like to add photos from magazines or ones from your own collection. Add sparkles, words, glitter, paint, stickers or anything else you find that you want to include!
This type of board is fantastic for those with learning difficulties who find it difficult to write and understand goals. Visual clues could be extremely helpful. They could even use lego and make some models to represent images in their heads, plus that really will help hand-eye co-ordination.
On our lower tier drawing or painting out movement patterns and sequences to remember the steps to say a Zumba class so they can be practiced at home could be a fun thing to do and help you feel more confident .If you are exercising at home from a You Tube workout, you can stop and start as much as you like and draw out the figures to help you visualise what you want to be able to do. Whether you are an artist or not doesn’t matter. This is for you and no one else! Again it’s portable!
In terms of art therapy; Mindfulness Companion by Dr Sarah Jane Arnold is a colouring companion with a difference. It gives you something to think about or a guide as to how to colour the page opposite. A great way to bring calm and settle your mind if you are feeling nervous or anxious.
Remember we are aiming to channel our new ‘selection box’ of ‘secret gems’ and bring it to a supportive conclusion, whilst recognising the cumulative gains that we have created through the use of many different activities and programmes. If you manage to visualise, add some relaxation, improve your breath control and use a preferred method of art/craft therapy to create a vision board then that is potentially a 4% cumulative difference! Then if you are looking at your actual training and performance and breaking that down into the process you could be on for some impressive results.
Another thing to remind yourself is that change doesn’t take place overnight. Mastering one skill at a 1% effect is not going to see you soaring up to a higher ranking. By working on each component part and ‘glueing’ them together that’s where you will begin to see the effect.
Our aim has been to inform, select possible opportunities and get you thinking! Hopefully, you have kept an open mind throughout this series and have been prepared to try new things or at least understand them. Perhaps have them there to ‘fall back on’ if you ever feel the need, such as mindfulness in times of personal difficulty. Whatever you decide good luck, stay healthy and get exercising!
Coming up next week…..
Superheroes - Essex All Together Programme
We are looking at some Super Heroes who are all Ambassadors For The Active Essex All Together Programme. This programmer aims to support those with Long Term Health Conditions (LTHC’s) which may be visible or invisible and Disabilities to Access Sport and Exercise that is inclusive. The team of volunteers work tirelessly across Essex as a community to inspire, share and support others through their work. Here you’ll meet eight members of the team taking part in the Superheroes At Home Winter Wonderlands Challenge.
So get ready for ‘Marvel’s’ adventure and some truly inspirational superstars!