Mental Fitness
The MIND is strengthened by Exercise, not Rest.
Your mind is like your body in more ways than one.
If it doesn't get the requisite amount of exercise,
it becomes stiff and weak. This in turn leads to
poor circulation of ideas and thoughts, excessive
and needless tension, hardening of the attitude and
an adverse effect on physical fitness.
What according to you is your level of mental
fitness?
Glenn McGrath
It can be one of the following three:
HIGH: It means your mental performance is
exceptional.
MEDIUM: It means you occasionally put your mind to
work and think. You challenge your 'thinking
muscles', sometimes.
LOW: It means your mind is like a bowl of vanilla
pudding. You are in dire need of a workout! Mental
fitness comprises a number of different abilities:
The ability to concentrate
To reason
To visualize
To imagine
To take decisions
To solve problems
To think clearly and creatively
All this depends on how well and how often you
exercise your brain. If you do feel that you are
'out of shape' mentally, you need not despair. You
can improve by leaps and bounds by simply taking
time out to 'work out' your 'mental muscles'. If
you start feeling 'fitter' as a result, then you
ought to remember that you need to continue
'exercising' to keep your mind 'in shape'. What
stands for the physical aspect, also holds good for
the mental!
Let's take a look at what a bowler could do to work
on his mental fitness. It's a pretty simple
exercise:
MENTAL TOUR
Imagine that you are holding a cricket ball.
Visualize the seam of the ball, and how it would
look when you grip the ball and point the seam
towards the slip cordon. Try to form as clear an
image of a fast bowler as you can, for a few
moments. For example, think of Glenn McGrath. Now
imagine pitching the ball on middle-and-off.
Imagine that the ball moves away after pitching and
takes the outer edge of the bat. In short, imagine
each and every step that someone like McGrath takes
once he starts running in to bowl and delivers his
trademark outswinger. You can then recollect an
instance from your own past wherein you got the
outswinger right in a match. You could relive that
entire process step-by-step and then ask yourself
the following questions:
I got it right once. Can I pitch the ball on the
right spot atleast three to four times every over?
What made you pitch the ball on the exact spot?
Why did the ball move away after pitching - what
was your grip like?
What needs to be done so that you will do this
often?
As you think, pay close attention to the quality of
your thoughts.
After having thought for so long, you will realize
that the longer you introspected, the more ideas,
associations, connections pop into your
imagination.
You can perform similar exercises vis-à-vis the
inswinger, straighter one or Yorker.
As you go on forming these mental pictures, you
delve deeper into your memory and thoughts. In
doing so, you shift from one mode of thought to
another. This is nothing but 'moving' different
mental 'muscles' and strengthening them.