As the Paris Olympics quickly came and went, it was hard not to think back to the Tokyo Olympics which happened just three short years ago.

Simone Biles pulled out of the Team Final after coming down with a case of the twisties. As if it was a disease she caught, like covid, the media immediately picked her apart for not pushing through and for quitting too soon.

If you know anything about gymnastics or have a competitive gymnast yourself, you likely know how difficult gymnastics skills are and how dangerous they can become if not done properly.

And while outside eyes can easily say Simone gave up, it's impossible to understand how far from the truth this is unless you or your gymnast have personally experienced a gymnastics mental block.

As a former gymnast myself who had mental blocks, I know full well what Simone was going through. The uncertainty, fear, confusion, exasperation...not understanding why at that moment she had to be "inflicted" by this horrible ailment when all eyes were literally on her. {Ok, I don't understand what it's like to have millions of eyeballs on me so we'll scratch that part but I do understand how scary a mental block can feel}. 

I'd like to use this important time in history to use the 'Simone Biles Rising' documentary as a reminder of five very important principles that apply to gymnasts going through mental blocks.

 

Reminder 1: Having a mental block is not a choice!

Simone developed a mental block at one of the most important moments in her life. The media had been building her up prior to the Olympics and had made it so that she was the STAR of the Tokyo Olympics.

Do we really think at that moment Simone, who has always shined through even in her less than stellar gymnastics moments, would have CHOSEN to just not do the gymnastics skills she had been training for years?

Do we really think that she dug her heels in the sand and like a toddler said "I'm not going to do this. I don't want to."

And yet, when gymnasts go through mental blocks, most coaches act as if their gymnasts are choosing not to do their skills. In fact, parents often jump on this bandwagon too. A comment I hear often from parents is "She just wont' do it. It's like she's choosing not to go for it." 

Let's just all take a moment to remember Simone in Tokyo and that she had to withdraw from a competition she had been preparing for and was physically ready to compete in. Maybe in an alternate universe media personnel are so silly as to think Olympians would just give up without trying and walk away from a dream by choice.

Not in this universe though. No one can be ridiculous enough to think those things to be true, right?

 

 

 

Reminder 2: A mental block is a biological response in which the brain takes over and stops the body from doing what it is trying to do.

Laurent Landi, Simone's coach, made an interesting comment in Simone Biles Rising. He said her brain and body were broken. 

Ironically, I argue a mental block is the opposite. It's not that her brain and body were broken. Her brain, in fact, was responding perfectly well to the "danger" it felt and was very well connected to her body.

As I say to the gymnasts I work with, your brain senses pressure as danger. Pressure to compete well, high expectations to be the best, everyone watching and expecting a stellar performance...these are all factors outside of Simone's control. And as a result, her brain perceived those factors as danger.

Our brain hates when it doesn't know what will happen because then it doesn't have the ability to predict scenarios and keep us safe. And when we focus on uncontrollable factors, our brains go into a tizzy.

So was Simone's brain disconnected from her body?

Absolutely not. 

It was super connected. That's why her body stopped performing because her brain told it to freeze. It went into danger mode and therefore activated the freeze response. 

Her brain basically says: "If you're not going to listen to what I'm telling you, I'm going to make you listen." And the way it does that is by taking over and stopping her from completing skills.

 

Reminder 3: A mental block is a feeling and most gymnasts know that feeling of "I'm not going to go for it" before they even attempt to do their skill. 

This is important because most gymnasts going through mental blocks will still push through regardless of that feeling.

One of the worst things a gymnast can do is push through her mental block.

This is something we're accustomed to doing as gymnasts. We will find a way to push through until we get it (with teeth gritted and fists clenched). 

We keep trying. We stand there until we attempt to go. We swing our arms, run down the runway, or chuck the skill ANYWAY even though we know inside that our brain is telling us no.

The crazy thing about our brain is that when it's in full on biological danger response mode, it will do everything in its power to make you listen to it. 

And that means shutting down the skill mid-air, causing us not to be able to go on even easier progressions of our skill, stopping us on the skill that comes before the skill we are blocked on, or blocking multiple skills on any event.

One of the smartest things Simone did was not push through. Or rather, she knew when it was time to quit pushing through and move on.

She said in the Simone Biles Rising documentary "I knew from that very moment that it wasn't just like one time and done. Because I feel like you can like feel it in your head."

And Simone is right. Her brain was sending her a signal that it wasn't going to let her go for her skills unless something drastically changed in her mindset.

She didn't quit her skills. She quit the fight against her brain that she wasn't going to win without some reflection, therapy, and rest. For that, she proves she is the GOAT. 

 

Reminder 4: No amount of rewards, bribery, gifts, or promises will make a gymnast do her skill if her brain is in full blown danger mode. This isn't a matter of motivation.

Simone Biles was at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

If there's no bigger incentive than the chance of a medal (and accolades and endorsements) at the Olympic Games, then I don't know what is!

When it comes to a mental block, the stakes don't matter. 

Her brain was literally in life or death mode. The thought of a gold medal, public accolade, or endorsements was not enough to snap her brain out of it.

And yet we have this belief that if we can just "motivate" our gymnast to do her skills, then she would see that she could do it and everything would be fine.

Do you see how flawed this thinking is?

Can you understand that this isn't a matter of motivation. 

I don't know of a single gymnast who stopped doing her skills who doesn't want to do them again.

A gymnast working through a mental block is SUPER motivated. She wants to do the skill that she can no longer do. In fact, she's on a mission to do it. 

And that's why she gets so upset. That's why she cries and gets frustrated and seems miserable all the time. 

Because there is nothing she wants more than to do her skill again and she can't figure out why she can't do it.

If there isn't a stronger testament than Simone Biles returning to the Paris Olympics to redeem herself, then I don't know what is. She's won tons of World and Olympic gold medals. She has nothing left to prove. Except to herself...that she can put her skills together when it counts.

It's about redemption, not motivation.

A gymnast with a mental block is not unmotivated. So please don't try to bribe her, reward her, or punish her. That only adds more stress because she really WANTS to do her skill.

 

 

Reminder 5: A mental block doesn't have to do with the actual skill that's blocked.

This is one of the hardest concepts for gymnasts, parents, and coaches to understand.

Gymnasts go into danger mode but not because of the skill they're trying to do.

Sure, there are gymnasts who experience fear and won't go for a skill...totally different situation. In that case it's a new skill or one they've fallen on and their brain is trying to protect them from it. 

But that's not what a mental block is.

Simone didn't fall on the vault she got blocked on in Tokyo. 

It wasn't the actual vault that caused her brain to go into danger mode.

It was PRESSURE. It was STRESS. It was personal issues she was dealing with outside of the gym. 

It wasn't the Amanar. 

In fact, if anything was going to shut Simone down, it would have been her yurchenko double pike that she competed at the Tokyo Games. She has mentioned multiple times how much that vault scares her every single time she does it.

If fear was the real cause of mental blocks, Simone surely would have blocked on a skill that she was deathly afraid of, no? 

 So like I said, the skill itself isn't the issue. It's the brain - the expectation thoughts and the unresolved pressure that cause skills to shut down. 

Which skills shut down in many cases is random. In other cases it is the exact skill that is necessary in order to continue competing that level. For example, I often see a back handspring - back handspring series get blocked in my Level 8 gymnasts. For them, this skill represents their ability to compete Level 8 successfully. When this skill goes, it highlights their questioning of whether they are really capable of competing Level 8.

 

I hope this article serves as a reminder of some very important principles regarding gymnastics mental blocks. And if you haven't watched the 'Simone Biles Rising' documentary yet, watch it (on Netflix). You'll get a realistic glimpse into Simone's life, her pressures, her sacrifices, and her recovery from a moment in history that made her both a superhero and a villain at the same time.

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If you or your gymnast needs support, in addition to the resources below I also offer one-on-one coaching sessions via Zoom.

 

 

Helpful Links:

 

• Resources: Get gymnastics downloads to help your gymnast work on her mental skills in gymnastics
• Mental Health Training for Gymnasts: Help your gymnast learn about her brain and the fight-flight-or-freeze response. 
• Free Facebook Group for Moms of Gymnasts: Join this group to chat with other gymnastics moms and get tips for how to help your gymnast navigate through the mental ups and downs of gymnastics