The Wingate 5 Step Approach in Sports

One underlying principle of the five-step mental preparation program presented in this chapter is to guide the athlete through situations with a gradual increase in difficulty or complexity, both across and within steps. With accumulating suc- cess in coping with increasingly problematic situations, the athlete’s self-confidence may increase based

The Wingate five-step approach was built in line with an important principle, from the general to the specific (Bompa, 1994), and thus it is highly flexible in its ability to adapt to match specific needs of individual athletes fulfilling particular discipline- specific tasks within given environments.

The Wingate Five-Step Approach

Consists of five stages, with flexible time-session units that can be individualized.

1. Introduction: learning various self-regulation techniques. Takes place in a laboratory setting, where the athlete is introduced to the various pieces of psychophysiological equipment, including the computerized biofeedback and VCR equi

The five-stepmental preparation program involves a substantial number of sessions intended to allow mastery of the various techniques and achieve a practical payoff. To motivate athletes to adhere to this protocol, we followed the principles suggested by the cognitive behavior modification approach (Meichenbaum, 1977). According to this approach,

Different sports require different skills:

1. Sports which require speed and power (such as sprinting,jumping, and weight-lifting), focusing and concentration are of primary importance.

2. Sports which require In aerobic sports (such as long-distance running and swimming), perception of rhythm, accuracy of movement, and pain tolerance are highly necessary

In principle, the entire program can be tailored to a Competitive season of an inter- nationally active elite athlete such as a judoka, wrestler, fencer, swimmer, or wind- surfer, who may have had little previous experience with similar mental preparation programs. In the subsequent season, following a break from competition and training, the same