Can Self-Doubt Be Beneficial to Performance? Exploring the Concept of Preparatory Efficacy

Sport competition can be divided into a preparatory (practice) and performance (competition) process. Self efficacy beliefs taken just prior (i.e., within 24 hr or after a final practice session) to the actual competition are referred to as performance efficacy beliefs; whereas, efficacy beliefs measured during the preparation or practice stage are referred to as preparatory efficacy beliefs. Consistent with the vast majority of efficacy research, Bandura [1] suggests that high performance efficacy perceptions are best for performance. In contrast, he suggests that preparatory efficacy perceptions should optimally reflect some sense of self-doubt because they serve as an impetus that motivates increased preparatory effort. Ultimately, greater preparatory effort should lead to stronger competitive performance. Despite Bandura's observations of this process at work, no empirical studies have examined preparatory efficacy perceptions, preparatory effort, performance efficacy, and performance across a single preparation-competition process. This article examines the concept of preparatory efficacy, existing experiential and empirical support for the concept, and finally, suggestions, applications, and implications for future research.

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Why Fitness, Diet, Bodybuilding, and Strength Training Programs Work

I've never seen a strength training or bodybuilding program developed for a mass audience that didn't "work". No matter how ridiculous the program is and how unfounded it's principles all such programs tend to be seen as largely successful.

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Fight Or Flight: Lift or Die?

Have You ever heard someone say that in order to lift a very heavy load they imagine they are "doing battle" with the bar? Of course the real hardcore lifters don't say the word bar, they say "iron". "It's just me and the iron in a battle to the death," they say, or some such similar nonsense.¹

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Getting in the ZONE II: Don't Dwell On Failures

You've heard that one before, I'll bet. Don't dwell on your failures. That is one of those aphorisms that I'm always getting on about.

Easier said than done right?

We WILL fail. We will make mistakes. Not all of our goals will be reached in a timely manner. We will have set-backs.

And we will be disappointed. We will be angry. Many times at ourselves.

And we can learn to turn it around and make failure our friend.

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Getting In The ZONE

You know what I'm talking about, probably, and when you are at the gym trying to get that big PR, feeling all anxious about it, you've probably wondered how to get in that ZONE and if it's possible to learn.

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Explain the Opposite

You know what this is even if you haven't heard the term. You've come across it many times. You may not be a geek like me who reads psychology texts in his spare time, but I can guarantee you’ve seen it. Many times, in fact. And if you've posted on fitness related web-sites as much as I have you've seen it hundreds of times.

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Drop The Labels

Labels are for boxes. In the case of strength and conditioning they usually decorate our excuse box.

I have never heard a trainee pin a label on themselves when it wasn’t the preamble for an excuse of some kind. But labels are also multi-taskers. They can provide a sense of identity in a homogenized world or serve simply as a “credential”.

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How To Win An Argument: The Art of Fighting Without Fighting

How do you win an argument?

Simple. Don't argue!

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Critical Thinking: What It Is And Why It Counts

The late George Carlin worked “critical thinking” into one of his comedic monologue rants on the perils of trusting our lives and fortunes to the decision making of people who were gullible, uninformed, and unreflective. Had he lived to experience the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009, he would have surely added more to his caustic but accurate assessments regarding how failing to anticipate the consequences of one’s decisions often leads to disastrous results not only for the decision maker, but for many other people as well. After years of viewing higher education is more of a private good which benefits only the student, we are again beginning to appreciate higher education as being also a public good which benefits society. Is it not a wiser social policy to invest in the education of the future workforce, rather than to suffer the financial costs and endure the fiscal and social burdens associated with economic weakness, public health problems, crime, and avoidable poverty?

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Lip Service

Words can be very powerful. But words themselves aren’t everything; it’s how you string them together. Their context.

Brian Grasso said in an article, “We are a term crazy industry”. Yes, and I’d go so far as to say we are a term OBSESSED industry. Terms sometimes become more important than the message, or lack thereof.

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Authorities are Fallible

Much of the information we learn comes from authority figures (including teachers, authors, parents, highly qualified personnel). This should not be surprising in such a diverse society. It is normal to take the word of a Nobel Laureate over a known con artist. This is an extreme example but the point is it makes sense to take the word of someone who has been right in the past and has shown a high level of knowledge in a specific domain. The problem occurs when we begin to rely too heavily on authority. Authority may provide a hint to what’s right but authorities are fallible. A logical fallacy referred to as Appeal to Authority (Argument by Authority, Argument from Authority) occurs when the truth-value of the assertion is based on the authority. There are two types of Appeal to Authority: 1) this form of the appeal to authority is when a person presenting a position on a subject mentions some authority who also holds that position, but who is not actually an authority in that area; 2) the second form, citing a person who is actually an authority in the relevant field, carries more weight. Many authorities have a greater knowledge of some subject than other people, and they should be trusted too a degree (but they are still fallible). On the other end, you don’t need to be a recognized authority to be right. Evidence is the ultimate source of authority. If the authority cannot provide valid evidence for their claims, disregard them. Don’t be afraid to use what Huxley refered to in A Liberal Education as “The Mental Power”. He describes it as that "which will be of most importance in your…life will be the power of seeing things as they are without regard to authority…But at school and at college, you shall know of no source of truth but authority."

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The Fitness Skeptic

“Coach Hale why are you so skeptical?” “Why do you have such a negative view of the fitness industry?” “You are so cynical.” I hear these types of questions and statements on a weekly basis. The people that approach me with these statements are almost always supplement salesman, homeopathy practitioners, equipment salesman etc.. Generally, people that do not like to have their authority questioned.

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Guru Mentality

I’ve had a lot of people ask me where I do my reading. What books they should read. Etc. While I have endeavored to point them to some good resources I don’t think most people “get it” when it comes to developing concepts, yet. Most of the time what they really want to know is where that ultra-secret font of knowledge is. The one thing that will just open their eyes. An article by some “guru” that will just clear up so many mysteries, they can read it and feel like an instant expert and never have any doubts about their training at all. Funny how doubts is one of the main things that has kept me growing. Doubts tempered with faith, I guess you could say.

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