Olympic Athletes use isolation tanks

The Chilean medical and Physiotherapy team visit the Floatworks to check us out.

When we asked "Why floatation?"

Dr Radice replied:

"Because it is the perfect therapy for our athletes! You get off the plane after many hours of flying and you arrive feeling tired and achy. A one hour float and you feel so much better. Also being super relaxed helps with sport as your muscles are more flexible and it helps you stay mentally focussed."

London Olympics 2012 Float Tank preperation

In the mind of an Olympic fencer.  

Interview by Peter Bell

Earlier this week I got a chance to sit down with Laurence Halsted: A Floatworks Customer and GB Olympic fencer.

We had invited him in as a congratulations for getting his place in the GB Olympic 2012 fencing team. We are certainly very proud of him and will be rooting for him when he competes on the 5th August 2012!

Laurence had just spent a wonderful hour in the float tank and so we had a good old chat about the importance of the mind in sport. The conversation has been edited for brevity and to keep a few top training methods he uses secret (let's keep the home advantage!)

Interview: 

PB: Thank you for coming in to talk Laurence and congratulations on getting your place in the Olympic Team 

PB: How long have you been working towards this? 

LH: I started fencing when I was 8 so I have been fencing for 20 years now. For the last 6 years this has been my full time job. I have been focused on the Olympics since we won the Olympic bid in 2005. 

PB: Why did you start fencing? 

LH: Well firstly it’s because it’s the best sport! The tactical and physical elements really make it better than the others. How I got it into it was because both my parents were Olympic fencers and my Mother ran a fencing club 'Finchley Foil' in North London. So it’s in the blood! 

PB: What are the big competitions like? 

LH: A very intense day of activity.

You start the day with rankings and then there is a knock out tournament - from the top 64 all the way to the overall winner. 6 years of training and the winner is decided in one day! 

PB: That must be very stressful? 

LH: It's what we're trained for 

PB: What enables you to thrive in that pressured environment? 

LH: It's all about mentality. All the top competitors will have great technical abilities - so the deciding factor is a mental one. I’ve been working with a psychologist using a new psychological approach by Dr Steve Peters. It focuses on focus - about being able to block out all the psychological noise that really gets in the way. When you start commenting negatively on your own performance and over analysing your technique then these thoughts are not going to help you. When you learn to recognise these thoughts and quieten them then your chances of winning increases. So every time I have a negative/ unhelpful thought I have a special response to it which I use to bat it away and stops it from returning. 

PB: Can you tell us what things you would do to quieten those negative thoughts. So for example if an athlete had the thought "My opponent has better technique than me" 

LH: then you can negate it by saying "that's fine I can still win if I'm determined and having those thoughts are not helpful to me". Also another technique would be to....... [CENSORED] 

PB: Its obvious that the mind plays a big part in sport from the number of GB Athletes we have visiting floatworks. What role do you think floatation plays for athletes in their training? 

LH: Its good for mental preparation as well as recovery. Visualisation is a very valid use of your time in a floatation tank. As an Athlete you are encouraged to visualise every day and in the floatation tank you are free from distractions which makes it the perfect place to do this. If you lead a very busy life then it can be difficult to find the time and space to visualise - this is why having an hour of dedicated time in the float tank is just brilliant. 

PB: Because floatation is deeply relaxing is there any danger that you might lose your aggressive edge when competing? 

LH: It's true that in fencing you need to be switched on and have some aggression but I really wouldn't have any concerns about floating the day before a competition. I just wouldn't float on the day of my competition! 

PB: Well that's good to know! Thank you so much for sharing your Jedi training techniques with me. We at Floatworks give you and your team mates our full support and shall be cheering for you on the 5th August. In the meantime you know where we are if you need to have a float! 

LH: Thank you that's exactly the kind of support that we need!