David Barr's research experience includes work for NASA at the Johnson Space Center, as well as studying the effect protein intake on muscle growth. He has authored 2 books and more than 50 web-based publications on applied training and supplement science.
The Future of Performance: HERE
How cool would it be to sit back and play video games in order to improve your sports performance? And if holding a controller is too much for you, how about lying back -in what is probably the most comfortable cloud of furniture in existence- and watching the scene play out before you on a giant plasma screen; the game played... get this, by your brain. This may sound like something out of a James Bond movie, but it's here and it's changing the way people look at performance.
The perfect blend of sports psychology and neurophysiology, it's called neurofeedback. It consists of measuring your brain waves during a type of hands-free video game, and providing you with specific information about your performance. By honing in on your brain activity, neurofeedback can tell when you're in "the zone", which is the ideal state for athletic performance. It does so by measuring the electrical activity of the brain, a.k.a. brain waves, one of which is alpha waves. These represent a type of calm control, almost a meditative state. When these levels go up, your performance in the neurofeedback game goes up.
Conversely, the waves associated with active concentration, called beta waves, need to be minimized for clutch performance. When their levels are high, your game performance will decrease -just as it would when you'd choke under pressure in real life. By recognizing what makes your game work well and what doesn't, you're able to quickly adapt and perfect your state of mind.
And after only a short time, you learn which are the brain waves to turn off and which to turn on -not by thinking about them, but simply by feel. It's a very natural and simple way to do something very complicated, yet very effective.
It should be emphasized that this isn't some hokey gadget to impress your friends. Neurofeedback is grounded in science and has been used for a variety of performance issues, whether health-related or athletic. Even fighter pilots, who are some of the highest-performance "athletes" on the planet, have been shown to benefit from this type of training.
The performance center I went through was called Neurotopia, and at the risk of sounding like an ad, my experiences couldn't have been better. Not only is it run in part by a PhD specializing in neurofeedback, but everyone involved was able to answer all of my questions at the drop of a hat (and yes, I ask a LOT of questions).
So if you're looking to have fun while relaxing and improving your performance, give neurofeedback a try. And remember, if you don't, your opponent just might.
Conversely, the waves associated with active concentration, called beta waves, need to be minimized for clutch performance. When their levels are high, your game performance will decrease -just as it would when you'd choke under pressure in real life. By recognizing what makes your game work well and what doesn't, you're able to quickly adapt and perfect your state of mind.
And after only a short time, you learn which are the brain waves to turn off and which to turn on -not by thinking about them, but simply by feel. It's a very natural and simple way to do something very complicated, yet very effective.
It should be emphasized that this isn't some hokey gadget to impress your friends. Neurofeedback is grounded in science and has been used for a variety of performance issues, whether health-related or athletic. Even fighter pilots, who are some of the highest-performance "athletes" on the planet, have been shown to benefit from this type of training.
The performance center I went through was called Neurotopia, and at the risk of sounding like an ad, my experiences couldn't have been better. Not only is it run in part by a PhD specializing in neurofeedback, but everyone involved was able to answer all of my questions at the drop of a hat (and yes, I ask a LOT of questions).
So if you're looking to have fun while relaxing and improving your performance, give neurofeedback a try. And remember, if you don't, your opponent just might.
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