Speed Skating
Discover the MAC approach and learn to accept your emotions like Kjeld Nuis
Learning to accept his emotions helped transform the speed skating career of Kjeld Nuis. In this episode of Mind Set Win, York-Peter Klöppel has something that can help us, too.
Accepting and acknowledging his feelings has been incredibly powerful for Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis.
As he tells hosts Cédric Dumont and York-Peter Klöppel on the Mind Set Win podcast, it was the game-changing element that took him from leading contender to dominant champion and the fastest speed skater of all time.
In this episode, alongside uncovering the steps Nuis took en route to achieving his goals, we’re also introduced to a technique called the MAC approach and discover how we can incorporate it into our own daily life situations.
During his interview with Dumont, Nuis reveals that he would previously ignore and neglect his emotions and hope they would disappear, an approach that no doubt many can all relate to.
“In the biggest of moments, I didn’t have my mind under control,” he explains. “I was nervous, and I was scared to be nervous. I was ashamed of those feelings going around in my head."
I always thought if I just acted cool, it would all go away. That’s not how it works.
This approach was having a negative impact on his performance levels in key races and after missing out on qualification for two huge events in Vancouver and Sochi, a suggestion from a friend pushed him to take action 18 months before the 2018 games in Pyeongchang.
He decided to make a change and start focussing more intently on his mental training with the ambition of understanding why he was feeling the way he was, and how he could learn to utilise his emotions in a positive manner.
“I started working with a mental coach and already after the first session I came home with so much energy,” Nuis remembers. “Talking with someone about those feelings helped me open up."
Kjeld Nuis
© Jarno Schurgers/Red Bull Content Pool
Learning to accept my feelings was already a 50 percent improvement for me
Episode exercise
After learning about the commitment Nuis has to embracing his emotions, Klöppel introduces the listeners to a psychological study known as the MAC approach – Mindfulness, Acceptance, Commitment.
Created and developed by Frank Gardner and Zella Moore, the MAC approach to sport performance enhancement is a technique we can all adopt to help regulate our emotions and enhance our daily performance and well-being. Here’s a simple guide for you to learn and follow to make sure you aren’t neglecting your emotions.
- Mindfulness – the all important first step, this is where you have to learn to acknowledge the emotion you’re feeling. To help you do this, Klöppel suggests trying to practise specifically labelling your emotions throughout the day. Give it a try at home – it’s harder than you think! Can you feel the difference between anger, frustration, and disappointment for example?
- Acceptance – after acknowledging an emotion, you can learn to accept it. Remember here, emotions are a completely natural response of the body. Klöppel explains that in this step, we need to understand where the emotion came from, and what the reasons behind it coming up inside of us are.
- Commitment – this is where you take action and start to work with the emotion. Maybe you begin to see a mental coach like Nuis did. Or maybe you decide to share your feelings with someone you trust, like a friend, partner, family member or colleague. If you’re nervous ahead of an exam for example, can you take action and change your preparation or revision schedule to improve how you are feeling?
Kjeld Nuis skating into the record books
© Jarno Schurgers
With his new mental clarity and psychological preparation Nuis went from the “worst feeling of my career” in missing out on Russia in 2014 to the season of his dreams in the 2017-18 season.
When qualifying for South Korea he produced “one of the best races in my life” and continued his dominance at the global spectacle in Pyeongchang.
He won gold in the 1500m and maintained his dedication and focus for 11 days to add the 1000m title to his collection as well.
“I didn’t lose a single 1000m race all year," says Nuis, "so I felt a lot of pressure – I made a false start and heard the whole stadium gasp.
If I wasn’t mentally prepared, I would have really sucked at that moment.
“I had the best opening 200m of my life. That was all about mentally being ready for that race.”
Find out more – including simple exercises to do at home – in Mind Set Win.