Psychology of Skydiving

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

We all have mental blocks in some aspect of the sport. After almost 4 years in the sport, I'm realizing how much of it is psychological. We can visualize a good jump/a good successful landing or we put the last bad one in our head. What you see is what will be.

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[CanuckInUSA 0]

I agree that much of our thinking up there is psychological. But in the summer of 2005 when I was lucky enough to be able to train full time 7 days a week as a competitive swooper, I would analyze what went wrong after each training jump before the next jump in order to try and correct any mistakes I made towards my setups and my swoops. I guess what I am trying to say that it's okay to think about the mistakes that were made on our jumps just as long as the person is trying to improve and learn from their mistakes and not beat themselves up for making the mistakes in the first place.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Andy_Copland 0]

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What you see is what will be.

Not really, only to a certain degree.

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[BlueSBDeath 2]

Great point!! See your error, learn from it, do not dewell on it or repeat it, this is true learning!!

It is important to also continue to "Visualize" the goal, what ever that may be, this is something we all do when we practice our emergancy procedures, see the bad, do the good, reconize the situation and react!!!

Never give up!!!!

BSBD...........Its all about Respect,

USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499

[NeedToJump 0]

I've definitely found skydiving to be mostly psychological. There is a fantastic book called Mental Training for Skydiving and Life by John Derosalia (Dr. John) that I HIGHLY recommend to everyone, skydiver or not.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[AnKaLi 0]

I would love some advice on how to get over these mental roadblocks, so thank you for making this thread! I'm a newb, I've only got 11 solo jumps, and I've hit a roadblock right now. I know that its all in my head, but I can't figure out how to overcome that. You all can laugh, having been in the sport for awhile, but I always manage to spook myself out in the plane. Once I get out, I'm fine, and I LOVE it, but getting out is an issue for me.
I've read Transcending Fear, and I know that I need to get my mind past the doubt, but I can't seem to get it there. For once in my life, being a thinker is my downfall. My instructors have been nothing but awesome and patient with me, but I imagine they're frustrated with me right now. I'd love to just be able to get over all of this and jump jump jump.
My last jump 2 weeks ago was kind of a disaster, and although I'm not dwelling on it anymore, I think my subconcious is or something.
I don't know.
but yeah, help would be awesome :)

[PrairieDoug 0]

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What you see is what will be.

Exactly! That statement alone is worth at least a couple of the hours I've burned on dz.com recently.

Doug

[AFFI 0]

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I would love some advice on how to get over these mental roadblocks - I know that its all in my head, but I can't figure out how to overcome -
I always manage to spook myself out in the plane. Once I get out, I'm fine, and I LOVE it, but getting out is an issue for me.

That is completely normal and quite common for students. You mention that your instructors are working with you closely and patiently, that is a good thing.
Listen to them…


My training philosophy working with anxiety laden (all) students:

The primary defense against this type of anxiety is to understand how the gear works, and I mean to understand it thoroughly.

Then to train on EP’s and canopy flight, and I mean to train for it thoroughly.

You brain is simply trying to protect you with the fight or flight response and your brain had not yet been convinced that it is not in imminent danger – you are jumping out of a plane miles above the surface of the planet and at this point your brain believes you are trying to kill it so naturally your brain is going to try and protect you.

So you need to convince your brain that it is safe, and the way I combat this is training – knowing how the gear works and having confidence in your ability to use it properly (see my sig line).

Back when I was on student status and battling the same issues, I simply forced myself – I could not force myself to remain calm but I did force myself to keep my mouth shut about it, not let it show and get out the door anyway because I KNEW that once I was out the door I would be as you said – “Once I get out, I'm fine”. I even remember telling myself that I would rather be dead than to be beaten by this fear because I really wanted to be a skydiver more than anything else.

You are the only one that can do anything about this – instructors or anyone else for that matter can’t make your brain comply; only you can do that. So there is no silver bullet solution, you want to be a skydiver?
Then prepare as well as you can, have confidence in the gear and your ability to use it - shut your mouth, take control of your brain and get out the door…

Your "DISASTER" could not have been that bad if you are still alive to write aout it! Remember, it does not matter if you preform well in freefall (that takes practice) what is important is that you:

A) Get a parachute over your head (at the assigned altitude)
B) Land it safely
C) Don't get hurt and don't injure anyone else...

If you do those 3 things, then you can practice all you want!
That is what skydiving is all about...

Sorry there is not simple solution for you other than to tell you that it is totally up to you – so you wanna be a skydiver or not?
-

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[AnKaLi 0]

I do feel comfortable with EPs, and I REALLY enjoy being under canopy, no stand up landings yet, but I'm getting there! I still have a lot to learn, but yeah.

What you said about my brain and danger makes a lot of sense, and nobody has said it to me quite like that, so thank you.

Apparently I need to force myself to keep my mouth shut about it, and just get out of the plane. I'm like you, I REALLY want to be a skydiver.

The disaster wasn't THAT bad, but I did ride over some thermals at about 50 feet (changed from grass to a bean field), and had a WHAP! above my head (the canopy collapsed and immediately reopened quite violently) I didn't lose any altitude, and I handled the situation alright (feet and knees together, full flight, etc), but after about 5 minutes of being on the ground it really freaked me out. It's been about 2 weeks since then. I NEED to get in the air again. I let my head get the best of me on wednesday and chickened out....in the plane...when they opened the door.
I'm heading out to the DZ this afternoon, and if the winds calm down I think I'm going to do a clear and pull to get my barings in the air again.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, and the reminder to not voice my fears, and that I'm not alone!! :)

[beowulf 1]

I can relate to that. I too had to just suck it up and force myself out of the plane. I think for myself I was just too stubborn to give up. By arround 50 jumps I was pretty much over the hill and not really feeling much door fear. Now I don't even think about at all.

[AMax 0]

Just to add my two cents:

The negative emotions such as fear in general, memories of past mistakes, fear of making a mistake (performance anxiety) tend to affect our performances in a negative way. This common principle applies to all athletes of all levels. The most effective way to deal with the fear and anxieties is to displace the negative emotions from you thought process by concentrating on positive and trusting your body to do the job when you approach the start line (in our case – on the way up and before leaving the aircraft). During the ground prep, you learn what you need to do on this skydive. Visualize the whole jump during the climb up and trust yourself.

In our minds, the instant attacks of fear can be effectively fought with counterattacks of positive thinking. For example, the thoughts like "I made a lot of mistakes on the previous skydive ... what I am doing here? ... this is dangerous! ... ect. " can be replaced with "I am about to go into freefall and it’s fun! .. I know what to do ... this is going to be my best skydive (or competition round) ... these clouds are beautiful in sunset colors ... "

The book that Ari suggested is terrific. I also recommend "The inner game of tennis" – one of the most influential books on sports psychology. Just replace "tennis" with "skydiving" when you read it

[AnKaLi 0]

I just thought I'd post and let you guys know that I think I got over the hill this weekend. I have found a way to work through my fears and doubts. I know it will probably still come up from time to time. I had some EXCELLENT jumps this weekend with an awesome coach, and I finally remembered why I love to do this.

[Tonto 1]

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What you see is what will be.

Not really, only to a certain degree.

Agreed. I visualise perfection on each swoop, but after landing realise it was just awesomely fantastic, and I still have a long way to go, and so end up happy and somewhat disapointed.

When I do AFF, I can't visualise, because the student will do what they will do, so I anticipate instead.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[Butters 0]

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... at this point your brain believes you are trying to kill it ...

This line made me
PS: Another possibility (was and is my problem) is performance anxiety. I am not nervous about the skydive, I am nervous about my performance on the skydive.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[AFFI 0]

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Another possibility (was and is my problem) is performance anxiety. I am not nervous about the skydive, I am nervous about my performance on the skydive.

Performance anxiety on the skydive? You mean freefall dive flow stuff?

Don’t you worry about that at all - we only get to practice freefall 30 to 60 seconds at a time and if we do it enough we are bound to get better at it.

Now that you have a few jumps, maybe you want to consider really concentrating on survival training more than anything.

Skydiving Priorities:
1) Get an open parachute overhead.
2) Land it safely in an area free of obstacles
3) Don’t get hurt, or injure anyone else

If we get really proficient at these 3 things then we can practice that freefall stuff all we want, but if we get injured?
Injuries take skydiving money out of our pocket to pay medical expenses, time to heal and may cause us to wonder if we should even be skydiving in the first place. I have never seen a skydiver on the plane ridding to altitude with a femur sticking out of the side of their leg!

The goal is to make as many skydives as we wish during our lifetime and never get injured while we are at it.
Skydiving is supposed to be fun - casts; limps and performance anxiety can take the fun right out of it!

Worry about performance if and when you ever start to compete – for now just have fun and concentrate on Emergency Procedures, Canopy Piloting and all that that implies…
-

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[AnKaLi 0]

yeah thats more my issue (or was) it's the first 5 seconds that I'm not great at yet, but I'm always able to get stable. Switching to poised exits out of the 182 is helping too, I'm not so stressed about holding onto the strut. I'm learning to just enjoy my 5 seconds of chaos, I smile and laugh through it, and I know I'll get it eventually. As a very smart person told me the other day "the only way to get good at skydiving is to jump!"

[AnKaLi 0]

what I need to work on now is more altitude awareness (going through IAD I'm not 100% used to using an altimeter) and my leg positioning.

[Butters 0]

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what I need to work on now is more altitude awareness (going through IAD I'm not 100% used to using an altimeter) and my leg positioning.

I am a new jumper but I am willing to bet an older jumper will say the same thing, altidude awareness is one of the building blocks of skydiving and you should have altitude awareness before moving on to anything else. Otherwise, the only other advice I have is the advice that was given to me:

"It is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground."

"You can't get better if you don't jump."

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[AnKaLi 0]

Oh I 100% plan on working on it, no worries there, its just something that has been mentioned to me on 2 occaissions, and I know it's pertinent. I'm in no rush to get my license like some jumpers are, I know I'll get there eventually. I'm more concerned with building the proper skills to be safe in the sky, and I know that altitude awareness comes first.

[allenfperos 0]

This is a very interesting post. Psychology of skydiving; one thing I never could do was mentally count on my first few freefalls. You know, arch-thousand, one-thousand, two-thousand, etc. After studying the physics involved in potential and kinetic energy exchange along with some basic rectilinear motion problems, I could accurately judge distance traveled without counting.

Altitude awareness as everyone has mentioned here on this thread is logically sound to longevity. When on AFF training, where you look at the ground and check your altimeter numerous times. This training is actually much more conducive to altitude awareness then counting manually during your first five or ten second delay literally scared out of your wits. At least I remember I was.

The more you jump, of course, the more comfortable you will be with your surroundings. So currency, is very important

"Man Small, Why Fall, Skies Call, That's All"