IZOF and Your Optimal Performance

Ideal Zone of Optimal Function (IZOF) is a huge part of any sport. This theory suggests that there is an ideal level of mental arousal and a corresponding effect on performance. This can also be referred to as the Inverted-U Theory. This illustration below will help to make sense of this real fast.

As you can see the left side inverted axis shows the level of performance while the bottom horizontal axis refers to the amount of arousal. As you can see these two factors have an impact upon the other. As emotional arousal starts to increase for a person their performance increases up to a certain level (highlighted red section). As they pass that and become too aroused, they then decrease in performance.

Every person has their own IZOF based on how they deal with certain issues. This past year in my experience with assisting in training of over 30 of the 2013 NFL Combine athlete's, I saw a very real case of someone not knowing their IZOF and how it impacted their performance. This athlete was expected to go in the first round but, couldn't perform during the Combine. The Combine being largely exercised based with the bench press, 40yd dash and multiple others. He performed poorly in some of these areas, yet on the field in a game he was savagely unstoppable.

During his two and a half month combine training he struggled in the weight room and it was a bit of a mystery to everyone. How could someone so savage and obviously strong, struggle so much when lifting weights? Well if you think about it, during a game there is high excitement and lots of emotion. His threshold could have been very high and took a large amount of excitement to get there and perform well. In the weight room it was less mentally arousing and caused his performance to decrease but, in a game he could push a couple hundred pound lineman over like they were playing on a high school JV team. Some people are very dependent on this IZOF and in hindsight I believe it CONTRIBUTED immensely to his Combine performance (no one single factor can usually ever be truly blamed for poor performance and I'm not a Dr of Sport Psychology though do have a Minor in the topic area). So how do you find this?

Finding this and the right way to do it is still an question left unanswered by science however, there are some very practical suggestions. One of the best books on this subject is by Terry Orlick: In Pursuit of Excellence. This book is kind of the poor mans practical handbook for sport psychology. In it is a series of interviews with people who have worked with Orlick at the Olympics and in other professional sports. Also there are sections from these athletes personal journals.

To find this IZOF you need to try multiple things. Each person has their own individual zone that is achieved by different means due to the fact that it is purely individual. Some people need to be more excited like John Henderson and then sum people need to be like a Buddhist monk before competition.

This IZOF state is impacted by everything else that you do. It's not just your mental pre-game, it's how your food, your training and everything else comes together to impact that moment before competition. You hear of many people being superstitious about things in motocross, with their helmet, boots, bike and many more. This is all related to your IZOF and you need to be aware of these tendencies in yourself. Being consistent with them is part of creating your IZOF.

Regardless of what that is for you, you know yourself best and need to find that. The next step is to chart what you have been doing in a journal so that you can find what exactly works best for you. Then you are able to be more consistent over time. This isn't just mindset, it's also your training regime, food, warm-up and everything else.

Now its time for you to find out where your own personal IZOF is in order to replicate your best performance as frequently as possible. You just need to take a very simple scientific approach to this and find out if you need to be more hyped up mentally or more zen before your race.