Managing Stress and Controlling the Controllables at Atlas High Performance Centre

Managing Stress and Controlling the Controllables at Atlas High Performance Centre

At Atlas High Performance Centre, we know that success in sport isn’t just about how hard you train in the gym. It’s also about how well you manage stress outside of it. Whether you're preparing for the All Ireland Irish Dancing Championships or a key match in your season, stress management is a critical part of performance.

This guide gives a high-level overview of different types of stress, how to manage them, and how to stay focused on what you can actually control. These strategies apply across sports and levels - from youth athletes to adults, dancers to footballers.

Understanding the Types of Stress

Stress isn’t just mental. It shows up in several ways:

Physical Stress

• This includes training load, overtraining, illness, poor sleep, or injury. Training at a gym in Limerick like Atlas HPC helps apply controlled physical stress that improves performance - but without proper recovery, it can become harmful.

Mental Stress

• This can show up as decision fatigue, information overload, or perfectionism. Athletes often get caught chasing the "perfect" performance, especially in artistic and subjective sports like Irish dancing. At Atlas, our coaches work to help you focus on progress over perfection.

Social Stress

• Relationships with family, friends, and teammates can impact stress levels. Lack of a strong community is common in individual sports. We aim to build a better sense of connection across our athletes, even in a one-to-one training setup.

Emotional Stress

• Fear, shame, anger, and doubt often bubble up during high-stakes events. Fear of failure is a huge performance blocker. Our strength and conditioning coaches help athletes develop tools to manage emotional responses and keep cool under pressure.

Existential Stress

• For athletes nearing the end of their competitive years, or those sidelined with injury, the loss of identity can be overwhelming. It's something we've seen in our work at Atlas High Performance with both youth and adult athletes.

Environmental Stress

• Think traffic, poor sleep in a noisy hotel before competition, or even weather. While these seem minor, they add up. Our goal at Atlas is to prepare athletes for real-world conditions, not just ideal ones.

​The Sphere of Control

A key mindset tool we teach at Atlas High Performance Centre is the Sphere of Control. Stressors fall into three buckets:

1. No Control

• You can’t control judges' scores, referees, the weather, or even exact start times. Spending energy on these things wastes mental resources. Learn to let go.

2. Some Control

• You can influence how you respond to your past experiences, manage your schedule around an event, and adjust emotionally to stress. Think of these as flexible variables that you can shape with the right strategy.

3. Full Control

• Your preparation is entirely on you. Nutrition, hydration, sleep, mindset, training effort, and emotional regulation are within your power. At Atlas, we help athletes take ownership of this.

Managing Overwhelm and Performance Anxiety

Anxiety comes from feeling like you have too many options and no clear direction. To fix that:

• List your stressors
• Categorise them (No control / Some control / Full control)
• Focus only on what you can change

Heading into a big event? Plan for the worst-case scenario, not the best. If things go as planned, great. If not, you’re ready anyway.

Final Words: Control What You Can

Preparation, effort, and attitude are in your hands. Once competition starts, let go of outcomes. Perform to your standard and trust the work you've put in. That's what we focus on every day at Atlas and why so many call us the best gym in Limerick for performance-focused athletes.

Ready to Take Control?

If you train at Atlas or you're looking for a gym near the Dock Road in Limerick, come talk to us about how we coach beyond just lifting weights. From strength and conditioning for adults to full athlete development, we provide tools that help you thrive in competition and in life.

We support athletes of all levels with:

• Private fitness coaching
• Youth speed training
• Performance Nutrition
• Strength & conditioning
• Personal training in Limerick City

Let’s get you in control of your training, your mindset, and your performance.

Head to the contact page to enquire about what we can do to help you!