philamena
Well-Known Member
I've always understood controlling the controllables and marginal gains to be different things which sometimes overlap. Controlling the controllables is about focusing on the things you can control, having a plan you're confident in, and not stressing the stuff you have no power over. So being on time, having the kit that makes you most confident, having a warm up plan, ensuring you leave the start box confidently, etc, as opposed to things you can't control. This is a technique you *can* just apply at a competition from a sports psychology point of view, or can use throughout your prep as a prep strategy AND psychology technique, but it's about things that give you confidence but don't have an immediate impact on your score / time etc, as well as things that would.
Marginal gains is a long-term training and developmemt strategy where deliberately in addition to focussing on the obvious big stuff, you break the whole performance down and work out where you can improve the smaller / less visible / obvious things which have a direct impact on performance. The most obvious simple old-school example from eventing would be working on your getaway from fences, saving yourself a second at each fence adding up across the course, rather than focussing on trying to get your overall gallop faster when you may already be at the optimum pace between fences. Everything from that right up to the Fairfax giving you an extra 1% in your dressage...
So while there will be marginal gains stuff in your controllables, they're actually two different approaches, and if you choose your marginal gains focus properly, it won't clutter you with loads of stuff to stress about..!
Marginal gains is a long-term training and developmemt strategy where deliberately in addition to focussing on the obvious big stuff, you break the whole performance down and work out where you can improve the smaller / less visible / obvious things which have a direct impact on performance. The most obvious simple old-school example from eventing would be working on your getaway from fences, saving yourself a second at each fence adding up across the course, rather than focussing on trying to get your overall gallop faster when you may already be at the optimum pace between fences. Everything from that right up to the Fairfax giving you an extra 1% in your dressage...
So while there will be marginal gains stuff in your controllables, they're actually two different approaches, and if you choose your marginal gains focus properly, it won't clutter you with loads of stuff to stress about..!