Ep.47 Hugh Gilmore: Risk and rewards of psychology in coaching

The Health Scientist Podcast

Hugh Gilmore is a BASES accredited sports psychologist who has spent the last 6 years working with Olympians and Paralympians within Great Britain athletics and GB weightlifting. He also has a wealth of experience working within the GAA and Net Ball Northern Ireland. On top of all that, Hugh is also co-host of the Eight Percent Mental podcast.

Harnessing Communication for Performance Enhancement: Online Course

Hugh's Instagram

Podium Psychology (Hugh's Website)

Hugh's Twitter

Eighty Percent Mental Podcast

In this episode we cover:

• Hugh's background in sports science and sports psychology.
• What it's like working as a sport's psychologist for GB Athletics and GB Weightlifting
• The power of instruction and guidance on sports performance
• How does a sport's psychologist help an athlete perform better
• The power of reframing a situation to change someone's perspective of it
• An introduction to tubing
• Why telling people what to do is not a useful approach
• How asking questions with Motivational Interviewing helps bring about change
• Hugh's thoughts on the increase in interest in psychological techniques in coaching in recent years
• The concept that strong medicine can be strong poison: how psychology can also cause harm
• Why comprehensive training in psychology is important to make sure practitioners don't cause harm
• The danger in assuming that all psychology techniques are benign
• The example of using mindfulness in treating eating disorders
• What are some contradictions of different psychological techniques
• What's the problem with NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP)
• Importance of realizing that no technique works all the time
• Is there any way to know if a psychology practitioner is genuinely qualified?