If you go to a professional sports game and your team wins, research shows you are more likely to die in a car wreck on the way home. While alcohol certainly plays a role in post-game vehicular fatalities, Professor MelayneMcInnes of the University of North Carolina believes the main culprit is winning! McInnes analyzed 271 games and then looked at post game accidents for her study. Research shows that if a devoted fan’s team wins, his testosterone levels increase; McInnes believes this is the main culprit! McInnes theorizes that, because of increased testosterone levels, fans drive much more aggressively. This increases the likelihood of an accident. In contrast, the fans of losing teams are much more docile in their driving habits because of decreased testosterone caused by losing. This seems a bit far-fetched! Yet, numerous studies do confirm that winning increases testosterone levels and losing does lower testosterone levels.

If winning has an effect on fans, you can imagine that it has an even bigger influence on the athletes in the field of play. A study in the January issue “Strength and Conditioning” showed that victorious college wrestlers had a much greater testosterone production response than their losing counter parts after a match. Numerous studies echo these findings. For example, another study by the Department of Psychology, Brock University of Ontario, Canada showed that elite male hockey players had increased testosterone concentrations after watching their victory in a previous match. Amazingly, after just watching one previous victory, testosterone concentrations increased42-44 percent! More amazingly, a 2005 study by the University of Wisconsin observed a similar effect in mice. This study showed that mice who won fights elevated testosterone levels and enhanced future ability to win fights. Success breeds success!

As it is with mice, so it is with men. Smart coaches use this concept to the advantage of their athletes. Think about a good boxing manager, he doesn’t throw his young stud out to the wolves right away. There are scores of old club fighters and journeymen that would make a living of unsuspecting young bucks who are mismanaged. A good manager starts his fighter off against a few tomato cans then slowly increases the competition level. A good football coach does not schedule unbeatable teams prior to conference play. While he wants to challenge his players, how will he ever rally the troops to a victory if all that they have ever known is defeat? This does not mean avoid a challenge; you will not experience the feelings of euphoria and the hormonal surge victory has to offer if the win is a shallow one!

As an athlete, this applies to your training and your goals. To set small goals and achieve them is a victory! Setting personal records in training is another victory. Start by doing the small things right and the big things will follow. Just think, if you are a powerlifter and you keep setting personal records over and over in your meets and your training, eventually those records become local records, then state records, then regional records then national records. Start winning small battles over and over then big ones will follow!

I talk a lot about visualization and this applies here. Remember, your Central Nervous System cannot tell the difference between a real and a vividly imagined experience. Start seeing yourself succeeding on a daily basis! If overzealous, drunken fans can create a favorable hormonal response to “their” teams winning, imagine what you, a trained athlete, can do. God created you in his image, go out and fulfill your destiny!