Should I calm down before competing?

Only if you are above your optimum, and that depends on the event. Precision sports want less arousal; power output tolerates much more. Going in flat is a real failure mode and it is under-recognised.

How do I know my optimum?

Record it. Rate your arousal before several competitions and put it next to the result. A handful of data points tells you more than any general rule.

Is nervousness bad for performance?

How you read it matters more than how much of it there is. Athletes who interpret the symptoms as readiness outperform those who read the same symptoms as a problem.

Pre-competition nerves: which direction to move your arousal

Warm-up bay, forty minutes to go, legs like jelly and a stomach in knots. Last time you went in flat and it was worse. You do not actually know whether you need to settle down or fire up.

Do this now

Choose the direction first

3 minutes

Check three things: hands, breath rate, and whether your thinking is racing or absent. Racing and shaky means come down; flat and heavy means go up.
To come down: nasal, in for five and a half, out for five and a half, three minutes. Quiet and unforced.
To go up: stand tall, in for four through the nose, hold two, out for four through the mouth, with a short sharp finish. Two minutes, plus movement.
Either way, finish with one rehearsal of the first thirty seconds of the event at real tempo, in your head.
Then stop managing your state. Warm up, and let the arousal be whatever it is.

Run it with a timer

Optimal arousal is task-specific

The relationship between arousal and performance is an inverted U, and the peak is different for different tasks. Fine motor control and precision — archery, putting, shooting, a technical lift — tolerate much less arousal than gross power output. That is why a single pre-competition routine for a whole squad is a bad idea, and why the first instruction here is to check which way you need to go.

Interpretation matters as much as level

The direction of anxiety matters more than its quantity: athletes who interpret the same symptoms as facilitative perform better than those who interpret them as debilitative, and this is one of the more robust findings in sport psychology. Practically, "my heart is going because my body is getting ready" is not positive thinking — it measurably changes performance and cardiovascular profile.

Why slow breathing is the down-regulation tool

Breathing at around six breaths a minute produces the largest heart-rate variability most people can generate, and HRV biofeedback has been used in athletic populations to improve self-regulation before competition. It is also the only autonomic lever you can apply in a warm-up bay with no equipment and nobody noticing.

What changes it, over a week

Every training session
Use the pattern you will use on competition day. A routine that only appears at competitions is not a routine.
Learn your number
Note your arousal and your result for several competitions. Most athletes discover they perform best at a level they had been trying to avoid.
Daily, ten minutes
Slow nasal breathing at about six breaths a minute. It shifts the baseline and improves sleep in heavy training blocks.
Sleep and fuelling
Both outrank every technique on this page. Nerves on short sleep are a different and harder problem.

When this is not a breathing pattern

See a clinician — promptly, and before assuming any of this applies to you — if any of these describe you:

Chest pain, fainting or unusual breathlessness during exercise — stop and get cardiac assessment before competing
Panic attacks around competition that are increasing
Not eating properly before or after competition, or exercising through injury and hiding it
Loss of enjoyment, unexplained performance decline and persistent fatigue — ask about overtraining and relative energy deficiency
Any thoughts of harming yourself — contact your doctor or a crisis line today

This page is education, not medical advice, and no part of it is a diagnosis. Full disclaimer.

Questions people ask

Should I calm down before competing?: Only if you are above your optimum, and that depends on the event. Precision sports want less arousal; power output tolerates much more. Going in flat is a real failure mode and it is under-recognised.
How do I know my optimum?: Record it. Rate your arousal before several competitions and put it next to the result. A handful of data points tells you more than any general rule.
Is nervousness bad for performance?: How you read it matters more than how much of it there is. Athletes who interpret the symptoms as readiness outperform those who read the same symptoms as a problem.

What this page is built on

— Jones et al., 1993, Journal of Sports Sciences — directional interpretation of competitive anxiety and performance
— Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014, Frontiers in Psychology — resonance-frequency breathing and HRV biofeedback
— Jamieson et al., 2012, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General — arousal reappraisal under evaluative stress

Named by author and year. The DOIs live in the journal.

Put a number on it

Most of what is on this page tracks one measurement: the Control Pause. It takes sixty seconds, needs no account, and it is the thing that tells you whether any of this is working.