TY - JOUR JF - rph JO - VL - 11 IS - 1 PY - 2017 Y1 - 2017/5/01 TI - Comparison of the effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation with imagery-based relaxation on cortisol levels, competitive anxiety and self-confidence in elite athletes TT - مقایسه اثربخشی آرام‌سازی پیش‌روندۀ عضلانی و آرام‌سازی مبتنی بر تصویرسازی بر سطوح کورتیزول، اضطراب رقابتی و اعتماد به نفس ورزشکاران نخبه N2 - The aim of this study was to compare effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation and mental imagery-based relaxation on psychophysiological responses of competitive anxiety (cortisol levels) and self-confidence in elite athletes. For this purpose, 36 of elite Wushu athletes selected and randomly divided into two experimental groups and one control group. In the pre-test (first competition) competitive anxiety and self-confidence as well as salivary cortisol were measured in all three groups. In experimental groups, relaxation techniques was trained for 4 weeks. Data with univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were analyzed. The results showed that progressive muscle relaxation was more effective than mental imagery-based relaxation in decreasing saliva cortisol and somatic anxiety. Also, mental imagery-based relaxation was more effective on the cognitive anxiety rather than progressive muscle relaxation. In addition, self-confidence was increased after mental imagery-based relaxation. In general, it could be concluded that different types of relaxation training was an effective strategy to reduce psychophysiological responses of competitive anxiety and improve self-confidence. SP - 62 EP - 73 AU - Khabiri, Mohammad AU - Moghadam Zadeh, Ali AU - Mehrsafar, Amirhossain AU - Abrisham-kar, Hamideh AD - university of Tehran KW - Competitive anxiety KW - Relaxation KW - Self-confidence KW - Cortisol KW - Sport. UR - http://rph.khu.ac.ir/article-1-2814-en.html DO - 10.29252/rph.11.1.62 ER -