Sunisa Lee, the Olympic gold medalist in women's gymnastics, knows that physical talent alone doesn't win championships. In a sport where one slip can decide gold or silver, mental fortitude is just as critical as a perfect double layout. Lee has long emphasized that her mental preparation is the foundation of her success, allowing her to stay composed under the glare of the world stage. Her strategies are not just for elite athletes — they offer a blueprint for anyone who needs to perform under pressure, from students taking exams to professionals giving key presentations. Below, we dive deep into each of her favorite mental preparation techniques, explore the science behind them, and provide actionable steps to incorporate them into your own routine.

Background: Why Mental Preparation Matters for Sunisa Lee

Lee burst onto the international scene at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021), where she won gold in the all-around, silver with the U.S. team, and bronze on uneven bars. The pressure was immense: she was stepping into the shadow of Simone Biles, who withdrew from several finals, and carrying the expectations of a nation. Lee has openly discussed the anxiety and self-doubt she faced, particularly during the all-around final. Her ability to reset between rotations and stay locked into each routine was honed through years of deliberate mental training. “The mental side is something I work on every single day,” Lee has said. “If my mind is not right, my body won’t follow.” Her routine blends visualization, breath work, affirmations, and mindfulness — techniques backed by decades of sports psychology research.

Visualization Techniques: Seeing Success Before It Happens

Visualization, also known as mental rehearsal or imagery, is one of Lee’s primary tools. Before she steps on the floor, she closes her eyes and runs through her entire routine in her mind: the approach to the vault, the exact angle of her handspring, the feeling of the air as she twists, the solid stomp of the landing. She doesn’t just see the movements — she feels them. This process activates the same neural pathways that fire during actual physical execution, a phenomenon known as functional equivalence. Studies in sports psychology have shown that athletes who visualize their performances can improve actual performance by up to 35% in some skills.

How Sunisa Uses Visualization

Lee breaks her visualization into two modes: outcome visualization (seeing herself stick the landing) and process visualization (seeing the step-by-step actions to get there). She prefers process visualization because it keeps her focused on controllable elements. For example, she might visualize the sensation of her hands pushing off the beam during a back handspring sequence, rather than just imagining a perfect score. She also visualizes under different conditions: with crowd noise, with distractions, even if she feels tired. This “stress inoculation” makes her less reactive to surprises during competition.

How to Build Your Own Visualization Practice

To start, find a quiet place. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Picture a skill or task you want to perform — it doesn’t have to be a gymnastics routine. It could be a sales call, a job interview, or a musical performance. Go beyond sight: what do you hear? Smell? Feel in your muscles? What emotions arise? Practice for 5–10 minutes daily. The American Psychological Association notes that imagery techniques are widely used in clinical sports psychology for anxiety reduction and skill acquisition. Over time, your brain will treat the visualized scenario as familiar, reducing anxiety when the real moment comes.

Breathing Exercises: Controlling the Nervous System

Lee credits deep breathing as her “reset button.” When standing on the podium waiting for her vault, she takes slow, measured breaths. This isn’t just calming — it’s physiological. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing activates the vagus nerve, which triggers the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” state), lowering heart rate and cortisol levels. In contrast, shallow, rapid breathing keeps the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) dominant, which can cause muscle tension and shaky performances.

Specific Techniques Lee Uses

While she hasn’t shared every detail, sports psychologists who have worked with Lee describe a mix of two methods. The first is box breathing: inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, hold for four counts. She repeats this for 1–2 minutes. The second is rhythmic breathing: coordinating breath with movement, such as exhaling during the hardest part of a skill (for example, exhaling during a release move on uneven bars). This helps prevent holding her breath, which increases physical tension.

Practical Breathing Drills

  • Diaphragmatic breathing: Lie on your back with one hand on your belly. Breathe in through your nose so that your belly rises, not your chest. Exhale slowly through pursed lips. Do this for 5 minutes.
  • 4-7-8 breathing: Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, exhale for 8 seconds. This extended exhale strongly activates relaxation.
  • Resonant breathing: Breathe at a rate of five breaths per minute (inhale for 6 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds). This maximizes heart rate variability, a marker of resilience.

Lee practices these breathing techniques not only on competition day but also during practice and before bed. Consistency trains her body to associate deep breaths with a calm, focused state. For those new to breath work, a guided breathing app or a timer can be helpful.

Focused Affirmations: Rewiring Self-Talk

Lee uses positive affirmations to combat the negative thoughts that can creep in during high-stakes moments. Phrases like “I am prepared” and “I can do this” are short, present-tense statements she repeats silently. Affirmations work by activating the brain’s reward system and gradually replacing automatic negative self-talk with constructive scripts. Research in cognitive-behavioral psychology shows that repeating affirmations can reduce stress and improve problem-solving under pressure.

Why Lee’s Affirmations Work

Her affirmations are not generic “I am the best” statements. They are specific and believable. “I am prepared” acknowledges the thousands of hours of practice she has logged. “I can do this” reinforces self-efficacy. She tailors her affirmations to the moment: before uneven bars, she might say, “My body knows these releases.” Before balance beam, “I own this beam.” This specificity anchors the affirmation in concrete, sensory experience.

Creating Your Own Effective Affirmations

  1. Keep them short and present tense. “I focus” rather than “I will focus.”
  2. Make them personal. Use “I” statements that reflect your own strengths and preparation.
  3. Pair them with a physical trigger. Lee often takes a deep breath while repeating her affirmation, creating a conditioned response.
  4. Practice daily. Say them aloud in front of a mirror or silently during low-stress moments so they feel natural when pressure hits.

Lee has said that affirmations are a non-negotiable part of her warm-up. She writes them in a journal before meets and tapes some inside her locker. If you struggle with self-doubt, start with just one affirmation, repeat it 10 times each morning, and gradually build your list.

Pre-Performance Routine: The Power of Consistency

Routines are central to Lee’s mental preparation. Gymnastics is a sport of variable conditions — different arenas, different schedules, different judges. A consistent pre-performance routine provides a familiar anchor, signaling the brain that it’s time to perform. Lee’s routine typically starts about 30 minutes before her event. She listens to a specific playlist (often calm, instrumental music), stretches in a designated order, visualizes each skill, and then goes through her affirmations.

The Components of a Strong Pre-Performance Routine

  • Time-based: Determine a fixed duration (e.g., 20 minutes) so you don’t rush or delay.
  • Sequence: Perform the same steps in the same order every time (e.g., music → deep breathing → visualization → light stretching).
  • Task-relevant: Include actions that directly prepare you for the skill (e.g., rehearsing a key movement).
  • Flexibility within structure: If something unexpected happens (like a delay), have a mini-routine ready (e.g., two deep breaths plus a single affirmation).

For Lee, the routine also helps her manage the adrenaline surge common before competition. Instead of fighting the butterflies, she uses the routine to channel that energy into focus. She has said that if she misses part of her routine — for example, if she doesn’t get time for her full visualization — she feels slightly unsettled, which is why she protects her pre-meet time.

Building Your Own Routine

Start by identifying the biggest trigger for your anxiety — maybe waiting in the wings, or sitting in a quiet room before a speech. Then design a 5-minute sequence you can do anywhere. Example: 1) Three deep belly breaths, 2) Repeat your primary affirmation three times, 3) Squeeze and release your fists and shoulders, 4) Picture one key success moment from practice. Practice this routine during training sessions so it becomes automatic.

Staying Present: Mindfulness During Performance

During her routines, Lee employs mindfulness — staying completely absorbed in the present moment. On balance beam, where a single wobble can lead to a fall, she focuses on the feeling of her feet on the beam, the rhythm of her breathing, and the immediate movement she is executing. She does not think about the previous skill or the next one; she is fully where she is. This state of “flow” is associated with peak performance and enjoyment.

Mindfulness Techniques Used by Lee

Lee has mentioned grounding herself before a routine by noticing three things: the texture of her grips, the sound of the crowd, and the temperature of the air. This simple 3-2-1 technique (notice three things you see, two you hear, one you feel) shifts attention from racing thoughts to sensory input. She also practices mindful movement during warm-ups, paying attention to each stretch and rotation without rushing.

Why Staying Present Works

Neuroscience shows that mindfulness reduces activity in the default mode network — the brain network responsible for mind-wandering and self-referential thoughts (like “What if I fall?”). By focusing on the present, athletes like Lee quiet that internal critic and free up mental resources for split-second decisions. A 2018 meta-analysis in the journal Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology found that mindfulness interventions significantly improved performance in precision sports.

To practice staying present, try this: during your next practice or low-stakes event, deliberately focus on just one sensation — the air on your skin, the sound of your shoes, the rhythm of your breathing. Each time your mind wanders (and it will), gently bring it back. Over time, this muscle of attention strengthens.

Additional Strategies: Handling Setbacks and Pressure

Beyond the core techniques, Lee has developed other mental habits for the unique pressures of elite gymnastics. One is “bracketing”: after a routine, she mentally closes that event and opens the next. She does not replay mistakes or dwell on a great performance. This prevents emotional spillover. Another is “reframing”: when she feels pressure, she reframes it as excitement or opportunity. She has said, “The Olympics was the biggest moment of my life, so why be scared? This is why I worked so hard.”

Dealing with Mistakes in Competition

Lee has had her share of falls — a slip on beam during the 2023 World Championships, a missed handstand on bars. Her mental recovery is swift: she takes a deep breath, says a quick affirmation (“Next skill, next skill”), and physically shakes out any tension. She does not allow herself more than a second or two of reaction. This is a skill she practices deliberately, even during training, by simulating errors and resetting immediately.

Research in sport psychology supports this “one-competition-event-at-a-time” approach, showing that athletes who ruminate on errors perform worse on subsequent attempts. Lee’s ability to compartmentalize is a cornerstone of her mental toughness.

Building Your Own Mental Toolkit: A Step-by-Step Guide

You don’t need to be an Olympic gymnast to benefit from Sunisa Lee’s strategies. Here is how to adapt her methods into a personalized mental preparation routine.

Step 1: Identify Your Pressure Moments

List 1–3 situations where you feel most anxious — a test, a speech, a game. Note the physical and mental signs of that anxiety (racing heart, negative thoughts, tension).

Step 2: Choose Two Techniques to Start

Pick one from the “calm” category (breathing or visualization) and one from the “confidence” category (affirmations or routine). For example, box breathing plus a single affirmation. Practice these daily for two weeks.

Step 3: Build a Mini-Routine

Use the techniques in a 5-minute pre-event routine. Sequence: 1) box breathing (1 min), 2) visualization of one key action (2 min), 3) repeated affirmation (1 min), 4) check-in with three senses (1 min).

Step 4：Practice Under Simulated Pressure

Rehearse your routine in mock scenarios — give a presentation to a friend, take a timed practice test, or do a skill in front of others. Notice what disrupts your focus and adjust.

Step 5: Reflect and Refine

After each real performance, jot down what worked and what didn’t. Did you skip the breathing? Did an unexpected distraction throw you? Adjust your toolkit accordingly.

Conclusion: The Power of Mental Preparation

Sunisa Lee’s journey from a young gymnast in Minnesota to Olympic gold medalist was paved not only with physical training but with intentional mental conditioning. Her use of visualization, breathing, affirmations, pre-performance routines, and mindfulness are not just inspirational — they are evidence-based tools that anyone can learn. The key is consistency. As Lee herself says, “I practice my mental skills just like I practice my routines on the beam.” By committing to mental preparation as rigorously as physical training, you can unlock calmness, confidence, and focus when it matters most.

For further reading, the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete365 offers free mental health resources, and the American Psychological Association’s sport psychology page provides research-based guides. Lee’s own interviews with Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports offer deeper insights into her approach. Whether you are stepping onto a competition floor or into a boardroom, remember: the mind is the first muscle to prepare.