Mental aspects of training

Sports training affects the athlete both physiologically and psychologically. Individuals seeking to achieve a high level of competitive ability require psychological training to develop their mental strength whilst developing their physical abilities and skills at the same time. Absolutely vital for any serious athlete, developing one’s mental focus and strength are necessary in order to fulfill a variety of activities, whether it’s to complete a race in a shorter time, increase your strength to give you that competitive edge in submission grappling or simply for your own person keep-fit exercise goals.

This section aims to give you some background information on different aspects of psychological training so you can get the most from your training programme.

Promoting focus and mental strength - general psychological training

This type of training is done over a macrocycle and aims to develop strong will and other basic mental skills necessary in sports and all kinds of human activity. Above all the athlete must be able to control their concentration, and be able to relax both physically and mentally.

The process of developing strong will centres on overcoming difficulties. The rationale for this is rooted in solid psychological theory. Difficulties should be overcome systematically in order to ensure progress, and the level of difficulty should increase incrementally so that they are not impossible to overcome. It therefore becomes habit to complete a task and the athlete becomes confident that they can achieve what they set out to do. Failing to complete set tasks allows the athlete to give up when things get touch, essentially reinforcing negative behaviours. The result is poor determination and a reluctance to continue as soon as the level of difficulty rises.

This method of training prepares athletes for the strenuous demands placed on them during pre-event training and also during competitive events.

If you already have a sports coach, it’s likely that they will have factored this type of training into your programme, but it’s useful to be aware of the following factors. If you train alone, try and incorporate the following ideas into your training programme and bear in mind that, like physical training, additional difficulties have to be imposed as you adapt, in order to guarantee proper development:

• Purposefulness - turns workouts from thoughtless mechanical exercises into consciously regulated activities. This requires setting goals about each action you take, understanding the methods behind sports training, and how each workout contributes to your overall long-term plan. It is a good idea to evaluate each workout you do.
• Discipline - ensures you are able to stick with your workout programme, ensuring you have the best chance progressing at the desired rate. Discipline is best achieved by keeping to scheduled activities, and the schedule itself must not be beyond the ability of the athlete to fulfil. If your sports coach or gym trainer sets tasks it is absolutely vital that you follow what they tell you to do, and how they tell you to do it. As important, you must also adhere to what they tell you not to do. If you create your own programme, always complete the activity you set out to do,* because even partial failures teach the mind that it is ok to disobey the ‘rules’, which makes sticking to the schedule even harder.
• Initiative - encourages leadership and clarity of thought. Coaches often develop this aspect of will by putting athletes in situations which require quick judgement. The athlete must decide what action they will take, carry it out and then take responsibility for it. In order to constantly challenge the competitive athlete, these situations must change so they do not adapt to the circumstances and learn to respond automatically. Again, if you are devising your own training programme, consider going along to different team ball games as a means of developing this key quality.
• Self-control - encourages resilience in difficult situations and being able to stay calm, in order to ensure optimum performance. This quality is linked with discipline, both of which are required in order to achieve set goals. Ways of incorporating this into psychological training could include changing the intervals during training, or setting a pacer to a different rhythm.
• Confidence - helps to encourage accuracy and precision and promote flexible, reliable skills. There are many ways to do this: training in a different climate or environment, with unaccustomed equipment, changing the terrain, and adding weights during exercise.
• Perseverance - increases endurance and the ability to overcome fatigue in challenging situations. If you have a coach, they may unexpectedly order you to do an extra lap at the end of a workout, or another set of reps. Perseverance is crucial in order to give the athlete the qualities in order to compete to win. Making it more difficult to ‘win’ during training or by handicapping the athlete, allows them to develop this important skill.
• Courage - particularly relevant where activity is slightly risky. For boxers it can be developed by boxing in a smaller ring; for gymnasts by balancing on a higher beam and for track cyclists by decreasing the radius of curves on a cycle track.
• Decisiveness - the ability to make decisions and carry them out despite risk and danger is an important quality in competitive events. It is developed by carrying out exercises which incorporate new and unexpected elements. Each time these exercises are progressively challenging, whilst not being beyond the capability of the athlete. It is essential that the goal is achieved each time, in order to reinforce the ability to act decisively and with commitment to achieve the task at hand.

Different types of sport will require different qualities, each of which will differ in terms of a central or supporting role. In long-distance cycling or running for example, perseverance is of the utmost importance. Whereas in skiing, it may be courage and decisiveness. In other sports like ball games, initiative will be the factor determining success.

Even athletes whose training programmes are largely determined by their sports coach, they are heavily involved in setting their goals. This requires self-awareness, and knowledge and skills provided by the coach. At the start of training athletes will often find that they have to fight to overcome negative habits, accept sacrificing short-term pleasures for long-term gain, and prepare themselves for enduring mentally and physically challenging tasks.

* The exception to this rule exists where you believe that your health is at risk. We advise that you complete a health screening questionnaire before you participate in a regular exercise programme.