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You already know the
purported benefits of ice baths. Studies have shown that they’re one of the
most effective ways to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness, perceived fatigue,
muscle damage, and inflammation after physical exercise compared to active recovery,
massage, and compression garments, according to a 2018 meta-analysis of 99
studies looked at the effectiveness of recovery methods.
But let’s be real: It’s a
total chore to fill your tub up with bags of ice—even if there’s nowhere else
you’d rather sit after an especially sweaty, humid summer workout. What’s the
next best thing? An ice cold shower seems obvious, but are there any benefits
of cold showers?
While it’s not quite the
same as immersing yourself in icy water (and you won’t get the same intended
effect), even a few minutes under that cold water can affect how you perform
and recover. Here’s the deal.
What a Cold Shower Does to Your Body
First thing’s first: A
cold shower pre-workout could do wonders for you, especially when you’re, for
example, running in the heat. “You feel better, but your body temperature would
also be a little bit lower to start the run,” which affects how high it might
rise during the run, says Doug Casa, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of The
Korey Stringer Institute, which provides research on exertional heat stroke
prevention. “There’s no question that your performance could be better, and
that you’ll be safer.”
But you’re more likely to
crave that cold water post-workout, when it can provide relief for soreness and
inflammation and give almost every system in your body a boost, a recent review
of the science in The North American Journal of Medical Sciences found.
“Jumping in a cold shower immediately after exercise is a great idea, because
the faster you get your body temperature down after activity, the better you’re
going to recover,” Casa says.
That’s because when you
exercise in the heat, your blood is being shared by the skin, the muscles, and
the heart: “the heart to maintain your cardiac output, your muscles so you can
do the darn exercise, and your skin so that you can cool yourself,” explains
Casa. “When you take out one of those factors by using water to cool your skin,
your body can send blood back to important areas like your stomach and your
intestines, so you can handle hydration and nutrients better. Then your fatigue
will be less later on in the day or the next day.”
That exposure to cold
water also causes vasoconstriction, which is when your blood vessels become
more narrow and, along with the heart, need to work harder to continue moving
blood flow.This increased demand strengthens the heart and blood vessels,
translating to improved circulation longer term.Improved circulation benefits
overall health, performance, and recovery by helping to deliver key nutrients
and energy to muscles and organs while simultaneously removing exercise-related
metabolic waste products such as lactic acid more efficiently.
What a Cold Shower Does to Your Brain
What doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger, right? Well, there’s actually a scientific name for that:
hormesis, which is basically a biological phenomenon whereby a positive effect
results from exposure to low doses of something that is otherwise negative at
higher doses. “Low-dose controlled stressors such as oxygen restriction,
intermittent fasting, and cold water exposure are all utilized to stimulate the
hormetic response,” says Drogoszewski. “Hormones and neurotransmitters kick
into high gear during these exposures, leading to an increase in physiological
and mental resilience.”
Taking a cold shower for
up to five minutes, two to three times per week, has also been shown to help
relieve symptoms of depression, according to research published in the journal
Medical Hypotheses. “That cold water exposure helps to decrease cortisol levels
and increase the levels of the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin,” says
Drogoszewski. Even better: The adrenaline rush you get from immersing yourself
in cold water creates a rush of norepinephrine, he adds, which helps to
increase energy, focus, and performance outcomes.
Any time you can force
yourself to withstand a physically uncomfortable situation (one that doesn’t
threaten your safety, obviously), it forces you to toughen up. “If you can suck
it up and stand in a cold shower, it makes you think, what other uncomfortable
situations can you push through?” says Drogoszewski. “Those last reps in your
strength workout? The final kick of a marathon?” Developing your mental
strength is just as important as building physical strength, and this could be
one of the easiest ways to do it.
So How Cold Does It Really Need to Be?
Everyone’s definition of
what’s cold is different—especially when you’re all fired up after a hard
workout. “If your body temperature is 103° or 105° after a summer run, standing
in 34° water is going to be a horrible experience,” says Casa. “Sixty degrees,
though, is still really cold—but might feel refreshing.” So there’s no right
answer as to how cold exactly your shower should be. “Generally, the colder the
water the better, and the longer you can stand it the better,” he adds.
The best practice is to
start slow and build up to longer exposures, says Drogoszewski. “The goal is to
engage in the practice long-term, so if it’s absolutely miserable, the
likelihood of sticking with it is pretty slim. I now do five to 10 minutes
straight every morning, but I started with 30 seconds of cold at the end of my
shower then built up from there.”
What you don’t want to do
is turn the faucet so far to the cold side that you end up shivering—and using
more energy—under the spray. “I would not want to induce a shivering response
in someone after they just exercised in the heat,” says Casa. “You have enough
stress your body’s dealing with already.” And in the dog days of summer? A
nice, cold shower might be the actual cooldown your workout needs.
One of the
most deep-seated and fiercely argued tenets of cardio work is that in order to
burn fat, you should always be working in the “fat-burning zone.” If you’ve
ever been on a cardio machine at a health club, you’ve seen those nifty little
guides that relay the supposed effects of different heart rate zones. With
words such as “Maximum Fat Burn Zone” plastered all over lower heart rates,
it’s no wonder that we’ve all been seduced into thinking that the only way to
burn that stubborn fat off is to keep our heart rates low and steady. This is
why many of us insist on setting the treadmill at a brisk walking pace and
staying on it for as long as possible.
The concept
of the “fat-burning zone” is based on the premise that your body burns a
greater percentage of calories from fat when it’s working at lower heart rates.
If we consider this concept alone, you might choose the low-intensity workout.
To complete a 30-minute workout at a low intensity, you can get 50 percent of
the energy she needs from fat. If you were instead to do a high-intensity
workout for 30 minutes, just 40 percent of the calories burned would come from
fat.
Ok, low
intensity burns more fat, right ? WRONG
!!! Let’s compare the same 30 minute
cardio session. Low intensity burns 100 calories.
50% come from fat or 50 calories of fat. High intensity burns 150 calories, 40%
come from fat or 60 calories of fat. That’s 20% more calories from fat. Plus
high intensity gives you EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption
otherwise known as the “afterburn”. This will allow you to burn calories for up
to an hour after your session. It’s a win win situation. !
Still not
convinced? Maybe this fact will get your attention: Consistently working out at
a low intensity can actually train your body to store fat. You read that
correctly. If you consistently perform low-intensity exercise (that is, at a
low heart rate), your body will adapt by beginning to store fat so that it can
complete the next bout of exercise more effectively. This scenario is called
“metabolic efficiency,” and it’s the ultimate catch-22 of exercising.
Recently, Vern Gambetta, one of the most distinguished
Athletic Performance coaches of the modern era, posted a great opinion piece on
Facebook this week that argued about the potential uselessness and dangers of
using Olympic lifting as a means of developing athletic prowess in the athlete.
And from an injury perspective I could not have agreed more.
Read on for more...
The risks of Olympic lifting.
To set the record straight, both Vern Gambetta and I are not
against the idea of Olympic lifting as a means of strength and power
development in the non-Olympic lifting athlete. I just believe that sometimes
Strength and Conditioning Coaches overuse the Clean and Jerk (or Power Clean)
and the Snatch as a basis for the strength and conditioning programs without
understanding the inherent risks involved in such technical movements.
All training modalities come
with some inherent risk. Speed and agility work can pull hamstrings, high
intensity mixed interval training can lead to overuse tendinopathies,
bench/dip/shoulder press can all lead to a host of shoulder problems etc...
However, often what a good Strength and Conditioning coach can do is ascertain
which movements are inherently "self-limiting". What this means is
that if the movement/lift goes wrong, they still have a chance of pulling out
without hurting themselves. A great example is barbell bench press versus
dumbbell bench press. When using a barbell if things go wrong in the lift the
athlete does not have a lot of wriggle room to avoid either dropping the weight
on themselves or wrenching their shoulder joint. With dumbbell bench press, if
things go wrong the athlete can simply drop the dumbbells off to the side.
This holds true for Olympic
lifting also, particularly the Snatch as it is not "self-limiting". If
things go wrong in a Snatch, often the shoulder, neck and back will cop a
hammering. Just have a look at any site that promotes "gym fails" on
Facebook and you will understand what I am on about. Not a lot of wriggle
room if a Snatch goes wrong.
In my experience in
rugby, I have seen a host of "Olympic lift" injuries in my time
dealing with rugby and American football players. These include injuries such
as ruptured Achilles tendon, torn meniscus (too deep on the catch with the clean),
a ton of lumbar spine disc injuries, traction injuries to the brachial
lexus, wrenched cervical spines and a bunch of wrist impingements. Missing 2
weeks to 6 months of rugby due to a lift gone wrong can be a very frustrating
and annoying issue for the coaching staff.
Risk vs Reward
Therefore, this brings us to
the crux of this issue - risk vs reward. What is the inherent benefit in
including such technically proficient lifts into a training program if the risk
of injury is potentially higher than with another "self-limiting"
lift? Is a lumbar disc herniation worth the potential benefit of doing a heavy
power clean? Could they get the same benefit of doing a jump squat movement
instead? The Strength and Conditioning coach would need a solid basis of
argument to include such movements into a program of a non-Olympic lifting
athlete. I am sure countless physiotherapists and doctors who read this
newsletter may philosophically agree with me on this point. As a Strength and
Conditioning coach I have always used the Risk vs Reward formula to determine
whether a specific lift should be used in a programme. When you use the Risk vs
reward formula you quickly realise that in some cases it just not worth
it.
Don't do anything
in your bare feet. Will cause stress fractures or "greentree
fractures" to your foot.
Don't do behind
the neck pulldowns, behind the neck shoulder presses. Nothing with your hand in
the high five position.
Don't do situps,
crunches or trunk twists for your core. This will damage the disk in your spine.
Not if, but when.
Don't cut your
carbs to lose weight. It doesn’t work.
Don't do forced
reps with a spotter. This can actually hinder your strength gains.
Don't use straps
when lifting. It will weaken your grip.
Don't wear a belt
when lifting, unless you are doing a one rep maximum. It can lead to instability
in your spine and eventually back problems.
Don't do your
cardiovascular work without a heart rate monitor. .
Don't use the old
"220- your age x your %
formula". It just might kill you
The biggest Don’t of all…… Don’t ever, ever give up !
Recently ,Vern Gambetta, one of the most distinguished
Athletic Performance coaches of the modern era, posted a great opinion piece on
Facebook this week that argued about the potential uselessness and dangers of
using Olympic lifting as a means of developing athletic prowess in the athlete.
And from an injury perspective I could not have agreed more.
Read on for more...
The risks of Olympic lifting.
To set the record straight, both Vern Gambetta and I are not
against the idea of Olympic lifting as a means of strength and power
development in the non-Olympic lifting athlete. I just believe that sometimes
Strength and Conditioning Coaches overuse the Clean and Jerk (or Power Clean)
and the Snatch as a basis for the strength and conditioning programs without
understanding the inherent risks involved in such technical movements.
All training modalities come
with some inherent risk. Speed and agility work can pull hamstrings, high
intensity mixed interval training can lead to overuse tendinopathies,
bench/dip/shoulder press can all lead to a host of shoulder problems etc...
However, often what a good Strength and Conditioning coach can do is ascertain
which movements are inherently "self-limiting". What this means is
that if the movement/lift goes wrong, they still have a chance of pulling out
without hurting themselves. A great example is barbell bench press versus
dumbbell bench press. When using a barbell if things go wrong in the lift the
athlete does not have a lot of wriggle room to avoid either dropping the weight
on themselves or wrenching their shoulder joint. With dumbbell bench press, if
things go wrong the athlete can simply drop the dumbbells off to the side.
This holds true for Olympic
lifting also, particularly the Snatch as it is not "self-limiting".
If things go wrong in a Snatch, often the shoulder, neck and back will cop a
hammering. Just have a look at any site that promotes "gym fails" on
Facebook and you will understand what I am on about. Not a lot of wriggle
room if a Snatch goes wrong.
In my experience in
rugby, I have seen a host of "Olympic lift" injuries in my time
dealing with rugby and American football players. These include injuries such
as ruptured Achilles tendon, torn meniscus (too deep on the catch with the
clean), a ton of lumbar spine disc injuries, traction injuries to the
brachial lexus, wrenched cervical spines and a bunch of wrist
impingements. Missing 2 weeks to 6 months of rugby due to a lift gone wrong can
be a very frustrating and annoying issue for the coaching staff.
Risk vs Reward
Therefore, this brings us to
the crux of this issue - risk vs reward. What is the inherent benefit in
including such technically proficient lifts into a training program if the risk
of injury is potentially higher than with another "self-limiting"
lift? Is a lumbar disc herniation worth the potential benefit of doing a heavy
power clean? Could they get the same benefit of doing a jump squat movement
instead? The Strength and Conditioning coach would need a solid basis of
argument to include such movements into a program of a non-Olympic lifting
athlete. I am sure countless physiotherapists and doctors who read this
newsletter may philosophically agree with me on this point. As a Strength and
Conditioning coach I have always used the Risk vs Reward formula to determine
whether a specific lift should be used in a programme.When you use the Risk vs Reward formula you quickly realise that in some case's it just not worth
it.
Nutrition is not a belief system.
Why
wishful thinking won't get you results, but science might.
Part 1
Nutrition is often seen as a belief
system. In other words, the answer to “What should I eat?” is often based on
faith, magical thinking, emotional attachments, and/or what feels “truthy”,
rather than on real evidence or the scientific method. Until we fix this,
nutrition will get more
confusing, not less.
Imagine the Google search by someone who wants
to eat better.
They might want to lose weight. Or build muscle. Or stay
a little healthier so they can play with their grandkids longer.
So they might look for terms like:
Healthy eating.
Healthy diet.
Good nutrition.
The result? Well…
“Healthy eating” gave me 63.6 million
options.
“Healthy diet” gave me 188 million options.
And “Good nutrition” gave me a whopping 213 million options.
When I check out some of these search engine
results, I notice something.
Each of these websites has a story to tell: A
story about which diet, supplement, food, or nutrition practice someone believes is best.
Many of these stories completely contradict
each other.
But they have one thing in common: The
authors treat nutrition like it’s a set of beliefs, there for their own picking
and choosing.
Unfortunately, “nutrition” is often seen as
a belief system.
But beliefs don’t necessarily have anything
to do with facts.
When we believe something, we choose to
accept that it’s true, which may or may not have anything to do with factual
certainty.
This approach of “believing” is frequently applied to nutrition.
As in:
“I believe that sugar is poison.”
“I don’t believe that humans were
meant to eat grains.”
“I believe in only eating foods
that are natural and organic.”
In other words, the answer to “What should I
eat?” is often based on faith, wishful thinking, emotional attachments, and/or
what feels “truthy”, rather than on science.
Yet nutrition is not a belief system.
Nutrition is a science.
My job is to use nutrition (plus strength and
conditioning) to get my clients the results they want.
When your meal strategy can be the difference between success or failure,
there is no room for “hoping” the nutrition will work.
I can’t go on faith alone. My clients’
success literally depend on me doing my job well. Which is why the scientific
method, not beliefs, govern my practice.
That’s why I need to ensure that my nutrition recommendations are based
on measurable, accurate reality. On science. On the best evidence that we have
right now.
Part 2 to follow !
Eat Your Way Slim
We’d all love a magic pill or food that makes weight loss
easy and permanent. But until either one comes around, healthy eating is still
your best bet. The trick is to choose foods that do three things:
1. Keep you full
2. Won’t cause major spikes in your blood sugar
(too much sugar in your blood gets stored as fat)
3. Support a healthy metabolism -- your body’s
system for turning what you eat and drink into energy
It’s Important to Eat
If the rule of weight loss is to burn more calories than
you take in, not eating should make you lose weight fast, right? Wrong. Animal
studies show that with less eating, the body goes into “starvation mode,”
burning fewer calories to conserve energy. Also, you’ll be short on nutrients,
making you tired and sluggish. To get your pep back, you might be tempted to
eat sugary or fatty foods, which will pack all those skipped calories back on.
Choose Iodine-Rich Foods
The thyroid gland plays a key role in helping your
metabolism burn calories and control your appetite. To do its job, your thyroid
needs healthy levels of iodine. Most people in the U.S. get all the iodine they
need through a regular diet, but some foods have more iodine than others. Make
sure you get at least some of these common sources:
1. Table salt
2. Egg yolks
3. Milk and dairy
products
4. Saltwater fish, such as cod
Show Legumes Some Love
Legumes, such as beans, peas, and lentils, are rich in
fiber. This makes your metabolism work harder to digest them and keeps you
feeling full longer. Studies have shown that lentils can help you eat less and
lower your body weight and waist measurements. Beans also have something called
resistant starch, which is linked to higher rates of fat metabolism.
Water, Drink Up!
Water supports your metabolism in ways that might
surprise you. The trick is to drink more than usual, or drink it instead of
beverages with calories. Research suggests that water may:
1. Help you take
in fewer calories
2. Boost calorie burning if you’re obese
3. Help your body burn fat
Want to bump up the health benefits of water? Drink it
very cold. Your digestive system burns extra calories -- about eight -- to get
it to room temperature. Eight calories per glass isn’t much, but it adds up
over the course of a day, and especially over a week.
Get Your Calcium
When you think of the role of calcium, strong bones
probably come to mind. You can thank your metabolism for that, as it helps your
body get calcium from food. Some studies suggest calcium can also help you shed
pounds and fat, but it’s too early to know for sure. Still, you can’t go wrong
with healthy, calcium-rich foods in your diet. These include low-fat dairy,
broccoli, and canned sardines or salmon, which have soft, edible bones.
Don’t Be Ginger About Ginger
This funny-looking root packs all kinds of health
benefits: It can soothe an upset tummy and ease arthritis pain and swelling.
Research shows it may also have a powerful effect on body weight and blood
sugar. One study found that drinking a hot ginger drink with breakfast lowered
feelings of hunger and had a strong thermogenic (calorie-burning) effect. You
can savor its spicy kick in tea and Asian dishes such as stir-fries and soups.
Be Less Refined About Grains
Love Chinese takeout? Do your metabolism a favor and ask
for brown rice instead of white rice. Brown rice is a whole grain, while white
rice -- which has been stripped of the brown nutrient-rich layer -- is a
refined one. Some studies show that whole grains have an effect on weight loss,
but the jury’s still out on that. Whole grains, unlike refined ones, support
your body in key ways:
1. Appetite
control
2. Nutrient
supply
3.
Sustained energy
Load Up on Low-Glycemic Foods
Low-glycemic index (low-GI) foods are relatively low in
carbohydrates. Your body digests them more slowly than high-carb, high-glycemic
index foods. That means your blood sugar doesn’t surge when you eat them.
Research suggests low-GI diets can help stop diabetes, heart disease, and even
some cancers. Low-GI foods include green veggies, chickpeas, most fruits,
beans, and bran breakfast cereals.
Steer Clear of Sugar-Sweetened Drinks
The obvious reason sugar-sweetened beverages are a no-no
for your waistline: They have lots of calories. Some research suggests they can
also negatively impact your metabolism beyond the “calories in, calories out”
rule. Juice, regular soda, sweet tea, and other sugary drinks may increase the
risk of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and body fat. Several studies
have shown that sugar also increases cholesterol levels.
Cut Down on Alcohol
It’s easy to forget about calories in what you drink, and
the ones in alcohol add up quickly. A 12-ounce beer has about 150 calories --
100 in a light brew. There are about 100 calories in a 1½-ounce shot of rum,
whiskey, or vodka, and a pina colada packs 490! Alcohol can also stimulate your
appetite. The weight you gain from it tends to settle on your belly, which can
cause heart disease, diabetes, and raise your breast cancer risk.
The Skinny on Fat
Your body needs some fat to work well. But fat is high in
calories, and it doesn’t keep you feeling full. This can lead you to eat more
later, taking in even more calories. And indulging in fatty foods for even a
short time can worsen your metabolism. One study found that just 5 days of
eating a high-fat diet can hurt your muscles’ ability to process glucose. This
can lead to weight gain, diabetes, and other health problems.
Added sugar is
everywhere in the food supply. Britain take in an average of more than 17
teaspoons of sugar (about 290 calories) a day from added sugars, often in
sweetened beverages, far more than the daily recommended amount
Sugar is added to
countless food products, including breads, condiments, dairy-based foods, nut
butters, salad dressings, and sauces. The sugar is added not just to impart
sweetness. It's also used to extend shelf life and adjust attributes like the
texture, body, colour, and browning capability of food
To start
reducing added sugar in your diet, first it helps to know where it comes from.
Here are the basics.
Where's the sugar?
Unless you consume only whole, unprocessed foods, you are
bound to have added sugars in your daily diet. Sugar-sweetened beverages lead
the pack, but many other foods also contain added sugar—sometimes a substantial
amount in a typical portion.
Sugar-sweetened beverages.
Sugar-sweetened beverages contribute about half of the total
added sugar in the U.K.food supply. The source of the sweetness in most
products is high-fructose corn syrup. These sugary drinks include any of the
following:
• regular
soda
• juice
drinks, like fruit punch and juice "cocktails" (but not whole fruit
and vegetable juices)
• energy
drinks
• sports
drinks
• sweet tea
• sweetened
coffee drinks
• sweetened
water
• any other
beverages with sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup added to enhance sweetness.
It's important
not to confuse sugar-sweetened juice drinks with whole fruit juices. Processed
beverages like fruit punch or cranberry juice cocktail contain a fair amount of
added sugar—in the case of cranberry juice cocktail, the sugar is added to
counter the naturally sour taste of cranberries. This is an example of a fruit
drink that is also a sugar-sweetened beverage, and therefore a source of added
sugar. Whole (100% fruit) juices contain only the sugars in the juice extracted
from the fruit or vegetable. However, it's a good idea to limit even whole
juices in your diet.
Sugar-sweetened
drinks can pump a large amount of added sugar into your body, and quickly.
These beverages are not as filling as sweet whole foods like fruit, so it's
easier to consume a lot of them. On average,Britains get more than 200 calories
a day from sugary drinks, about four times what we consumed in 1965.
Sweets and
desserts.
Brownies, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, pastries,
pies, puddings, and sweet rolls are just some of the processed foods widely
understood to contain substantial amounts of added sugar.
Honey and syrups.
Sugars naturally present in honey and syrups, including
maple syrup, are also considered added sugars. Although honey and syrup are
sold as freestanding products, you don't eat them by themselves. They are
squirted into hot drinks, drizzled on pancakes and waffles, or added during baking
or making sweets.
Condiments.
Condiments are defined as spices, sauces, or other
preparations that you add to food to enhance its flavor. Tomato ketchup,
relish, barbecue sauce, salad dressings, and salsa are condiments, and they can
contain considerable amounts of sugar per serving.
Prepared foods.
A vast variety of prepared foods contain additional
sweeteners. Breakfast cereals contain added sugar, but so do ready-to-eat
meals, breads, soups, tomato sauces, snacks, and cured meats.
Among the many processed and prepared foods with added sugar
are sugar-sweetened yogurts. Plain unsweetened yogurt contains naturally
occurring milk sugars, but added sugar can double or triple the total amount of
sugar.
Are natural sugar
alternatives healthier
Many people are
seeking out what they perceive to be healthier alternatives to refined
(granulated) white sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. They may have heard that
plant-based natural or organic sweeteners such as agave syrup (sometimes called
nectar) or coconut sugar are less likely to trigger spikes in blood sugar.
Less-processed "raw" sugars, maple syrup, or honey also may be
perceived as better options simply because they are more "natural"
than highly refined table sugar.
Popular sugar
alternatives do come from things in nature, such as tree sap or beehives. But
the sugar in them is the same as what you'll find in a bag of
"unnatural," refined white or confectioner's sugar. The same goes for
sugars labeled "organic" or "raw." Though less-processed
sugars may contain trace elements and minerals that refined white sugar lacks,
they still end up as glucose (blood sugar) after the body breaks them down.
In the case of
agave syrup, there is a difference in the way the body processes it compared
with table sugar. Agave syrup is mostly fructose, which does not directly raise
blood sugar (glucose) levels. Instead, the fructose goes to the liver to be
converted to glucose
On the other hand, consuming excess amounts of fructose can
cause the liver to start making fat in the form of triglycerides. Chronically
high triglycerides raise the risk for diabetes and heart disease.
In the end, the key message is "the dose makes the
poison." Whatever type of sugar you use to sweeten your tea or oatmeal, or
to cook with, the important thing is to limit the total amount of added sugar
in your diet.
Being mentally tough: it’s within all of us!
Mental toughness is something most athletes want to have in abundance. Andy Lane argues
that all people can show mental toughness
if the situation is life threatening, or the goal is sufficiently important it activates a psychological state
characterised by positive beliefs on coping with the pain from intense
exercise. This article provides guidance
on how athletes and everyday people
can access their
mental toughness.
At
a glance
•
Mental toughness is a highly
popular concept mainly
because its name
is so appealing. Almost all
aspiring athletes will want to be seen by others and see themselves as mentally tough.
•
Athletes from a wide range of sports can display mental
toughness, but this article focuses
on coping with sensations of fatigue that stem from intense training.
This type of training is common for most sport and physical activity.
•
Mental toughness is widely debated
in the academic literature, and although there
is a great deal of debate on its nature,
a common element
is that it describes the capability to relentlessly pursue personal goals and be able to cope with adversity including sensations of fatigue and pain.
•
When the goal is important enough,
and where the
athlete is highly
motivated to pursue
that goal, then an athlete will
accept experiencing intense
pain. A function of intense pain
is to question whether
the goal is worth pursuing. I propose that
it’s not a lack of mental toughness that limits performance, but that the goal is not worth
the suffering it brings.
What is mental
toughness?
Interest in mental toughness by the academic, coaching and
lay community is hardly surprising. Mental
toughness is a set of interrelated concepts that describe athletes that are highly
competitive, committed, self- motivated, cope effectively, and maintain concentration in pressurized situations, persist when the going gets tough, and retain high levels of self-belief even after setbacks(1).
Research in mental toughness began gathering momentum following Graham Jones’(2) article “What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport performers”. Subsequent research has clarified and expanded knowledge in this area and
further studies have demonstrated that
interventions such as imagery, goal-setting and self-talk can help athletes build mental toughness(3). As a crude summary of developments
in this area, researchers have made theoretical leaps and bounds to define and
clarify the concepts, and, importantly, kept an ongoing
focus on how to transfer
theory to practice. Research into mental toughness is flourishing and this can only be helpful as the concepts
it covers have a huge interests to athletes
and coaches.
However, the popularity of the topic and focus on elite athletes has led to questions on the extent
to which non-elite athletes are mentally tough(3, 4). In this article, I argue that the ability to display mental toughness
is within all people
and, conscious of that fact, they should
learn when they can activate
it.
What evidence is there that we are
all mentally tough?
People who might seem normal
or average frequently display mental toughness in potentially life-threatening situations. Possibly the
most powerful literature on the area of pain management is the study of
pregnant women going through childbirth(5). An industry has developed to help women manage pain during childbirth; however, it is worth noting that most pain-management interventions are relatively modern (within the last
100 years). Qualitative accounts of women going through childbirth without pain
management provide detailed
descriptions of mental toughness characterized by dealing with thoughts of
death and coping with intense pain(6).
Evolutionary psychologists have argued that humans have evolved to cope with pain and this coping response is hard wired and that we only access this response when situation demands call for it(6). In situations such as childbirth or other potentially life-threatening situations such as military endeavours(7), intense emotions are activated. Emotions have been found to mask sensations of pain(6). If an individual is aware that
this is the process,
and effective coping
systems are with them, albeit dormant most of the time, then they have the
potential to show an abundant
amount of mental toughness. If an athlete
perceives that sensations of pain are something
that has to be endured
in order to achieve goals,
then they have opened the door to activating
their inner mental toughness.
Activating beliefs of mental
toughness: “if he/she can do it, so can I”
People have a
great deal more resources than they believe they possess and it is the ability
to access these resources that is important. However,
prior to being
able to access them, the first step is to recognise that they
exist; that is, say to yourself you
can cope with
a lot more than you
think. One way
of changing your
view of how much you can cope with is to watch seemingly normal
people do extra
ordinary challenges. One example is Prof
Greg Whyte’s work on Comic
Relief challenges, which include
some extra-ordinary performance such as swimming the
English Channel (David
Walliams), running
repeated marathons (Eddie
Izzard), and swimming in very cold water
(Davina McCall). It’s worth remembering the qualities needed
to be a comedian/actor bear little resemblance with those
needed to be an athlete. Research shows that people learn by watching others
and if someone of a similar age, gender, and experience of the task at hand succeeds, then this can develop the thought that “if he/she can do it, so can I”(8).
Is the goal worth it?
A key aspect that can help
decide if someone activates her/his
mental toughness is whether the goal is sufficiently important. When we ask athletes
whether the goal is important, they tend to report positively. On a 1-10 scale (1 is not important and 10 is highly important), few athletes report
a goal is lower than 5, and the
variation in terms of importance often starts at 8(9). Therefore,
using a rating scale does not reliably provide
useful information.
The task
below can help
you identify which
goal is the most important. Rather than rate
the importance, it helps
the individual work
out which goal
is more important, and whether trying
to achieve one goal might influence attempts to attain
another.
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Task: Rate and rank your goals
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Example
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What is your goal?
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Reflection on the challenge the goal presents
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1. To run a sub 3-hour marathon
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“This has been
a goal for a while
and whilst I have come
close (within seconds), I have not achieved it”
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2. To run 5km in sub-17 mins
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“I have come close to this, but not achieved it. I find the marathon
training leaves me a bit tired at times”
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Reflection and evaluation
The aim is to compare
and contrast the two goals
and examine if they could
conflict. Having time
to go for 2 goals can
be an issue
and so prioritising one over the other in terms of when they will be attempted can
help.
In this case, the athlete needs to
focus on one of these goals almost exclusively of the other. Placing the
emphasis onto speed
required for the
5km and intense pain from lactic
acid associated with
speed work is a
different type of coping than
that needed for a marathon. Running pace in the marathon would feel slow
in comparison to running
5km, but mental
toughness is likely
to stem from being
able to manage
the supposedly slower pace over
the final stages.
The suggestion is that the athlete decides which goal to
focus on and commits to achieving that. The
two goals are arguably in conflict both
physiologically and psychologically.
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Your go
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What is your goal?
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Reflection on the challenge the goal presents
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1.
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2.
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3.
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Reflection and evaluation
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Using psychological skills to build mental toughness
Having identified the goal and worked out that you are committed
to achieving that goal; the next step is to develop resources ready to meet the challenges that you could
face; that is, getting the qualities that might be described as mental toughness
ready for when they are needed. Research
has found that use of psychological
skills such as imagery and self-talk associate with mental toughness (2,3,10). Both imagery and self-talk are strategies where an individual changes her/his internal
dialogue to be able to do a task successfully. Imagery can help achieve
this via use of images
and self-talk via language.
In conclusion, mental toughness is something
humans have in abundance
and can access this when priorities
demand. Where these goals are voluntary where the decision to abandon
the goal is an option rather than involuntary,
such as life-threatening situations or childbirth, then reflecting on whether the pursuit of the goal is
worth the pain that will be experienced can help clarify
whether managing the pain will be worth it. Where goals are appraised as highly important, then psychological skills
such as self-talk and imagery can help an individual re-programme how they will respond
when unwanted thoughts
occur during performance.
References
1. J of Sp Psych in Action, Vol 2(1), Apr,. pp. 21-32. 2011
2. J of Applied Sp Psych, 14(3),
205-218, 2002.
3. J of Sps Sci, 26(1), 83-95, 2008.
4. Personality and Individual Differences 60, 30-35. 2014
5. Ame
J of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 186 , Issue 5 ,S160-S172, 2002.
6. Evolutionary and proximate explanations. In: Scherer K, Sander
D, editors. The Oxford
Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sci. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. p. 158-159.
7. Military Psych, 24:331–345, 2012.
8. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, W.H. Freeman.
1997. 9. J of Sps Sci, 14, 94, 1996.
 10. Case Studies in Sp Science and Medicine. CreateSpace ISBN
420-426, 2014
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