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SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
ARTICLES
Mental Toughness Training for Athletes
By Patrick Cohn
Improve Your Mental Toughness for Sports Performance
Many athletes search for the answer for how to become “mentally
tough” and many athlete don’t know how to cultivate it. Even worse,
many athletes and coaches don’t know what mental toughness is and
how it can help their performance.
Athletes hear professional athletes and Olympians espouse thePolicy
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of mental toughness training and how mental toughness was the
reason for their great athletic achievements.
Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots highlighted the
importance of mental toughness, “Football is so much about mental
toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help
a team win.”
A lack of mental toughness is the biggest enemy of athletes. Lacking
mental toughness causes athletes to give up, give in, tank the match,
and give less.
The level of your athletic success is in direct proportion to your level of
mental toughness. To be mentally tough, you must be willing to do
what most athletes don’t do.
First, let’s demystify mental toughness…
Many athletes believe you are born with mental toughness. The
sentiment is you either have mental toughness or you don’t… And if you
were not born with the mental toughness gene, you can’t succeed in
your sport.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You are 100% correct that you need
mental toughness training to succeed but you are 100% wrong to
believe you cannot become mentally stronger.
Some athletes do have a disposition to be more mentally tough than
others, such as athletes who have handled adversity in their lives and
are used to rebounding. I’m thinking about Greg Norman
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Jordan–just to mention a couple athletes who responded well to
adversity.
And coping with adversity is a component of mental toughness. Mental
toughness is an attitude and attitudes are constructed by you and no
one else.
If you are the one responsible for your attitudes, you can deconstruct
the way you think about yourself or your ability to succeed. By changing
the way you think, you will change the way you feel about yourself
which changes the way you act, train and compete.
Not only is mental toughness is an attitude and not something you were
born with, it is a habit…
Mental toughness in athletics isn’t something you pull out of your
back pocket when there are seconds left in a game… or when you need
to sink a 3-foot putt to win a tournament… or even when you are up the
plate with bases loaded in the ninth inning.
Mental toughness requires an ironclad approach to the challenges in
your sport on a consistent basis. You need to consistently focus, train,
and grow your mental toughness habit.
When mental toughness training becomes a habit, you can perform at
the upper range of your athletic ability… And you are better equipped to
handle obstacles, interference and difficult circumstances without losing
confidence or motivation.
Mental toughness is like your fitness level, the morePrivacy
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fit you become. When you stop training your fitness level slips back. If
you don’t consistently attend to your mental fitness, your mental
toughness level begins to atrophy.
So, in essence, mental toughness is not an all-or-nothing proposition.
There are varying degrees of mental toughness. This is great news
because all athletes can benefit from mental toughness training.
As your mental toughness reserves increase, you will see a significant
improvement in your performance.
“Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.” – Bobby Knight
8 Qualities of Mental Toughness in Athletes:
Mentally tough athletes…
1. Find a way, not an excuse – Mentally tough athletes don’t make
excuses when things don’t go their way. Instead of playing the blame
game, they take responsibility for their performance, go back to the
drawing board, right the ship and try again.
2. Adapt – Instead of doing things the way they always have, mentally
tough athletes find new ways of challenging themselves, pushing
themselves to outer limits of their potential. Mentally tough athletes
understand what they did yesterday got them to where they are today…
but more is required today to get them to where they want to be
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3. Expend their energy on things that benefit performance – Mentally
tough athletes focus on the things they can control. Mentally tough
athletes don’t dwell on the past or feel sorry for themselves nor do they
concern themselves with distractions outside of their direct control.
Mentally tough athletes focus on what they can do in the present
moment to overcome the challenges of performance and give them the
best opportunity to succeed.
4. See the past as valuable informative lessons and nothing more –
Mentally tough athletes learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of
others, then the let go of the past and move forward. Mentally tough
athletes see the past as mental training for better performance in the
future. Mistakes, errors and losses don’t define mentally tough athletes,
these experiences strengthen their resolve.
5. Take risks – Mentally tough athletes understand that fear of failure
prevents fully committing to and achieving excellence in their sport.
Mentally tough athletes seek out opportunities to move out of their
comfort zone. Mentally tough athletes meet challenges with enthusiasm
instead of dread and anxiety. Mentally tough athletes refuse to be
average and understand they may miss the mark on occasions but it is
worth taking the chance in order to achieve great things.
6. Remain persistent despite of failure –Mentally tough athletes are
never defeated by failure. Mentally tough athletes understand that
failure is another step in the journey towards accomplishment. Mentally
tough athletes have the mindset that failure is not final and never quit
pursuing their objectives.
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7. Pursue excellence, not perfection – Mentally tough athletes have a
goal but their focus is on the steps they need to take to get to that goal.
Mentally tough athletes understand that optimal performance is a
marathon, not a sprint. Each step along the way moves them closer
toward the ultimate goal. They are not embarrassed by mistakes, do not
try to be perfect, push themselves to the max and seek daily
improvement. Mentally tough athletes understand they will make
mistakes along the way and these mistakes are both necessary and
critical turning points in their journey towards excellence.
8. Concern themselves with their talents and abilities – Mentally tough
athletes don’t try to please others nor do they resent the success of
other athletes. They focus on themselves, their talents, improving
themselves, implementing their game plan and achieving the goals they
set for themselves.
9. In other words, talent can be over-rated. You can find thousands of
talented athletes who never achieve greatness in their sport. As a
matter of fact, 75% off all teen athletes drop out of sports–not because
of a lack of talent–but because they lose the fun in sports and lack the
mental toughness to compete at higher levels.
Talent without mental toughness training can be average when it
comes to consistent performance… But average talent with mental
toughness makes good athletes accomplish great things.
“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”
~Bill Russell
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Building Champion-Level Mental Toughness
Create the habit of mental toughness – Find ways in training sessions
to grow your mental toughness. Look to uncover weaknesses in your
mental game instead of shy away from them. Then, one by one improve
your weaker parts of your mental game toughness.
When you get tired, push on for five more minutes… Perform one more
rep than you think you can… Respond to adversity with determination
instead of frustration.
Commit to mental toughness daily. Consciously choose how you will
respond to tough circumstance.
Mental toughness comes down to your habits and your habits are up
to you. Remember that mental toughness is about winning the small
battles each day.
You can’t expect to be mentally tough in championship moments, if you
are not working on stretching your mental toughness muscle behind the
scenes.
Battle and prove to yourself that you can tough out each challenge that
you encounter on your way to reaching your goals.
Soccer great Mia Hamm said it best, “I am building a fire, and everyday
I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.”
How will you add mental toughness training to fuel your game? How
will you make it a daily habit?
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