Ever seen that guy who was fast as the wind, strong as an ox, and could jump through the roof…. but didn’t get to play much in his given sport? It happens more often than you would think, and although at higher levels of play, there are generally “standards” of athletic ability, what makes the best athletes isn’t just found in kinetic qualities.
This series is all about what helps players, and teams, become great, and what makes a truly good “athlete”.
In Part I of this series, we talked about how total practice time, an early start, and multi-lateral development are critical to the formation of good athletes. Today, we are going to cover the ideas of:
- Mental resiliency
- Process based play
- Coachability/self-sacrifice
Mental Resiliency
At my former place of employment, I remember our football team regularly having the linemen run miles, as well as the whole team doing long and difficult crossfit style workouts.
The rationale? Mental toughness.
What I never understood about this idea, however, was how excessive fatigue training had anything to do with the game of football. In endurance work, one often has to battle with the mind in a way that dissociates ones self from the body, but these brain waves have nothing to do with the mental intensity and focus that is needed to be on point snap after snap. I won’t even get into the physiology side of the argument, since that is so simple that it doesn’t require much explanation.
How athletes deal with difficult situations is make or break in terms of winning. When it comes to being mentally strong, most people think of mental toughness, but what is really important is mental resiliency.
Mental toughness is an interesting concept, however, so let’s cover it briefly, since it remains the rationale by which “extreme workouts” are often imposed upon athletes.
Fatigue in sport is influenced by the muscles, but it is determined the mind, as the “central governor theory” of fatigue shows. In intense endurance activity, the body will shut down well before it is devoid of the energetic materials that power the muscles (see Dr. Timothy Noakes’ work),
The brain has a protective program to keep us from over-exerting ourselves, but this protection is more like the helicopter mom keeping their child in a bubble than it is a normal caretaker. We are all capable of more than what we can register from a strength and endurance perspective, and some of us, much more.
There is also a range of when pain is registered consciously. For example, athletes can keep their hands immersed in ice water longer than non-athletes. Their pain alarm doesn’t start going off until much later than an average person, even though the skin temperature changes between the two groups might be the same. Amongst athletes, some are wired better than others to accept pain.
The question is how do you solve the issue of those athletes who struggle with pain or fatigue? Also, the “chicken or the egg” question arises when we talk pain tolerance and athletics, and I believe it’s mostly pain tolerance that makes athletes, much more than doing sport building pain tolerance.
I can even remember back to when I was 9 years old and my father asked me if I wanted to run a mile loop around the neighborhood. I would full-on sprint into the painful finish to get the best time I could, no mental toughness training required. It was “built in”, and is also built into a great many athletes. Those whose pain alarms go off very early generally shy away from those sports with great demands (that is until an overzealous coach starts to make practice much more aerobic and lactic system demanding than the game itself).
Although there are have been thousands of extreme workouts invented by many-a-coach from the beginning of time, inability to tolerate fatigue is something that is largely directed by the subconscious (Noakes), and therefore in the subconscious lies the solution in many cases where traditional conditioning approaches do not yield the appropriate response.
Asking an athlete to expend willpower (which is a conscious construct) can improve peripheral ability and the density of energetic substrates, but it may not nick the surface of underlying neural wirings.
Good coaches know the keys to unlocking an athlete’s subconscious to the extent that it is possible, such as utilizing specific, high intensity practices that put an athlete’s group validation on the line, and harnessing the power of competition.
I wouldn’t recommend it, but I’ve always thought it interesting of situations where one’s personal safety was on the line, and which subconscious gears would be altered. Below is an “interesting” case study of an Australian coach who found it useful to up the subconscious ante of training.
Our star sprinter on the track team when I was in high school was scared to death of dogs, even little ankle biters. I always wondered how much faster he might go if I let someone’s pet dog loose behind him in the blocks after the gun went off.
If you are a sport psychologist/hypnotist, you may even be able to dig deeper into the mental roadblocks that keep an athlete from higher levels of exertion. Fixing the mental hardwiring is a huge link in that process, as the mind controls all.
Rather than thinking of mental toughness though, in regards to what it takes to win, I like to think of mental resiliency.
Mental resiliency is not only how much pain you can tolerate, but more so, it is about how you deal with failure and discomfort.
I’d rather have basketball players who can deal with failure properly over those who can beat their head into the wall longer than their opponent.
One of the biggest things I like to see in athletes is the ability to “keep a blue head” as the All Blacks management would say. A blue head is a level head that doesn’t get bent out of shape when the momentum of the game shifts, or a call doesn’t go their way. On the other side, a hothead “loses it” when things go wrong, no matter how much pain tolerance has been instilled in him or her in the course of the season.
A blue head doesn’t yell at the refs, flop/fake on the field, or throw their hands up in exasperation. A blue head stays calm and gets the job done.
If I have competitions in the weightroom with my athletic teams, I don’t want to see the losers complaining about anyone cheating, bending the rules, etc. I want to see resiliency, which is the ability to stay focused and keep a level head, regardless of the situation.
One sport I work with regularly is tennis. I actually grew up in a tennis family, and am very familiar with the sport and those great players on the professional level. Although being fit for the game is very important, one’s strength isn’t quite as important as one’s skill, vision and mental abilities in being the best in the world.
Being involved with tennis for some time, I’ve found that one of the key things that determines matches is mental resiliency. If you lose a set, you have to put it behind you, and deal with the next one anew. Same with golf, and every other competition.
One of the best tennis, and all-around, athletes I’ve seen in my life is Gael Monfils. This guy is the Michael Jordan of tennis and then some. If he grew up in the USA, I imagine he would be a professional basketball player, or perhaps a wide receiver.
About 5 years ago, I watched Monfils play Novak Djovkovic in person on the pro tour in Cincinnati. Monfils dominated the first set, probably playing the best tennis possible for humanity. In the second set, however, as soon as momentum started to swing, just a little bit, Monfils lost it, and went on to lose the next two sets.
Why? The first set, there was no pressure and he was having fun. When Monfils has fun, he cannot be beat. This same mentality exists, however, in nearly any sport. As soon as the process of the game, and with it, everything that is fun and enjoyable about sport, is lost, the process is lost, and things spiral downhill.
Mental resiliency comes through genetics partially, but largely from environmental, mental and situational training. It is also a state of mind that comes from not being invested in what you are doing to the point that you enjoy what you are doing enough to “let go”, and let your body do what it is capable of.
Not being able to let go has its ties in many things, but one of the biggest players I’ve found is an ego based over-investment in the past and the future elements of one’s sport. Not being able to get over the past comes from a low ability to enjoy the here and now, typically being overly concerned with one’s own performance, and over-investment in the future comes similarly from one’s own personal fear and worry, often from a lack of gratitude for the present. As we’ll find, these all tie into harnessing the power of the subconscious.
There actually needs to be just a bit of disconnect to unlock the highest order of performance! We’ll get into this in talking about “the process”, which is the next determinant of high level athleticism.
Process Based Players
In Harry Carpenter’s “Pickleball in the Zone”, there is a great story about Shaun White, two-time Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding, and who has the highest medal count in the X-games. One of his premier moves on the snowboard is the “Double McTwist 1260”.
When asked what he is thinking during this trick, Shaun’s reply is “At that point, you are not really thinking, you’re just letting it happen. It’s a mixture of being completely focused, then slightly not caring”.
We’ll get into this “slightly not caring” idea more as we talk about one’s connection with the subconscious, but for the sake of this point, know that a strong piece of mental resiliency is not being so wrapped up in yourself that you can’t let the inner athlete within accomplish incredible feats.
When watching two players of equal ability play each other, I find that the one who wins is the one who has the ability to disconnect the self, the ego, and enjoy the process of what they are doing. This point where drive meets connection the subconscious, and the joy of sport is where more shots go in, passes are intercepted, and balls land on the green.
To win, you must be driven, but you must also have the balance of being able to enjoy the process. This is yet another representation of the yin and yang of the system.
One great line from a coach I’ve heard in listening to various motivational compilations is as follows, and it fits the idea of this article perfectly:
“Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here. Focus on the fundamentals we’ve gone over time and time again, and most importantly, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game. If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to being the best that you can be, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book, we’re going to be winners!”
This leads us into something important, absolutely vital to being your best, and when you are hitting your potential, the score does take care of itself.
This is the process.
Something Dan John has shared that has always stuck with me is that we often hit lifetime personal bests when we are young and don’t have much of a practice plan. When we start to get older, get organized, and take everything so seriously, we still are missing that key element in our training, and struggle heavily to overtake our old personal bests. What we miss is the joy of the process.
Enjoying the process is also characterized by a love of personal growth. When we focus, not just on the outcome, but who we become on the journey to the outcome, we are one step closer to reaching our highest potential. There is a mental reframing that is an important aspect of this important idea. How often do we look at the goal we want to achieve and look at ourselves and how we will have grown and learned in that snapshot?
Although perhaps slightly off track, this point is also global. For life in general, it’s so easy to think of a place we want to be, and that, only when we get there, we will finally be happy and content. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work that way. Being truly content is more a matter of the blood, sweat and tears that goes into our goals, than the goal itself.
To maximize the process, don’t think of the crowd, and don’t think of everyone who will acknowledge you on social media as a result of winning. Don’t think of the money. Think of being the best you can be, and the joy of that process.
As coach Ron McKeefery has said, you need to focus on being a rockstar where you are at rather than constantly looking for the next level. Don’t focus on where to go and ignore personal growth and impact right now!
Enjoying the process is being completely comfortable, and loving, there here and now, not the past or the future. This is yet another concept that is a cornerstone reflection of the subconscious.
Coachability and Self Sacrifice
Coachability is the ability to put one’s ego aside for the good of the team. It is the ability to assimilate into the needs of the group, rather than one’s self.
This is where ethics, personal development, and responsibility all fit into the equation of an athlete. I loved in the book “11 Rings” how Phil Jackson would give out books for his players to read. I think that personal development, coachability and team ethos all go hand in hand with success, and each one is not independent of the other.
Look at the All-Blacks, the most winning professional organization in history. One of their most important mantras is that “better people make better all blacks”. This team would eject senior players if they felt they were a detriment to the team.
The ability to be coached, and let your ego down to do so, is paramount.
Even as a coach today, one of the things I enjoy the most in the process of becoming better is being taken through a workout by another coach. Some of my favorite experiences in recent memory have been doing workouts with great coaches such as Paul Cater and Matt Gifford.
The other half of the ego-less equation is that of self-sacrifice.
This might be sacrificing our points per game for the good of the team, but it can also get the point of sacrificing one’s body (or being mentally willing to if necessary). The epitome of this is legendary Rugby Player, Buck Shelford.
Shelford, a descendant of the Maori tribe (one of the most bad-ass tribes in history), was in a fierce game against the French national team back in 1986. In the course of a few rough rucks, Buck lost 3 teeth and got cleated in the scrotum, forcing him to the sideline. Rather than throwing in the towel and heading right to the hospital, as many would do, Buck had some gauze shoved in his mouth, got his sack stitched up and played on. Back in the game, and was only forced out by a huge concussion he suffered shortly thereafter (likely his second one of the contest).
This is what the All-Blacks talk about when they mention “putting your balls on the line for the team”.
This is some higher-level self-sacrifice.
One of my favorite quotes, not only in the realm of sport, but also business and career pursuits is that of Simon Sinek.
“You know, in the military, they give medals to people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. In business, we give bonuses to people who are willing to sacrifice others so that we may gain. We have it backwards. Right?
The military is the epitome of self-sacrifice. It is one of the few arenas where the highest ranking members will be served last. It is standard practice to be willing to die to save others in the squad. There is a reason why many who can’t find a sense of purpose in traditional work devote their lives to the community and team environment of the armed forces.
This again, is a connection that links the game, and highest success within, to life itself
In part III, we’ll cover the ideas that often embody some of the best skill players in the game today, such as baseball hitters, basketball point guards, quarterbacks, and star tennis players.
- Vision
- (Selective) Hindbrain Dominance
- Confidence
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