Physique and intense training alone will not produce elite level athletes. For the first 100 years of competitive endurance sports success was thought to be a direct result of training and physical attributes. Recently, psychologists discovered the weight of mental attitude on sports performance is even more important than physical strength. Athletes all over the world face mental challenges with their sports every day, but only the athletes that can overcome each challenge reach the highest level. Mental attitude is the key to becoming an elite level athlete.
A successful mental attitude is more complex than simply being an optimist, there are many other components that determine an athlete’s level of success. Mental attitude towards a certain activity cannot be changed without an individual's perception of effort changing as well. The powerfulness of perception is shown through the quote, “The pain of torture (a perception) can force soldiers to betray the country they dedicated their lives to. Intense hunger (a perception) can turn civilized people into cannibals. Thoughts and feelings can also lead to ultimate catastrophic failure of homeostasis: death by suicide. Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised that perception of effort (and thoughts related to it) can limit endurance performance.” (Marcora, x). Perception of effort is purely individual, so only the athlete can change their perception of effort, or how challenging they might think something is. Athletes must also learn to cope with discomfort in order to change their perception of effort and improve. If athletes decide to stay in their comfort zone their perception of effort will remain the same and they will cease to improve. While it is widely accepted perception of effort is exceptionally important, there is a scientific debate over two theories involving the part of the brain that handles sports-related obstacles, the Central Governor Model theory, and Psychobiological Model. The Central Governor Model correlates with the subconscious brain. It is a model that suggests athletic performance, in particular, endurance performance, is determined by a subconscious intelligent system in the brain. This system regulates muscular systems so the power and speed sustained over a race doesn’t exceed the stress capacity of the body for that certain exercise. In other words, an athlete's brain permits their body from going faster that they think they are able to do. Their brain will not let them do something that is perceived as dangerous, even if the conscious brain is sending signals for the athlete to push past the breaking point. There are many phycologists all over the world who believe this theory wholeheartedly, but many disagree, they think the conscious brain determines athletic performance (Marcora, XI). The Psychobiological Model pertains to the conscience brain. It is the theory that suggests endurance athletes have complete control over the mental aspect of their sport. Athletes choose how they respond to training through pacing and the psychologists believe an athlete consciously makes the decision to quit or slow down during …show more content…
Coping is a response to stress and discomfort. It is part of the human survival instinct, and it forces humans to cope with the situation at hand. There are ways to cope with difficulties involving training and racing that are healthy and will help athletes on their way to the elite level. For example, when an athlete is training and at their breaking point they can think about an elite level athlete and picture themselves beating them to the finish, all because of the set they are working through. This will motivate the athlete to work harder to achieve their dream. Similarly, there are bad ways to cope with training or racing. Faking an injury to get out of a training set or a race will negatively affect the athlete’s training and path to becoming an elite athlete. Usually, after an athlete fakes an injury once, they get into a pattern of making new excuses to get out of training. Soon, the athlete is missing hours of training, and they suffer mentally and physically. In order to be successful athletes must take their fate into their own hands and force themselves to deal with the discomfort that comes with sports, it is the only thing that will change their perception of effort. Athletes have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, as coping is a response to stress and discomfort (Fitzgerald,
A successful mental attitude is more complex than simply being an optimist, there are many other components that determine an athlete’s level of success. Mental attitude towards a certain activity cannot be changed without an individual's perception of effort changing as well. The powerfulness of perception is shown through the quote, “The pain of torture (a perception) can force soldiers to betray the country they dedicated their lives to. Intense hunger (a perception) can turn civilized people into cannibals. Thoughts and feelings can also lead to ultimate catastrophic failure of homeostasis: death by suicide. Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised that perception of effort (and thoughts related to it) can limit endurance performance.” (Marcora, x). Perception of effort is purely individual, so only the athlete can change their perception of effort, or how challenging they might think something is. Athletes must also learn to cope with discomfort in order to change their perception of effort and improve. If athletes decide to stay in their comfort zone their perception of effort will remain the same and they will cease to improve. While it is widely accepted perception of effort is exceptionally important, there is a scientific debate over two theories involving the part of the brain that handles sports-related obstacles, the Central Governor Model theory, and Psychobiological Model. The Central Governor Model correlates with the subconscious brain. It is a model that suggests athletic performance, in particular, endurance performance, is determined by a subconscious intelligent system in the brain. This system regulates muscular systems so the power and speed sustained over a race doesn’t exceed the stress capacity of the body for that certain exercise. In other words, an athlete's brain permits their body from going faster that they think they are able to do. Their brain will not let them do something that is perceived as dangerous, even if the conscious brain is sending signals for the athlete to push past the breaking point. There are many phycologists all over the world who believe this theory wholeheartedly, but many disagree, they think the conscious brain determines athletic performance (Marcora, XI). The Psychobiological Model pertains to the conscience brain. It is the theory that suggests endurance athletes have complete control over the mental aspect of their sport. Athletes choose how they respond to training through pacing and the psychologists believe an athlete consciously makes the decision to quit or slow down during …show more content…
Coping is a response to stress and discomfort. It is part of the human survival instinct, and it forces humans to cope with the situation at hand. There are ways to cope with difficulties involving training and racing that are healthy and will help athletes on their way to the elite level. For example, when an athlete is training and at their breaking point they can think about an elite level athlete and picture themselves beating them to the finish, all because of the set they are working through. This will motivate the athlete to work harder to achieve their dream. Similarly, there are bad ways to cope with training or racing. Faking an injury to get out of a training set or a race will negatively affect the athlete’s training and path to becoming an elite athlete. Usually, after an athlete fakes an injury once, they get into a pattern of making new excuses to get out of training. Soon, the athlete is missing hours of training, and they suffer mentally and physically. In order to be successful athletes must take their fate into their own hands and force themselves to deal with the discomfort that comes with sports, it is the only thing that will change their perception of effort. Athletes have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, as coping is a response to stress and discomfort (Fitzgerald,