mental training is important

Sports activities are full of emotions. The range is broad and complex. It involves feelings of happiness and disappointment, flow experiences and moments of confusion, situations filled with nervousness and deep inner calm. Our athletic performance is affected when we are not focused, i.e., when our attention is not anchored in the here and now. Conversely, we experience moments of undivided and focused attention linked with peak athletic performance. Therefore, our mental processes can influence athletic performance in different directions. We have all experienced that the psyche plays a central role, whether before, during, or after training or a competition.

Regularly, we encounter examples of a mental nature in the sports field. They often become visible when things do not go according to plan: the golfer who fails at the simplest shots on the last hole; the football team that loses the lead within minutes despite dominating; or the runner who suddenly breaks down shortly before the finish line. “It is 90% mental; everything is decided in the mind” are popular calls to athletes in competitive situations, often even the calls of their inner voice. This may be largely true, but the person cannot make much of it at that moment. A disbelieving look is often the reaction. This points to a systematic problem when it comes to mental strength in sports.

We all know that the mental component plays a crucial role in competitive situations, yet few train it. This is a widespread phenomenon and contradicts individual experiences and scientific findings. This is often referred to as the mental training paradox. Few athletes systematically develop their abilities to successfully manage the mental game. They train technique, endurance, and tactical behavior but neglect the psyche. The existing facts are overwhelming: there is no way around mental training for a successful athlete.

At this point, it is worth searching for causes. Summarizing the results of scientific findings, examining existing mental training offerings, and reflecting on behavior with athletes reveal several problem areas. These represent hurdles that a person goes through when dealing with the topic of mental performance enhancement.

First and foremost, it’s about habit. We are well-versed in our physical training, and radical variations in our training plans rarely occur. Adding mental training to the agenda runs counter to our daily habits. Mental training involves finding space for dedicated training and incorporating mental skills into physical training. This interferes with familiar routines and requires discipline to maintain.

Therefore, it is much easier to use the formula “more of the same”, seeking performance improvement primarily in higher volumes and intensities of physical training. This requires sufficient rethinking to allow changes in training behavior. The realization that mental abilities can be systematically developed is an important first step. Equally important is not expecting immediate miracles. Athletes often expect to quickly acquire the appropriate mental success tools shortly before an important competition. It is utopian to expect effects to occur quickly and insufficiently established mental skills to be retrievable under competitive conditions. Mental training results in neuroplastic changes on a functional and structural level in our nervous system. Sustainable significant changes occur only after weeks or months of regular mental training.

Athletes have a permanently filled calendar. This applies not only to professional athletes with extensive training plans but also to ambitious athletes juggling work, family, private life, hobbies, and sports. Finding time for mental training in this calendar is challenging. Without active intervention, physical training will always receive higher priority than mental training.

Prioritizing activities is closely related to the issue of commitment. It refers to the willingness to actively engage in this goal during and outside of sports and to commit to it even when challenges or difficulties arise. In the context of mental training in sports, this refers to consistently dedicating oneself to training and developing mental abilities.

Without a strong commitment to making mental training an essential part of training and daily life, we will not see progress. This is no easy task. On the contrary, it requires investing time and energy and being willing to engage in something athletes typically have not practiced in this form. Investing a few minutes a day can already yield good progress.

The importance of the mental component is now indisputable. However, it is often unclear what exactly is meant by it. Mental training is often understood as training motivational, goal-setting, or reflection techniques that take place separately from actual training. Traditional techniques of sports psychology often do not go deep enough. This is associated with a lack of goal definition for mental training, i.e., what exactly is to be achieved.

Additionally, it is often unclear which path leads to an improvement in skills, leading to a lack of action options. Athletes benefit from clear guidelines and steps within a familiar training plan. Mental training must take place in the context of lived experience – in other words, training and competition – to advance the development of effective coping mechanisms. At this point, we also encounter a measurement problem. Physical performance is generally well measurable, and progress can thus be controlled. The mental work that brings forth impressions, intuitions, and decisions is not so easily tangible and takes place largely in the silence of our minds. Progress in training, such as increased attention, is therefore more difficult to determine. Much relies on intuition and direct experience by the athlete.

Mental training techniques are often labeled as esoteric, spiritual, or religious. This applies, for example, to approaches derived from meditation, yoga, or breathing techniques. Many effective practices are thus surrounded by a shell that appears rather strange to the secular Western world. This obscures the fact that the core of these practices is now based on a solid scientific concept and can be trained entirely independently of a spiritual context.

Sports psychological approaches often seem too soft to athletes and lack practical depth. These techniques are often derived from the treatment of psychological abnormalities and hold an important therapeutic position in this area. These approaches are thus primarily designed for “pathological abnormalities” in the general public’s mind. When it comes to enhancing performance for “healthy individuals,” these approaches must carry a dedicated, less helpful label. Here, too, however, we are talking about a series of well-developed, scientifically well-researched techniques suitable for use in the field of athletic performance.

There is a lack of training concepts that sensibly combine the specificity of sporting requirements, empirically validated techniques, and proven formal practices. Various practices still lack concrete mechanisms, while science, on the other hand, has many understood mechanisms but fewer specific practices. The goal must be to bridge this gap and address the specifics of sports.

Body and mind can only be neatly separated in theory. Often, only the conscious level is understood under the psyche. This is too short-sighted: we also need training of the unconscious level, the connection between body and mind, and the integration of information flowing in the system. Therefore, the term “mental training” in the strict sense is too narrow. It must stand for training mental abilities in direct connection to our physical abilities. In this way, it can also be referred to as a hybrid approach.

Moreover, a comprehensive approach is lacking. It’s not just about peak performance in a competitive situation but also about the mental component during training, recovery, and beyond. This includes the ability to maintain and enjoy sports and handle stressful situations in everyday sports life.

An effective training concept for mental training must resolve the above causes of this paradoxical situation. Every athlete should ask themselves which of the causes is particularly relevant to them.

It must be internalized and understood that mental training is a central component of athletic success that can and must be trained. Empirically proven and scientifically sound facts and results should form the basis. Effective training concepts should connect to the sports-specific characteristics of the sport and the athletic goal and address the mental limitations and challenges.

Sustainable growth in mental abilities is based on neuroplastic processes and profound changes in the functioning of our nervous system. Like physical training, this requires time and regular practice. An effective concept achieves this through successive steps and directly experiencing the effectiveness in training elements. This makes the concept more accessible and provides a more profound understanding of the topic.

While mental training typically requires concentrated attention and conscious practice, once mastered, it can be seamlessly integrated into various activities. This includes activities related to sports or other daily life activities. In this way, the initial training of mental abilities is automatically and almost effortlessly extended to other activities and established as a fixed part of daily life.