Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Managing the pain of fatigue in sports is 100% mental. This is not to say that the physical capacity of one’s muscles and lungs don’t matter. Athletes must be physically capable of enduring the stress of fatigue. However, one’s ability to endure the stress of fatigue changes as their mindset changes.

An athlete could learn how to master the process of managing the pain of fatigue in practice and still find themselves facing extreme fatigue in a competition. The reason for this is the athlete’s perception that competition is more important than practice.

Perception is one of the 5 critical elements of mindset that profoundly affects the way you lead your life. When it comes to managing the pain of fatigue, there is one perception in particular that has a major impact.

An essay in Harvard’s medical journal shares why this is true. It states:

Research suggests that because pain involves both the mind and the body, mind-body therapies may have the capacity to alleviate pain by changing the way you perceive it. How you feel pain is influenced by your genetic makeup, emotions, personality, and lifestyle. It’s also influenced by past experience.

This concept of managing how an athlete perceives pain using their experience is exactly how to manage the pain of fatigue in sports. Fundamentally, this means athletes must do four things:

1. Consistently incorporate positive training pain into their practice routine and avoid negative training pain.
2. Bring the same level of optimal intensity and time at that level of intensity in practice as what the athlete needs for success in a competition.
3. Master the art of reframing the threat vs. challenge mindset to harness their emotions when experiencing the pain of fatigue.
4. Develop a routine to practice the mental skills that help athlete’s control anxiety and focus.