Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Fatigue is the great equalizer in sports. The biggest, strongest, and fastest athletes are only a shell of themselves once fatigue causes exhaustion. Moreover, an athlete could learn how to master the process of conditioning in practice and still find themselves facing extreme fatigue in a competition. The reason for this is because fatigue is as much mental as it is physical.

So, if you don’t work on the mental side of conditioning against fatigue, the physical side is less effective. This is not to say that the physical capacity of one’s muscles and lungs matter less. Unquestionably, athletes must be physically capable of enduring the stress of fatigue. However, research suggest that fatigue is far more of a mental state than most people realize.

Fatigue as a Mental State

To be specific, what it means to say fatigue is a mental state is that effort feels harder when your mind is in the wrong place. Therefore, the things you do as a habit with your body language and self-talk play an important role in dictating the impact of fatigue on performance.

This is not rocket science either. Coaches with experience intuitively know what to tell athletes who visually show signs of fatigue to help them keep pushing. When a coach tells athletes things like “no pain, no gain”, “mind over matter”, or “keep your head up” it’s not coaches’ speak or pseudo-science.

Self-talk and body language matters. Remembering the little things to do and not to do in these areas can have a real noticeable impact in fighting fatigue. For example, when you are fighting physical fatigue, don’t:

1. Bend over and put your hands on your knees.
2. Show signs of distress or discomfort on your face.
3. Put your hands on your head to catch your breath.
4. Use negative self-talk to constantly remind yourself that you’re tired.

Instead, fight fatigue by behaving with a belief that you can reenergize yourself by:

1. “Hustling” with your body language at all times, even during breaks in action.
2. Defaulting to a “poker face” but striving to put a genuine smile on your face.
3. Laughing off adversity instead of showing signs of frustration.
4. Using positive or neutral self-talk. For example, tell yourself that you love the challenge. Or tell yourself that this challenge will only make you better.

By doing these little things, you gain two main advantages. First, you can fake out your opponent. It’s likely your opponent is facing the same physical fatigue as you. If your opponent is fighting fatigue and believes you are not, it will provide you with an edge. Secondly, your mind is stronger than your body. So, maintaining positive body language and self-talk can help you overcome fatigue in your body. In other words, you can use the strength of your mind to help your body persevere.

To conclude, when you’re fighting physical fatigue when training or competing, even a slight improvement in performance or a tiny mental edge here and there can have a significant impact to the ultimate outcome. It is in your best interest to use this information to your advantage.