This text is part of the special Research section
Rain, cramps, falls, false starts: competitive athletes need a lot of willpower to withstand the unexpected. However, a study reveals that it is possible to train your mental strength like you exercise your muscles at the gym.
It all started when researcher Christiana Bédard-Thom attended a half-Ironman. “There were participants who had punctures on their bikes and who came back from behind, others for whom it seemed to be so difficult. It was electrifying to see people surpassing themselves, going beyond their limits,” she recalls.
Fascinated, she challenges herself to make one herself. “I was really hard on myself when I was training. But when I arrived in competition, I was unable to perform, I crashed. »
To solidify her mental strength, she goes in search of a book, a podcast on the subject. Little by little, she discovers that the concept remains vague and that, from a scientific point of view, there is no clear consensus definition. “I set myself the not at all ambitious goal of defining what it is,” says Christiana Bédard-Thom, laughing.
As part of the doctoral program in psychopedagogy at Laval University, she is conducting an experimental study on the mental strength of athletes, a world first in the laboratory. She invites 74 cyclists to pedal for 20 minutes on stationary bikes by setting a challenging performance goal. Before getting into the saddle, half of them have to perform an exhausting cognitive task.
While everyone is riding at high speed, a computer bug is faked: the screens placed in front of the cyclists which indicate their pace, the distance traveled and the time elapsed are turned off. “We wanted to simulate something that can happen in competition. There are cyclists with gadgets that no longer work, ”explains Christiana Bédard-Thom.
Conclusion ? Athletes who did not perform the cognitive test before physical activity experienced better performance. Experience thus confirms that in the face of adversity, the more mental strength one has, the more it is possible to excel. But above all, it allows us to understand that mental strength fluctuates. If we can reduce it, we can also increase it, work on it to shine under pressure.
Strategies to nurture mental strength
“The resources of mental strength are always present in the athlete, but the more we consider them, we feed them, we pay attention to them, we recover them, we train them like a muscle, the more we will be able to use them when the stressor will happen”, vulgarizes Christiana Bédard-Thom.
To amplify his ability to face impromptu challenges, an athlete can, for example, multiply positive and motivating thoughts or frequently recall his successes, his good moves. Mental strength would be based first of all on self-confidence and in one’s talents, according to the doctor.
It would then take root in the athlete’s ability to set ambitious goals. The latter must learn to determine, along the way, performance targets that are specific, difficult and realistic.
Finally, the concept of mental strength would be based on the ability of the athlete to control himself, to take on himself, to act in the opposite direction of his impulses pushing him to give up. In times of stress, it takes a lot of energy to control yourself. Sleeping well, eating well, giving yourself breaks and recovery days and doing mindfulness exercises would promote overcoming.
Integrating into training problems likely to arise in the league would be another strategy for cultivating mental strength, as this would only be called upon in the face of a difficulty. A runner can run into the wind or wait 20 minutes to start his circuit after his warm-ups to simulate being late on the starting line. The important thing is to submit to irritants gradually, respecting your limits. “It’s not by being hard on yourself that you become strong, that you excel, on the contrary”, emphasizes Christiana Bédard-Thom.
Now an entrepreneur, she hosts conferences and offers her science-based advice to athletes, but also to citizens and business people who aim to improve their mental strength. She does it a bit to fight against all the motivational gurus and coaches that are flooding the web. “Mental strength, we all need it. When we are mentally strong, when we are achieving our goals, we feel so much better. We flourish, it goes beyond performance, it constitutes our well-being, ”concludes the doctor.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.