Performance Benefits of Brain Endurance Training for Elite Biathletes
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The ability to shoot fast and accurately under pressure and when physically fatigued, and maintain high levels of speed on the cross-country ski course, can be the difference between a podium finish or not for an elite biathlete.
The key to successful biathlon skiing performance is high VO2 max, high lactate threshold, endurance, excellent gross and fine motor skills, fast and accurate shooting, and mental toughness. And this is where Brain Endurance Training comes in.
Frustrated your season isn’t panning out the way you thought?
Mental fatigue is the number one thing that impacts your ability to perform at your best on race day and sabotages you from getting that medal - not intolerable muscle fatigue, horribly unpleasant muscle pain or stressful situations.
Want to hear the good news?
Using an integrated approach of Brain Endurance Training, you can hack the brain and change the way it’s wired. So you can become more resilient and more resistant to fatigue, the two key things that are limiting your performance.
Here’s how mental fatigue impacts your performance
Extensive scientific research dating back to the 1960’s, shows that mental fatigue increases your perception of effort (how quickly you feel physically tired), which stops you from fulfilling your potential on race day.
In other words, you slow down, miss shots, feel unable to keep up with your competitors, lose focus, spend longer reacting to information like the targets in front of you, feelings of anger, fusion and frustration increase, and more, when your perception of effort increases, as you become increasingly mentally fatigued - irrespective of the amount of physical work you’re putting out in your race.
Think of your perception of effort like a bucket. Your bucket becomes increasingly filled from outside pressures including sponsors, coaches, past terrible results, lack of sleep etc., which results in impaired endurance, motor skills and decision-making performance, and more.
This is because all of this stuff is making you mentally fatigued and increasing your perception of effort. So when you come to race, you don’t have the resilient or resistance to fatigue that you require to race at a world-class level.
But, if you've been targeting your ability to be more resilient and resistant to fatigue, you’ll be able to handle more than your competitor, because you’ll have a bigger bucket.
Feeling desperate and fed up of having terrible result after terrible result? Here’s how Brain Endurance Training (BET) can help you.
BET through a mobile application called SOMA NPT, is a systematic framework approach to brain training using scientifically backed cognitive drills.
Just as you follow a physical training plan to get faster and stronger in biathlon, using SOMA NPT I design a bespoke brain training program to increase your mental resilience and capacity to withstand fatigue, so you’ll outthink, out-last and out-perform your competition.
Biathletes that have a larger mental capacity will be able to:
Handle greater physical load
Likely be able to endure more pressure, more pain, more muscle fatigue, more breathlessness.
Probably maintain high levels of shooting focus, concentration, speeds and accuracy
Presumedly be less distracted by cold, heat, noise, cheering, opponents shooting quickly
Less discouraged by mistakes.
Will make fewer mistakes.
Think less negative thoughts.
But you don’t have to take my word for it, here’s the scientific research:
A recent independent study showed that six weeks of BET increased physical performance by 23%, compared to physical training alone, which only improved by 5%.
BET athletes not only achieved higher performance, but achieved it at the same heart rate, muscle activity, motivation and rate of perception of effort (RPE) as the control group, who only participated in physical training.
This could mean that a biathlete who uses BET could gain a 23% competitive edge over their opponents in just 6 weeks. Read it here.
Another recent study with 203 active duty male Marines, showed that mental skills training, like the systematic framework approach of BET, improved performance and cognitive function during times of heightened stress.
This means that biathletes who use BET combined with their biathlon training will be better able to handle the pressure of when they’re shooting.
Read it here.
A 6 week training study provided evidence that an integrated approach of BET through the SOMA NPT app with standard endurance cycling training is more effective than standard training alone. The BET group experienced a significant increase in cognitive and physical performance compared to the physical training-only group:
Reaction Time:
↓ 19 % Soma NPT
↓ 6% Control
Time To Exhaustion 80%
↑ 11.5 % Soma NPT
↑ 3.4 % Control
Time To Exhaustion 65 %
↑ 17.1 % Soma NPT
↑ 2.8 % Control
Training
↑ 45 % Higher mental demand in Soma NPT compared to Control.
Read it here.
Please share your thoughts or/and questions on Brain Endurance Training below—I’d love to hear.
Resources:
Biathlon – an Olympic winter sport with high physical and psychological demands
Sheereen Harris, Steven R. Bray (2019 ) Effects of mental fatigue on exercise decision-making, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 44, 1-8.
Pageaux, Benjamin & Lepers, Romuald. (2018). The effects of mental fatigue on sport-related performance, Progress in Brain Research, 240, 291-315.
Jensen, A. E., J. R. Bernards, J. T. Jameson, D. C. Johnson and K. R. Kelly (2020) The Benefit of Mental Skills Training on Performance and Stress Response in Military Personnel, Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2964.
Sswitch Research | Neuroscience of sports performance.
Brown, D. M. Y., J. D. Graham, K. I. Innes, S. Harris, A. Flemington and S. R. Bray (2019) Effects of Prior Cognitive Exertion on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Sports Medicine, 50, 497-529.
H., James, M. S. Tenan, A. Tweedell and M. E. LaFiandra (2017) Prior Mental Fatigue Impairs Marksmanship Decision Performance, Frontiers in Physiology, 8.
