Performance Benefits of Brain Endurance Training for Ironman Triathletes
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Are you disappointed with outside factors such as heat slowing you down? Or perhaps you’re not winning as many races as you expected?
Find out how Brain Endurance Training (BET) could give you the competitive edge you’ve been looking for - one study recently showed this could as much as 23% in just 6 weeks.
The key to success for an Ironman triathlon as Lionel Sander’s Coach, David Tilbury-Davis, says is “….maintaining as much technique as possible, for as long a period of time as possible.”
The ability to not let mental fatigue, intolerable and unpleasant muscle pain and fatigue, extreme temperatures like the Kona heat impact your technique and performance, and maintain high levels of focus and concentration, high reaction performance, mental toughness, optimal decision-making, and excellent gross and fine motor skills, is the difference between holding technique for as long as possible - it’s the difference between winning and losing for pro-Ironman triathletes.
Brain Endurance Training (BET) is the use of cognitive load in the form of technology-based drills through SOMA NPT (Neuro Performance Tech - the tech I use to train my athletes), to train and create adaptions in the brain that increases both mental and physical performance. Find out why below.
The number one factor that impacts performance: mental fatigue
Since the 1960’s, scientific studies have continued to prove that mental fatigue is the number one factor that impacts sports performance and limits your capacity to achieving your potential on Ironman race day.
Mental fatigue is a key component in all sports, not just triathlon, because it critically alters performance by increasing the perception of effort (subjective feelings of physically tiredness) in completing a specific physical and mental action.
A paper which reviewed 29 studies published between 2009 and April 2018 and focused on the impact of mental fatigue on sport-related performance, indicated that mental fatigue impairs endurance, motor skills and decision-making performance.
The first series of BET involving Soma NPT conducted by SSwitch, shows how neurocognitive load impacts how athletes respond to their physical training.
Mentally fatigued athletes from these studies experienced:
INCREASED Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE - how quickly you feel physically tired)
INCREASED anger, confusion and frustration
INCREASED time it took to react to information
INCREASED time to took to make a decision
DECREASED their physical abilities in jump power, jump height and endurance
Here were the results:
RPE: 20–24% HIGHER
Mental Demands: 110% — 112% HIGHER
Effort: 99% — 103% HIGHER
Frustration: 54% — 119% HIGHER
Anger: 86% — 94% HIGHER
Fatigue: 35% — 96% HIGHER
Vigour: 99% — 100% LOWER
Confusion: 25% HIGHER
Reaction Time: 50% — 82% SLOWER
Decision Making: 50% SLOWER
Jump Power: DECREASED 6.5%
Jump Height: DECREASED 8.6%
30–15 Test: DECREASED 8% — 10.8%
Similar findings on how mental fatigue impairs performance can be seen in the military and across a variety of sports including Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), endurance cycling, kayaking, football and more.
How BET Can Increase Your Triathlon Performance
When all the pro triathletes are lining up on the start line, they’ve all put in equal amounts of physical training, recovery and nutrition, it’s the mental resilience which will determine who comes out on top - or not.
Although research has shown that neurocognitive overload in the brain negatively impacts physical performance in its acute phase, studies have shown that engaging in organised cognitive tasks combined with physical exercise increases performance.
BET is a systematic approach to cognitive training specifically designed to increase an athlete's’ resilience towards mental fatigue and improve physical performance.
It works on the principle that the sense of fatigue that develops in certain areas of the brain can be targeted with specific cognitive tasks, which creates adaptions in the brain and alters the perception of effort, making the athlete more resilient and resistant to mental and physical fatigue, thus increasing the athlete’s performance.
BET through the framework of SOMA NPT, allows me to set my triathletes brain endurance training plans through an app via their iPhone or iPad that increases their physical and mental performance.
The structure of the athlete’s plan, both amount of neurocognitive load and chosen cognitive drills, are specific to the mental demands of triathlon, where the triathlete is in the season and what skills they need to strengthen.
My BET plans increases a triathlete’s mental capacity (by changing their perception of effort), so they can handle greater physical load for longer. This means they’re able to hold more efficient and effective swimming, cycling and running techniques for a longer period of time, thus increasing their chances of winning.
A recently presented peer review study showed that just 6 weeks of BET combined with physical exercise increased physical performance by 23%, compared to the control group, who only participated physical training, and improved by just 5%.
Compared to the control group, BET athletes achieved INCREASED performance at the:
SAME heart rate
SAME muscle activity
SAME motivation
SAME rate of perception of effort (RPE)
And REDUCTION in sympathetic nervous system activity
And HIGHER hear rate variability (more your parasympathetic nervous system is activated, indicating less stressors on the body and brain)
This means that a pro Ironman triathlete who effectively integrates BET into their physical training could gain a 23% competitive edge over their opponents in just 6 weeks.
Here’s what other athletes and coaches who use SOMA NPT have to say:
“I feel stronger and more energized and focused. Overall I’m so pleased I signed up for Brain Endurance Training.”
“There’s this app that focuses on your mental endurance,” Luu says of the app called Soma NPT (Neuro Performance Tech) the experts [at Red Bull] introduced him to. “It’s like weightlifting for your brain, in that you lift heavier to increase the maximum you can lift. They put a huge strain on your brain so you can withstand more.”
“Pain doesn’t develop in the muscle, but in the brain. If you are able to ‘train the brain’ to tolerate more pain then you are going the right direction. It only works if you do BET regularly and 100%.”
“Perceived effort levels can be manipulated by building stronger mental performance, making training more effective with better results. …[I’ve experienced an] increase in all KPI’s related to my field including the most important, which is a decrease of reaction time with less error rate.”
Please share your thoughts or/and questions on Brain Endurance Training below—I’d love to hear.
Resources:
Pageaux, Benjamin & Lepers, Romuald. (2018). The effects of mental fatigue on sport-related performance. 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.004.
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Marcora, S. M. And W. Staiano (2010) The limit to exercise tolerance in humans: Mind over muscle? Arbeitsphysiologie 109(4):763-70.
Stain, W., A. Bosio, H. M. De Morree, E. Rampinini and S. Marcora (2018) Chapter 11 - The cardinal exercise stopper: Muscle fatigue, muscle pain or perception of effort? Progress in Brain Research (240) 175-200.
Pavelka R, Třebický V, Třebická Fialová J, Zdobinský A, Coufalová K, et al. (2020) Acute fatigue affects reaction times and reaction consistency in Mixed Martial Arts fighters. PLOS ONE 15(1).
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.
Staiano W, Bosio A, Piazza G, Romagnoli M, Invernizzi PL. (2019) Kayaking performance is altered in mentally fatigued young elite athletes. Sports Med Phys Fitness.
