Why Mental Fatigue Destroys Athletic Performance
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In a meeting with Olympiaparken, Lillehammer about athletic performance, I had an epiphany.
I realised that all of the athletes and coaches I’ve been speaking with, have asked me the same two questions:
1. What exactly is Brain Endurance Training?
2. How does Brain Endurance Training increase an athlete’s performance?
I will answer these two questions in a 5-part blog series, which will explain how Brain Endurance Training (BET), when used correctly, increases cognitive and physical performance for any athlete, in any sport.
Last week I introduced Brain Endurance Training and how it benefits your cognitive and physical performance. This week is part-2 and I’m diving deeper into Why Mental Fatigue Destroys Performance. Next we look at why perception of effort is a key component of performance.
Science has demonstrated for over 10 years that mental fatigue destroys performance, making it a key component in sport, especially at the elite-level where milliseconds count.
In any elite-level sport, athletes are always pushing their limits so they can consistently perform at their best. But more often than not, their sole focus is on strength, conditioning, endurance and skills training, nutrition, hydration and recovery.
Rarely do they focus on targeted and specific brain training, and without a finely tuned brain, as I’ve discovered first-hand, nothing is possible.
Even the best physically prepared athlete with the biggest VO2 max can still lose, to an athlete who has better trained and prepared their brain.
This is because all athletes deal with a degree of cognitive load in their chosen sport(s), which is the sum of all of the decisions they have to make, actions they take and inhibit, obstacles they have to avoid, or movements of other competitors, or the ball they have to keep track of, and numerous other factors that all add to the cognitive load of the competition.
Athletes who train and prepare their brain using BET, are able to better handle this cognitive load which enables them to go faster for longer.
This is because they’ve specifically and deliberately strengthened and conditioned their brain against mental fatigue, caused by this cognitive load, which science shows is detrimental to endurance performance, motor skills performance and decision-making performance:
Photo by Victoire Joncheray
Effects of Prior Cognitive Exertion on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
“A total of 73 studies provided 91 comparisons with 2581 participants. Random effects meta-analysis showed a significant small-to-medium negative effect of prior cognitive exertion on physical performance.
Findings demonstrate that cognitive exertion has a negative effect on subsequent physical performance that is not due to chance and suggest that previous meta-analysis results may have underestimated the overall effect.”
Link to study here.
The effects of mental fatigue on sport-related performance
“… review the results of 29 studies published between 2009 and April 2018 and focusing on the impact of mental fatigue on sport-related performance.
Taken all studies together, it appears that mental fatigue impairs endurance performance, motor skills performance and decision-making performance.”
Link to study here.
The cardinal exercise stopper: Muscle fatigue, muscle pain or perception of effort?
“In Study 1, maximal voluntary cycling power (MVCP) was measured in 11 amateur and professional athletes from different sports (cycling, running, soccer), before and immediately after a high-intensity Time To Exhaustion (TTE) test on cycle ergometer. Cadence was 60 rpm in both the MVCP and TTE tests. Despite a 35% loss in MVCP, power produced during the final MVCP test (mean +/- SD 469 +/- 111W) was significantly higher than the power required by the TTE test (269 +/- 55 W) (P < 0.001).
In Study 2, 12 amateur and professional athletes from different sports (cycling, running, triathlon) performed a cold pressor test (CPT) to the limit of tolerance followed by a high-intensity TTE test on cycle ergometer. Ratings of pain unpleasantness (RPU) during the TTE test were anchored to the unpleasantness of pain experienced during the CPT. On average, the RPU was 9.7 +/- 0.4 at completion of the CPT and 5.0 +/- 0.9 at exhaustion during the TTE test. The difference between these two ratings of pain unpleasantness was statistically significant (P< 0.001).
In both Studies 1 and 2, the slope of the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during the TTE test correlated significantly with TTE (r = –0.75 and –0.83, P < 0.01).
Results of this two-part investigation suggest that perception of effort, rather than severe locomotor muscle fatigue or intolerably unpleasant muscle pain, is the cardinal exercise stopper during high-intensity aerobic exercise.”
Link to study here.
Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans
“Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity. Although the impact of mental fatigue on cognitive and skilled performance is well known, its effect on physical performance has not been thoroughly investigated.
In this randomized crossover study, 16 subjects cycled to exhaustion at 80% of their peak power output after 90 min of a demanding cognitive task (mental fatigue) or 90 min of watching emotionally neutral documentaries (control).
After experimental treatment, a mood questionnaire revealed a state of mental fatigue (P = 0.005) that significantly reduced time to exhaustion (640 ± 316 s) compared with the control condition (754 ± 339 s) (P = 0.003).
This negative effect was not mediated by cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic factors as physiological responses to intense exercise remained largely unaffected. Self-reported success and intrinsic motivation related to the physical task were also unaffected by prior cognitive activity.
However, mentally fatigued subjects rated perception of effort during exercise to be significantly higher compared with the control condition (P = 0.007). As ratings of perceived exertion increased similarly over time in both conditions (P < 0.001), mentally fatigued subjects reached their maximal level of perceived exertion and disengaged from the physical task earlier than in the control condition.
In conclusion, our study provides experimental evidence that mental fatigue limits exercise tolerance in humans through higher perception of effort rather than cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic mechanisms. Future research in this area should investigate the common neurocognitive resources shared by physical and mental activity.”
Link to study here.
The limit to exercise tolerance in humans: Mind over muscle?
“In exercise physiology, it has been traditionally assumed that high-intensity aerobic exercise stops at the point commonly called exhaustion because fatigued subjects are no longer able to generate the power output required by the task despite their maximal voluntary effort.
We tested the validity of this assumption by measuring maximal voluntary cycling power before (mean +/- SD, 1,075 +/- 214 W) and immediately after (731 +/- 206 W) (P < 0.001) exhaustive cycling exercise at 242 +/- 24 W (80% of peak aerobic power measured during a preliminary incremental exercise test) in ten fit male human subjects.
Perceived exertion during exhaustive cycling exercise was strongly correlated (r = -0.82, P = 0.003) with time to exhaustion (10.5 +/- 2.1 min).
These results challenge the long-standing assumption that muscle fatigue causes exhaustion during high-intensity aerobic exercise, and suggest that exercise tolerance in highly motivated subjects is ultimately limited by perception of effort.”
Link to study here.
