Mentally Tougher - The Condor Performance Blog

At a RL High Performance Coaching Workshop last weekend it was mentioned that mental toughness is ‘something everyone knows but no-one knows’. Everyone has a view and a definition of what they think mental toughness is. The key question then becomes, how do you measure it and more importantly, how do you coach it?

Playing squash:- You are in the fifth game, it is two games each and all games have gone long. You are now down 10 – 0 in the last game. Mental toughness is, recognising the situation you are in, stopping the game in your head and saying “what has happened”. Working that out before the next point and reverting to what you did in the last four games. Then going on to win the match. Now that is mental toughness from a “Squashie” perspective.

It seems that mental toughness is commonly associated with winning and success. However, I was reading an interesting book the other day on the benefits of exercise in school children. The children were set a 3km-running race and all had heart rate monitors to measure their performance. At the conclusion of the race, the person that was the fastest averaged 80% of their maximum heart rate. However, it was the person that placed second last that exerted the greatest performance, averaging 95% of their maximum heart rate. This raises the question; do we often mistake mental toughness as being associated with only those that win? Is it possible that maybe the athlete coming second last is mentally tougher?

Mental toughness is often associated with peak performance in sport. However, mental toughness is an important psychological characteristic in the achievement of performance excellence in both sport and non-sport performances.

Mental toughness requires personal responsibility, dedication and commitment, self-belief, and the ability to cope under pressure. This is what helps mentally tough performers cope with the many demands that are placed on them.

Mental toughness involves resilience, thick skin and an ability to persevere towards ones goals despite times of low motivation and self-doubt – created by unforseen barriers.

The reason it’s difficult to define is due to the many diverse applications of mental toughness; from improving sporting performance; to treating psychological disorders; to running a successful business.

Its application for coaching will depend largely on the individual and their goals.
This is not dissimilar to the unhelpful approach of applying a uniform coaching program on “physical toughness”. Imagine using the same program for Olympic synchronised swimmers and elite rugby league players.

It is very difficult to objectively define mental toughness, given that the concept carries such unique meanings not only to different people but also across different situations. That is, a darts player performing in a loud room of boisterous spectators will require a different type of mental toughness to that of a marathon runner struggling on the 37th kilometre. Lee Crust examined a broad range of mental toughness literature to produce the following factors relating to mental toughness:
• unshakeable self-belief
• the ability to rebound after failures (resilience)
• persistence
• coping effectively with adversity and pressure
• retaining concentration through potential distractions
The definition is the product of over 50 years of literature, albeit skewed to the last 20 years, and it captures the many different situations where mental toughness is such an important facet to strong performance.