Whether it is doing endless ladder runs or pushing through another sprint session, finding the speed you need to win a 50-50 ball or tackle takes time and effort. That is unless you know the secret to tapping into your body's hidden power source.
According to a recent study published in The Journal of strength and conditioning research, speed is in your head. A lot of it can be influenced in a way never thought before.
The team of physiologists and psychologists found that when you imagine yourself performing specific resistance exercises, your body releases extra growth hormone, increasing electrical stimulation in your nerve cells and boosting muscle activation by as much as 15%.
So imagine yourself exploding through the final lap of a personal best squat at the pivotal moment in your next 5-aside showdown or you are hunting down your opponent to has just gone past you and you want to tackle back and your muscle fibres will fire up. Not only that, but because the hormone boost though your blood system will also surge you on, reducing pain and fatigue. So all that is left to think.
The term "always give 110% effort" during training as well as in a game has ingrained logic to it. That 10% extra is the mental effort that counts.
Professor Sam Marcora, believes that it’s a conscious mechanism, that relies on an individual's rate of perceived exertion that is at play, which explains why athletes can push themselves to exhaustion, rest and then do it again. Studies have shown that athletes using both cognitive and physical training have a huge rate of improvement – as much as 120%, compared to 40% from those who only worked on their physical training.
Compared to regular people, elite athletes have very different brains. Changes in the synaptic connections in areas of the brain such as the hippocampus – associated with learning and retaining new information – are strengthened. Exercise releases a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which increases connections long-term and helps to forge new memories, learn new skills and find new ways of solving problems.
Research has shown that elite athletes have better memory retention, peripheral vision and reaction speeds that enable them to do things instinctively. Advancements in neuroscience and technology utilising touch screens has revolutionised the way athletes can now train. Skills previously honed in the field are being improved in sport laboratories where brain training is enhancing athletic performance.
Mental training regarded as being equally important as physical training, allowing athletes to add mental repetitions to their regimes without any physical fatigue.
Cognitive tests can also highlight areas of weakness, which for an endurance athlete outside of a training laboratory could include things such as anxiety, fatigue, stress, metabolism and climate.
"It is the mind that pushes the boundaries"
According to a recent study published in The Journal of strength and conditioning research, speed is in your head. A lot of it can be influenced in a way never thought before.
The team of physiologists and psychologists found that when you imagine yourself performing specific resistance exercises, your body releases extra growth hormone, increasing electrical stimulation in your nerve cells and boosting muscle activation by as much as 15%.
So imagine yourself exploding through the final lap of a personal best squat at the pivotal moment in your next 5-aside showdown or you are hunting down your opponent to has just gone past you and you want to tackle back and your muscle fibres will fire up. Not only that, but because the hormone boost though your blood system will also surge you on, reducing pain and fatigue. So all that is left to think.
The term "always give 110% effort" during training as well as in a game has ingrained logic to it. That 10% extra is the mental effort that counts.
Professor Sam Marcora, believes that it’s a conscious mechanism, that relies on an individual's rate of perceived exertion that is at play, which explains why athletes can push themselves to exhaustion, rest and then do it again. Studies have shown that athletes using both cognitive and physical training have a huge rate of improvement – as much as 120%, compared to 40% from those who only worked on their physical training.
Compared to regular people, elite athletes have very different brains. Changes in the synaptic connections in areas of the brain such as the hippocampus – associated with learning and retaining new information – are strengthened. Exercise releases a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which increases connections long-term and helps to forge new memories, learn new skills and find new ways of solving problems.
Research has shown that elite athletes have better memory retention, peripheral vision and reaction speeds that enable them to do things instinctively. Advancements in neuroscience and technology utilising touch screens has revolutionised the way athletes can now train. Skills previously honed in the field are being improved in sport laboratories where brain training is enhancing athletic performance.
Mental training regarded as being equally important as physical training, allowing athletes to add mental repetitions to their regimes without any physical fatigue.
Cognitive tests can also highlight areas of weakness, which for an endurance athlete outside of a training laboratory could include things such as anxiety, fatigue, stress, metabolism and climate.
"It is the mind that pushes the boundaries"
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