Feel like you can’t keep up? You think racing is too difficult, don’t you? Having trouble delivering results when it matters most? The intensity of your workouts is lacking. Here are some reasons why your training must be more difficult than that of the competition.
Something strange happens
When you compete, things will happen that you didn’t expect. A formidable opponent will be ready for whatever comes their way, having planned ahead for potential obstacles, figured out how to handle them efficiently, and mastered the skills necessary to triumph over them. If your training only focuses on what can be predicted or what is most likely to happen based on statistics, you may be competitive, but you won’t win very often. The mindset of a winner is one that always anticipates victory. But they don’t stop there; they also prepare to be the underdog who surprises everyone by achieving something no one else could have imagined.
Having faith is crucial
For an athlete, nothing boosts their self-assurance quite like knowing that they have constantly out-prepared the opponent. You can make it sound good. You may compliment them on how terrific they look at the gym. Even if you succeed in convincing them that they have grown and are now prepared for anything, the only person who will really feel inspired by your words of encouragement is you. Athletes require proof, solid proof, that they can achieve their goals, and the only thing they’ll put their faith in is the certainty that their preparation is flawless.
The mental and emotional toll that competition may take
If being physically prepared was the only factor that mattered in competition, then coaching would be much simpler. In contrast, it is not. The mental and emotional factors in competitions are what ultimately decide whether a competitor will succeed or fail. Techniques for physical preparation and training procedures are comparable on a global scale among professional athletes and significant contenders in Olympic sports. The ability of athletes to keep their composure, control, and calm during competition and to do their “job” regardless of the circumstances give them a significant edge over their rivals. And the ability to do so in competition comes from having practised doing so in training before the competition.
TUF training
There is a strong scientific side to every sport. But it’s not enough to be able to train with good skill. To win a race, you have to do well technically even when you’re tired, under pressure, going fast, and doing it over and over again. If you’ve only practised the technical parts of your sport when you’re fresh, which is usually during the first 25 per cent of your training session, you haven’t practised how to do your sport’s skills in a real game.
TUF training or Technique Under Fatigue means practising skills and techniques during training in conditions that are similar to or even harder than those in a game. Check out the TUF workout list:
- Can the player perform the skill correctly and well?
- Can they keep their technical skills when going fast?
- Despite exhaustion, do they retain the ability to perform technically at fast speeds?
- Can they stay technically skilled at high speeds when they are tired and under pressure?
- Can they sustain their technical skills at fast speeds even when they are exhausted and feeling the strain of the situation consistently?
It’s never about doing just enough
To win a game, you can’t just do the bare minimum. That’s why there’s no better companion than a sofa, some chips, and a six-pack of beer. If you only want to meet the bare requirements, forget about winning.
For a 90-minute game, you should be ready to compete at a high level for an additional 100, 120, or 150 minutes. If you want to be in top form for a five-kilometre race, you should be able to do six-, seven- or 10-kilometre workouts without any difficulty. Do you have to perform flawlessly five times in a row to win? Attempt it 50 times as practice. Or a 100 times. A 1,000 times. If you just attempt to meet the bare minimum in training, you can only hope for the bare minimum in performance.
Overcoming challenges
The idea that physical activity will make you happy is a misconception. People who don’t know anything about performance will advise you that you should plan your life so that you wake up on the morning of the competition feeling rested, refreshed, and ready to give it your all.
The truth is that you must practise and prepare to win at any time, in any place, and against any opponent. High-level competition is not a game of chance.
You need to instil in your players the mentality that they can triumph over any obstacle placed in their path. On the morning of the big race or the championship game, there is no magic drug you can take to make all your fears, aches, and pains go away. The secret to success is maintaining a high standard of readiness throughout time.
Being able to handle every kind of competition
Training is meant to get you ready in every way—mentally, technically, tactically, and physically— to meet and beat the challenges of every competitive situation you’ll face. Since competition is all about doing your best no matter how hard, tough, or bad the situation is, training should and must be harder and more demanding than any competition. Just like that. Anything less is setting yourself up to fail.
Author is a mental performance mastery coach and a bioprint practitioner. You can reach him at anwarwahhab@awefitness.com
