Improving mental toughness

Remove this Banner Ad

vWestCoast

vWestCoast

Premiership Player
Veteran Minecraft
Dec 1, 2010
4,475
1,450
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Mt Buller Demons
I know it can't be taught but I was wondering if you guys had any tips for me to improve my mental toughness. I consider myself reasonably good at ignoring pain. However I mean as in, being able to push myself to the absolute limits. I'm 15 going on 16 next year and aspire to be an AFL footballer. I'm doing a pre season this year by myself so I can get a head start on everyone else.

I play CHB or FB but need to work on my endurance. I'll be joining up at my local gym soon to work on core and leg strength ect.

Are there any tips on being able to push yourself as hard as you can, alot of AFL players wouldn't be on a list if it wasn't for this. Ben Cousins was onenof the hardest if not the hardest trainers at West Coast. He got to the elite level by going beyond the limits.

Thanks in advance.
 
vWestCoast said:
I know it can't be taught but I was wondering if you guys had any tips for me to improve my mental toughness. I consider myself reasonably good at ignoring pain. However I mean as in, being able to push myself to the absolute limits. I'm 15 going on 16 next year and aspire to be an AFL footballer. I'm doing a pre season this year by myself so I can get a head start on everyone else.

I play CHB or FB but need to work on my endurance. I'll be joining up at my local gym soon to work on core and leg strength ect.

Are there any tips on being able to push yourself as hard as you can, alot of AFL players wouldn't be on a list if it wasn't for this. Ben Cousins was onenof the hardest if not the hardest trainers at West Coast. He got to the elite level by going beyond the limits.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

take drugs, amphetamines, opiates, steroids, whaterver floats ur boat. worked for ben.

seriously, first step i would take is get a training partner. you dont realise you arent really pushing until u go up against someone else. it is easy to just relax for a little bit and coast through a session on your own but if you have someone else there it pushes you both along.
 
I know the shit Benny did but everyone he has every played with or played against said he was the hardest worker they had ever seen.

Yeah will try that, enjoy team training as it's good to push yourself harder and be the best on the team.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Personally, I find you need something to motivate you internally.

Music helps and there are studies that indicate listening to music can increase performance and aid in ignoring pain.

But I find that enduring certain circumstances or having previous experiences tend to provide additional motivation that let you push through the toughest of times. It's a generalisation, but I would guess that most kids at 15 haven't had too many difficult experiences (having said that, I'm also sure many have had more than some people at 100).

So, if there's something that has proven to you in the past that nothing is impossible so to speak, use that.

Personally, I'm also overly critical of what I do (I suppose as well as others) and I'm easily disappointed, so that helps in stopping me from giving up or not pushing myself.

Training partners are also important and can't be overstated in importance really. That and music!
 
Cheers mate. Have had a very easy life so far. Only had the death of my Nan but it was for the best anyway. Occasionally I will think about her during a training session or game to keep me going. Also lost my U/13s grand final by 2 points after not losing all year so it spurs me on a bit.

Music is defidently good, Roy Jones Jr - Can't be touched is a ripper.
 
Last two pre-seasons have been so easy for me. Dropped for grand final 2 years ago and lost the grand final last year. So much motivation! Now its just habit to train hard.
 
Get a decent pushbike (one with gears), find a big hill and ride up it once or twice a week. A big hard hill, something that takes a couple hours to get up and gives you a rewarding feeling of accomplishment, most communities have a hill like this around.

Get in a lap pool and swim once or twice a week, try to always beat your last distance in a set time (1 hour or whatever but make it hard, to where you dont think you can keep going but must persevere)

Get on the floor, hold the plank for as long as you can. Dont make noise, dont talk to people, just hold for longer then you did it previously. Try to get up to 5 minutes. (Good luck)

Sign up for this website, and try to beat all these challenges:
http://tribesports.com/challenges?sort=popular

Summary: Get out there and find someone/thing who is better than you. Then beat them/it.
 
Run hills. Even better, run up sand dunes if you have them close by.

Not only will your stamina improve, but so will your mental strength as you start pushing through pain barriers.

Best thing is that when you run around the footy oval you will find it a lot easier than the other players because you're used to running up hills.

Read up on interval training to get the best out of your hill work-outs eg run hard up hill, jog slowly down hill for rest and repeat a few times.

Main thing is start easy and slowly increase workload so you don't get injured.

That's just off the top of the head. Go through google for more tips.

Good luck - hopefully you crack the big time, buddy.
 
kaydub said:
Get a decent pushbike (one with gears), find a big hill and ride up it once or twice a week. A big hard hill, something that takes a couple hours to get up and gives you a rewarding feeling of accomplishment, most communities have a hill like this around.
Click to expand...

a couple of hours? where the **** do you live? near the col du galibier?
 
mcgarnacle said:
a couple of hours? where the **** do you live? near the col du galibier?
Click to expand...

I guess I am luckier than I thought having an awesome huge agonizing hill to ride up nearby.. Seriously though I just did this ride again yesterday and its absolute torture, riding a bike up a hill has got to be one of the better ways to harden your mental edge up. Running up hills is fantastic as well but I cant run for as long as I can ride and longer = more pain = more gained..
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

kaydub said:
I guess I am luckier than I thought having an awesome huge agonizing hill to ride up nearby.. Seriously though I just did this ride again yesterday and its absolute torture, riding a bike up a hill has got to be one of the better ways to harden your mental edge up. Running up hills is fantastic as well but I cant run for as long as I can ride and longer = more pain = more gained..
Click to expand...

You can ride for longer because it's easier. Also, you don't ride your bike around a footy field, you run ;)
 
Continually ask these questions to yourself:
* Do I want to reach my full potential physically?
* Am I ready to toughen up and become a man of action?
* Would I rather a boring desk job working 9 to 5?

Just a few off the top of my head, there'd be plenty more that could help get you going also.
 
Used it for gym mainly. However, after a gym session I went my local athletics track where I like to do a 400m sprint occasionally. I'm a lot slower than I used to be just due to not being fit after stopping soccer a few years ago. My previous best was 1:13.. after having a jacked gym session I ran 1:07..True story!
 
vWestCoast said:
Also lost my U/13s grand final by 2 points after not losing all year so it spurs me on a bit.
Click to expand...

Maybe don't take these sort of trivial things so seriously...it's an U13s thing.
Then your goals, like reaching the AFL, may become more serious and you will strive harder to achieve it.

Good luck :thumbsu:
 
kaydub said:
I guess I am luckier than I thought having an awesome huge agonizing hill to ride up nearby.. Seriously though I just did this ride again yesterday and its absolute torture, riding a bike up a hill has got to be one of the better ways to harden your mental edge up. Running up hills is fantastic as well but I cant run for as long as I can ride and longer = more pain = more gained..
Click to expand...

i totally agree. im a keen cyclist and am always looking for hills here in sydney. generally means i need to ride out to the eastern suburbs from the inner west to just find some decent short & frequent ones. otherwise, i need to go down to the royal national park or beyond but im very much a short and sharp interval sort of rider rather than a endurance one. im no stick insect....fortunately. bit too heavy to be effective on longer rides. i try to carry some speed up them rather than take it steady, and that definately = pain.

but back to the climbs, there arent any that 2hr type ones i know off unless you live down in the aussie alps or vic high country. The Audax Alpine Classic is a decent event. Different routes and distances from and back to bright. Ive ever only done the 60 or 72km ones for reasons outlined above. thought about going up to the 130km route, but reassesed and doing the 60km one again next year.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Improving mental toughness

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top