Do you train your brain as often or as intensely as training your body?

Traditionally, training focuses on any number of workouts to develop the physical mechanisms of performance. They focus on the perceived physical limiters to success.

But what if the primary limiter to success isn’t physical? What if it is mental?

Many may think that mental training is only necessary for an elite athlete, that it is just the difference between winning a gold medal or a silver medal at the Olympics. Most people don’t even think about training their brain, but will spend countless hours training their body. How am I supposed to "train my brain" ... and why bother? My brain works just fine as it is – or does it?

The primary limiter to success – in sport training, in injury recovery, and in life, is the brain. So why not focus our efforts on this organ?

There is a mental challenge during training and competition. If you are training for a shorter event, let's say a 5K or 10K, you need to be able to stay focused on the task and push through the discomfort of "going hard". In a longer event - let's say an Ironman or ultra-marathon - your mental task is, again, to stay focused and to push through the mental blocks that tell you to stop because of fatigue, boredom, and all the other nasty thoughts that run through our minds when times get tough. Short event or long, they both pose difficult challenges mentally.

But training doesn't stop with the workout or event. Training extends to what we do with our minds - while we're training, and in the 20 or more hours a day when we're not. Imagine, if you will - you might run for an hour - but what are you doing for the remaining 23 hours a day? And what are you doing mentally during those hours that is fostering or hindering your development?

When 70% of our self talk is negative, can we really attain all that we aspire to be? It is these "nasty thoughts" that prove to be the biggest limiters. Our self talk – and our self image – drive much of our mental focus. The thoughts that scream “I can’t” or “I won’t” are vigilant. The thoughts that yell “I am not good enough” or “I don’t love myself” can wreak havoc on us. And they will. Over and over again. In training – and in life.

Unless, of course, we have a training strategy – a mental training strategy.

Training your brain requires constant effort. It requires making a choice that this is just as important as any physical training method. It requires self-acceptance, love, and strength of will. It requires diligence because those nasty thoughts don’t go away so easily. Training your brain is not for the faint of heart. But the benefits are huge. They don’t just appear with that 5K personal best or the first time you cross the finish line at an Ironman. They stay with us, deep inside, when we face challenges with our loved ones or our friends. They are with us when we face adversity – and happiness.

We don't spend anywhere near the same amount of time training our brains as we do training our heart, our lungs, our musculoskeletal system - in training, in rehab, or in life. Based on that alone, we are nowhere near the limits of our abilities – in sport and in life - given the limitless capacity and potential of the brain.

Photo credits: Wikipedia