Seamlessly integrate Brain Endurance Training into your training plan
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Last year I watched my client, pro-Norwegian triathlete Allan Hovda, have a fierce battle to the finish line of XTRI World Championships hosted by Norseman and finish in second place.
It was amazing to see him perform at a whole new level and finish super happy.
Hovda smashed his Norseman PB, was third out of the water, third fastest bike split and fastest run. And he really pushed his limits in performance:
“Never before have I pushed myself to such an epic breakdown in muscular function in my legs.”
I’ve always wanted to watch my pro athletes win time and time again, and it was at the top of Mount Gaustatoppen when I realised I was missing something…
I wanted something that would target all factors involved in athletic performance and was data-driven. This led me to Brain Endurance Training (BET).
BET is brain-derived and governed by the central nervous system. By working with athletes where the core of all their abilities come from, their brain, means I can train them to be stronger, faster, more accurate, agile, mobile, and more alert than ever before.
[Read: Brain Endurance Training for Athletic Performance: What it is and How it works]
If you want to truly harness the power of BET, it’s critical to have a world class structure and plan, and to work your plan - just like any other element of high performance.
Without it, you’d deviate from your plan and waste time, energy and resources, and risk losing PB’s, podium finishes, wins and sponsors.
Following your BET plan is crucial for success, because I ensure you have the fundamentals in place, that you’re creating the right adaptions in your brain for resilience and your hard work is supported with adequate cognitive recovery. All of this improves your endurance, speed and results.
Below are the three pillars of BET, and how by working through them with me and being consistent, you’ll continue to push your limits:
PILLAR 2: FUNDAMENTALS
This pillar is crucial to your success. We secure the foundations of your brain endurance training structure and plan, including locking in the fundamental cognitive skills you need to meet the cognitive demands of your sport:
Discuss your sporting goals
Identify where you are in the season
Assess your strengths and weaknesses
Build your athletic cognitive profile
Decide best method of perdiozation that fits your goals and schedule
Design your plan
Isolate problem areas and overload your brain
Step 1 - Assessment & building your neurocognitive athlete profile
The first thing I ask you to do is fill out a comprehensive questionnaire and complete a 30-90 minute brain endurance training baseline test. This allows me to build your athletic cognitive profile.
The questionnaire together with your first baseline test enables me to know your goals, pin point the key mental demands of your sport, your cognitive strengths and weaknesses, where you are in the season and other areas that we need to address.
Step 2 - Periodisation
We can’t bend science to your schedule, but here we will find the best method of periodisation that fits your training, racing and travel schedule to get the results you want.
Step 3 - Isolate and overload
Having completed the initial assessment and baseline test, we isolate the problem areas and overload your brain to induce mental fatigue in a deliberate and targeted manner, to create an adaptive response in your brain and increase your capacity for mental and physical load.
We focus on improving the most important cognitive skills first and evaluate your progress with a baseline test, and preferably physical test too, per mesocycle.
[Read: Why Mental Fatigue Destroys Athletic Performance]
Here are the nine fundamental cognitive skills that make up a mentally tough and resilient athlete:
Sustained Attention
The ability to focus on one specific task for a continuous amount of time without being distracted.
Selective Attention
The ability to select from many factors or stimuli and to focus on only the one that you want while filtering out other distractions.
Response Inhibition
The ability to focus on relevant stimuli in the presence of irrelevant stimuli.
Decision Making
The ability to select a response from a range of available responses in circumstances where an action is needed.
Concentration
The ability to give your attention to a single object or activity.
Focus
The ability to have close or narrow attention.
Cognitive Flexibility
The ability to switch your focus back and forth between tasks that require different cognitive demands.
Working Memory
The ability to remember and use relevant information while in the middle of an activity.
Recognition Memory
The ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people.
PILLAR 2: INTEGRATION
If nailing the fundamentals are the bricks laying the foundation of your cognitive skills, the cement is integrating the system into your training, travel and race schedule.
And just like fine-tuning your body for the world class stage, consistency and adherence to your BET program is key for success.
Integrating BET into your schedule doesn’t have to be hard. With the right periodisation and placement of the brain training drills (before, during and/or after your physical training), we can create a plan that best fits you and seamlessly integrates with your regime. So you adhere to your program and enjoy the performance benefits.
[Read: How to integrate Brain Endurance Training into your physical training for performance]
PILLAR 3: COGNITIVE RECOVERY
Cognitive recovery is key to maximising your performance.
If you stress your brain and body hard, you must have ample rest and recovery to benefit from the training stimulus.
Recovery and restoration sessions are integrated and scheduled into your BET plan, so you don't have to think about it!
Some of the recovery and restoration sessions in your plan you may recognise, others you may not event notice:
Reduction of overall brain training load
Reduction of duration and/or intensity of the cognitive drills
Reduction of drill difficulty
Box Breathing
Meditation/Mindfulness
TO SUMMARISE
These three pillars ensure your experience with Brain Endurance Training is smooth, seamless and results driven. As I mentioned earlier, I want to watch my athletes win again and again, and by ensuring you nail the fundamentals, adhere to your plan and your hard work is supported with adequate cognitive recovery, the benefits of BET are all yours to enjoy!
