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Mental Toughness Is A Myth!?

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By Rigs Fitness | September 18th, 2018 | RigsADP, Athlete

Development, Fitness | 0 Comments

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 ‘There’s no such thing as tough.
There’s trained and there’s
untrained. Now which are you?’

Introduction

Taken from the movie ‘Man on Fire’, this quote

succinctly encapsulates the argument put
forward in this article – there is no such thing as
mental toughness. Yes, that’s right, there is no
such thing as mental toughness, or for that
matter toughness in general. The argument
:
 that I put forward in this article has been lead by
the work in this field that has been made by
James ‘The Thinker’ Smith in his work The
Governing Dynamics of Coaching [1]. By now I
hope that I have your attention. Read on to find
out more…

Defining Mental Toughness

In the Rugby Strength Coach podcast ‘Mental

Toughness is an Illusion’, James Smith contends
that coaches often lack the requisite knowledge
to deconstruct the mental aspects of the game
they coach and so mental toughness becomes
the go-to when coaches determine that a player,
or team, doesn’t have ‘what it takes’ [2].

When you ask someone to define ‘mental

toughness’, words like tenacity, resolve,
durability, persistence, grit and aggression, plus
many others, get thrown around. But it’s the
sort of question where if you asked 30 people,
you would get 30 different answers.

So what exactly is mental toughness? Good

:
 question.

Measuring Toughness

The definition given above is highly subjective –

ask 30 people, get 30 different answers. What
we need is an objective way of defining mental
toughness.

When people think of someone that is ‘tough’

they think of someone who stays calm under
pressure, who does not falter when the stakes
are at their highest, someone who does not
experience what we would term a stress
response when almost everyone else would be.

Through its stress response (perception of

threat to the homeostasis) the human body has
a tremendous way of betraying ‘toughness’. If a
person is experiencing a stress response
(raised heart rate, raised blood pressure etc.) it
is impossible to argue that they are not. This is,
after all, objective data which cannot be
disputed.

As such, the monitoring of a person’s

:
 physiological state in different circumstances is
crucial. Do they respond to the situation in front
of them in the way we would expect someone
who is ‘tough’ to?

The Case for Training not Toughness

Toughness is highly situational. Different

situations develop different substrates of
mental toughness. And toughness in one
situation does not result in toughness in
another.

People who get bullied at school might be

developing their tenacity, resolve and durability,
but not the aggression which is a key
component of ‘toughness’. So are they truly
‘tough’? Or have they simply become inoculated
against the bullying they are receiving?
Likewise, many people who are bullies can give it
but not take it. Do they have the tenacity,
resolve and durability we would expect of
someone who is ‘tough’? Or are they simply very
good at being aggressive?
:
 Smith puts forward a compelling argument
using the example of a UFC fighter and a Navy
Seal – two types of people that would widely be
viewed as ‘tough’ [2]. Smith argues that if we
were to monitor the physiological responses of
either the UFC fighter or Navy Seal if their roles
were switched (Navy Seal has to go into the
Octagon, UFC fighter has to jump out of a plane)
and analyse the data, a heightened stress
response from both would result. These are not
the reactions of people who are supposedly
‘tough’ – sweaty palms and a raised heart rate?
After all, these people are used to dealing with
highly volatile situations.

In this case study, the heightened stress

response results from a lack of preparation.
Toughness in one situation has no bearing on
toughness in another situation. Those who are
the best at what they do are the most prepared
for what they do. Training exists, not toughness.
When the Navy Seal steps into the Octagon he
experiences a stress response because he is
not adequately prepared for the situation he
:
 finds himself in.

Training must therefore be viewed as

inoculation – if you are inoculated effectively you
are prepared for the task in hand and so do not
experience a stress response that betrays so-
called ‘toughness’ [3]. As athletes, this should
give us great comfort – if you are struggling at a
certain aspect of your game it isn’t because you
aren’t ‘mentally tough enough’ to deal with the
pressure, it’s because you haven’t been
effectively trained to deal with the situation.

In a good book I have recently read, Chasing

Excellence by Ben Bergeron, the progress of
Matt Fraser and Katrin Davídsdóttir leading up
to and through the 2016 Reebok Crossfit
Games was charted [4]. Much emphasis was
placed on the character traits that these two
Games athletes developed between the 2015
Games and 2016 Games which meant that they
were able to perform to a higher standard in
2016, especially in the events that they had
struggled at previously. Ultimately, they simply
trained more on their weak events so were
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 better prepared in 2016. Being mentally tough
therefore took a back seat to being better
prepared.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mental toughness doesn’t exist. It

is a construct that we use when we cannot
accurately discern what specific attribute an
athlete is lacking. Rather than throw the term
mental toughness around it is more prudent to
critically evaluate the specific demands of the
game and the ones in which an athlete is lacking.
Then, rather than simply try to make an athlete
‘mentally tough’ through beating them to the
ground, target these weaknesses through a
measured training approach. After all, ‘there’s
no such thing as tough. There’s trained and
untrained. Now which are you?’

References

[1] J. Smith, The Governing Dynamics of

Coaching.

[2] Rugby Strength Coach Podcast, Episode 36,

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 Mental Toughness is an Illusion.

[3] Powercast Podcast, Episode 163, Toughness

is an Illusion.

[4] Ben Bergeron, Chasing Excellence.

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