When you’ve spent countless hours preparing for months (the long run, the lift program, the recovery) and a rolled ankle, cancelled race, or abrupt change at work causes everything to fall apart, you may experience motivation loss. This isn’t due to physical exhaustion, but rather because your well-structured plan has fallen apart.
Athlete’s success during setbacks lies in their ability to be mentally flexible. Changing the way you think when obstacles occur typically makes a big difference in whether an athlete loses a week versus losing a season. However, mental flexibility doesn’t mean you ignore your frustration, nor should it cause you to pretend an injury didn’t hurt. Instead, mental flexibility allows you to remain malleable in your actions while remaining true to your objectives.
Below we’ll discuss what mental flexibility truly represents in sports, the importance of having this type of mentality when faced with adversity, and provide tips on building more adaptability in both your training and recovery processes.
What does flexibility in thought represent in sports?
In essence, mental flexibility is the ability to switch your tactics, or plan of action, or routine when circumstances change and maintain focus on your objective. To illustrate this concept: imagine you’re driving to a vacation destination and you know exactly which highway you need to take to get there. Now imagine instead that you were provided with a map that showed multiple highways to get to the same destination. The first representation illustrates a rigid thought process. The second illustration demonstrates a more flexible thought process.
Your rigid self thinks “if I cannot run today my week is shot”. Your flexible self asks a much better question. “if I am unable to run today, what else will continue to move me closer to my goals?” Perhaps that could be pool workouts, maintaining mobility, going to bed early or simply preserving your energy reserves for the next day. Similar objectives, different routes.
Examples of mental flexibility show themselves frequently in active lives. Inclement weather ruins an outdoor training session. A local gym closes. A nagging tendon requires a reduction in intensity for a period of time and your pre-race anxiety adjusts your original race plan in real-time. As previously stated, none of those situations mean you failed. The situation required you to adjust and making intentional adjustments in response to the situation is significantly more effective than becoming frozen or trying to force it.
Why Do Setbacks Typically Feel Much Worse Than You Actually Are When You Have a Very Structured Approach and a Rigid Mindset?
Many athletes have a high level of discipline. Discipline however becomes a hindrance when discipline solidifies into a singularly defined manner of achieving progress. When your sense of identity is linked to a very structured plan of action, any interruption in that plan can evoke feelings of failure regardless of the overall state of affairs.
A rigid plan further emphasizes the emotional impact of smaller issues. A flexible thinker sees missing one workout as mere background noise. A rigid thinker turns it into a story about falling behind and therefore creates increased levels of stress, reduced quality sleep, etc., and ultimately misses additional workouts. The setback itself was never the issue. It was your response to it.
Developing a variety of methods for responding to challenges provides an outlet for athletes to respond appropriately when their typical paths are closed off. A grounded perspective regarding adapting to changes enables athletes to view disruptions to their plans as problems to be solved as opposed to final judgments on their abilities. While this reframing is subtle, it fundamentally impacts how you proceed from here.
Some Common Signs of Being Stuck in One Gear
Recognizing these patterns prior to them costing you a training block can help. Some common indicators include:
- Missing one workout throws off the entire week based upon mental factors more so than physical ones.
- Continuously pushing a plan that is clearly ineffective simply because adjusting the plan would represent quitting.
- Reacting immediately with “all or nothing” thinking whenever an injury occurs or when scheduling issues arise.
- Evaluating each day solely based upon hitting the identical numbers with no consideration for other relevant factors.
- Treating rest as evidence of failure instead of as an essential component of the recovery process.
Do any of these examples resonate with you? Treat these as informational inputs rather than as flaws. Many motivated athletes exhibit rigid characteristics at some point in their careers, primarily because rigid approaches worked for them previously and this past success deserves respect. The ultimate goal is not abandoning structure; rather, the goal is creating an elasticity within your structures so they bend as opposed to break under pressure.
Ways to Develop an Adaptability-Inclined Mindset
As mentioned earlier, mental flexibility is a skill that can be developed similar to developing a motor skills-based movement pattern (i.e., slowly, gradually increasing frequency/repetition). While none of the items listed below guarantee results, they increase your options when unforeseen changes disrupt your plans.
Create contingency plans in advance. Prior to starting each training week, establish what alternative activities you will engage in if a scheduled workout fails to materialize. Establishing alternatives prior to experiencing the disappointment eliminates the panic associated with realizing your backup option is now necessary.
Dissociate your goal from the methodology used to achieve it. Record what you are seeking: improved fitness, enhanced strength, crossing a finish line, having confidence in your capability. The methodologies available to achieve your goals can change when the goal remains constant.
Test the limits of adaptation on easier days by modifying your route, altering the timing of your workouts, attempting variations in formats. Developing comfort with moderate changes creates an openness for larger adaptations.
Acknowledge the emotion associated with feeling frustrated post-setback, yet act as though the emotion did not exist. Normalized frustration following setbacks exists; however, waiting until the frustration subsides before taking proactive measures in a logical direction may create opportunity costs.
View setbacks as localized events vs. season-long events. Losing one week rarely affects an extended progression of training. Viewing the larger scope maintains the relative significance of individual setbacks.
Pick one item above and practice this one aspect for two weeks. The flexibility gained through slow development tends to retain its value longer than rapid changes implemented at once.
Bringing It All Together: Building Adaptability Within Your Training and Recovery Processes
Adaptability in recovery is where this type of mindset likely produces its greatest returns on investment. Those athletes able to adapt tend to listen to their bodies when they call for rest as opposed to perceiving every low-intensity day as lost time. These athletes are less inclined to push beyond a predetermined number simply because they fail to realize the potential consequences. In contrast, athletes who are inflexible may use rest as justification for reduced volume/intensity and then miss out on subsequent opportunities. Coaches observe this phenomenon regularly and report that athletes’ ability to adapt tend to develop while others plateau. Remaining mentally pliable is not indicative of weakness; it is a valuable resource that safeguards consistency throughout your career.
Additionally, using an adaptive mindset reduces the amount of pressure associated with achieving perfection. When you trust yourself enough to adapt, one bad day ceases to be perceived as detrimental. You can train hard while simultaneously allowing yourself the freedom to adapt when life imposes its own demands on your training schedule, which unfortunately occurs frequently for many individuals.
The Larger Perspective
Disruptions such as injuries or setbacks are inevitable components of all active lifestyles ranging from casual weekend warriors to elite competitors. What you can control is how easily adaptable you remain when such events inevitably occur.
While flexible thinking won’t eliminate an injury or give you a personal best; flexible thinking will allow you to continue competing while adapting your approach thereby preventing months of work from being undone due to one disrupted week. Maintain clarity regarding your objective while maintaining looseness regarding your methodology and allow your plan to guide you versus dictate your decisions.
If your stress related to training ever begins influencing your quality of sleep, mood, and/or daily functioning in ways that appear difficult to manage, this is something worthy of serious attention and discussing with a qualified professional is warranted.
Safety Disclaimer
If you or someone you love is in crisis, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. You can also call or text 988, or chat via 988lifeline.org to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Support is free, confidential, and available 24/7.
