Toughness training for life- review

“Stress management is more than removing stressors from your life”

That is simply unsustainable. Instead, it is about becoming more adaptable and resilient to the stressors that are inevitable in life.

This book approaches stress looking at physical, mental and emotional balance. The author, Jim Loehr, draws on his experience working with athletes and outlines practical and easy to understand plans that everybody can implement.

Train the mind

In physical terms, you train, rest and you become a bit fitter. Too much training will lead to breakdown, too little and you become lazy and apathetic. The same applies to mental and emotional capabilities. Instead of avoiding challenges, Loehr describes how looking for events and actions that allow you to be stretched. This is then balanced by a suitable recovery period to allow you to adapt. This constant stress\ recovery cycle is natural, too much of either leads to sub optimal performance.

This theory of looking for challenges is a bit different from current societal values that seek to avoid challenge, and protect the young from risks and failure. This leads to an unhealthy development; it teaches avoidance and dependence. When the young person does face a big challenge that is unavoidable they are ill prepared for it.

Summary

Having studied and practised the mental and physical side of things a fair bit, this was more of a refresher for me. I hadn’t really thought about the emotional side of stress\ recovery before in this context and it makes a lot of sense.

I would recommend this book for all athletes, coaches and people who wake up in the morning and groan at what lies ahead. A good read.

Read more on how to develop Mental Toughness here