Excelsior

Follow us on

excelsiorathletic@gmail.com

07976 306 494

Main Menu

Latest Blog Entry

New book published: ‘Coaches’ Corner’
7th November 2024
Essays to help sports coaches and P.E. teachers. My latest book, ‘Coaches’ Corner,’ is now available to buy on Amazon. It contains over 50 essays about athletic development, coaching, and physical education based on my work over the last ten years as Head Coach of Excelsior Athletic Development Club. How and what I’ve coached has […]
More

User login

Lost password?

Toughness training for life- review

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

toughness trainingThat 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

Comments

  1. […] to Jim Loehr (https://excelsiorgroup.co.uk/blog/toughness-training-for-life-review/) the environment in which one trains is very important for developing mental […]

  2. […] the body tough and the mind will follow. A certain mental toughness is required to put on your running shoes and take that first step out on a dark winter’s […]

  3. […] My other favourite sport psychology book is Jim Loehr’s Mental Toughness Training for Life” […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Client Testimonials

Louise Helyer – Modern Pentathlete, Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Epee
I have been working with James since September 2009, with a history of becoming injured in winter months our main goal was to over come this and help my core/hip area to become more stable thus enabling me to run at my full potential. Not only have I made it through the winter months without gaining the usual knee injuries I have also improved my performance to currently become one of the top ranked athletes.
 
More

Upcoming Courses