Mental Toughness?

Sounds simple enough, just don’t quit, keep moving, one more step,one more rep,final push and done.

I personally think that a lot more can be achieved in our own workouts, training and in general with stronger mental determination. Does anyone know of any good books and resources for this sort of stuff?

I think its something that can be learned, or rather enhanced.

Just throwing it out there

Raz

 

Not really sure of any good books, mental fortitude was always just a part of my upbringing and I naturally gravitated towards everything from reading material to superheros/cartoons that displayed mental toughness and the will to push on. I've had to do it a lot, especially in the military where "one foot in front of the other" literally becomes what you're focusing on during a 20k ruck march.

I think it can be taught but a person has to have a will to do something. A big part of Marine Corps training, and even more so in specialized combat units, is to help the individual realize their perceived limitations are not where they think they are. It's amazing how far a person can push themselves.

On the flip side, there is a difference from pushing yourself and training to gain skill or develop yourself physically. When you push yourself to your limits and beyond you're not stimulating your body to grow or develop, you're stimulating it to survive the amount of stress you put on it. Mid to long term results are going to be a wiry, scraggly individual that will most likely be very emotional. Personally I think it's good for you to push yourself to extremely high levels of stress to develop a stronger mind, but if you do it too long the mind is the only thing you'll be training and your body will waste away.

 

"Mental toughness" is an excuse for a lot of suboptimal-to-actively counter-productive training in the martial arts, IMHO. Trying to teach people technique when you've completely exhausted them, for example, isn't making them "tough", it's wasting everyone's time.

Personally, I look "tough" when I know what to do and have confidence in my technique.

 

I agree that teaching an individual when they're exhausted is counter-productive, however repetitive practice, builds muscle memory, which allows the body to react without too much thought (if any). This is useful as when under pressure, as if you have to think about the basics of a technique then you're most likely getting deeper into trouble. I would add that only perfect practice makes perfect, and repetition of poor technique is damaging to the goal of progression.

Pushing someone to their limits and beyond can be a useful tool, but it can be difficult in civvy-street to orchestrate that level of pressure / stress unless they are a willing participant. In the martial arts world, we can arrange this in a grading environment, but it does depend on a number of factors and sometimes just doesn't work… again the need for 'willing' engagement.

The mind is a complex beast and when the body feels exhausted, it is often a trick of the mind. The individual can often go much further by drawing on the mental fortitude to believe that the body can endure and (generally) it will.

A simple example of this would be the marathon runner who hits the wall - does he stop, or does he push on, when he pushes through the 'wall' then there is a 'second wind' that allows him to progress to the next level (and challenge)

I think that this is a fascinating area for discussion and look forward to the follow on comments

 

The mind is stronger than the body.

If you push yourself really hard, if you are lucky you will pass out. If you are unlucky you will cause yourself serious injury.

Consistent hard work is far more beneficial than pushing the envelope.

 

There was some more interest in this on youtube when CT Fletcher started his channel with ISYMFS and whether it completely ignores the prevailing view on reps/sets and progressive overload and of course good vs bad form. He would say this is something you cannot learn from books

 

Yes and no. Of course you need to push on through discomfort. However, you need to do this safely. Far too many people cause themselves chronic injury by 'toughing it out', which in the long run only holds you back. I've seen people online brag about how they train so hard every session they can barely walk home and need to put ice on their knees. That's not tough, that's retarded.

To me, mental toughness is not keeping going till I pass out, but to keep practicing as much as possible despite being bored, or wanting to sit in the couch. I try to practice the basics of my art several times per week outside of training. This means spending time doing and hundreds hundreds of reps of a specific sword strike or unarmed maneuver every session, even though it is tiring and rather boring.

That will benefit you in the long run.

 

I have yet to see a situation where someone is being tested for the 'mental toughness' or 'heart' in a martial arts environment that cannot be explained by adequate preparation.

For example...
"Wow that person did great in their 847348392 hour grading. They just kept going even though they were 477293 hours in and tired"

No. They just trained hard to improve their cardio endurance.

"Wow, that person reacted well under pressure and wasn't phased by any situation thrown at them. They are really strong mentally"

No. They have good muscle memory as a result of running over a wide variety of scenarios many times.

I am prepared to listen to your view on this issue, but you are going to have to find a better example. "Hitting the wall" is a physiological thing where the body runs out of the type of fuel it needs to continue with that activity. It is not something you can simply push through.

 

i think if you want to train someone to keep going under hardship, first you have to make them overcome a hardship on something that they ctually like, to achieve a goal they actually want to achieve. you can't force mental toughness on someone; that's just treating them badly and will make them dislike the activity and quit. giving them a challenge that they actually WANT to overcome, though, will make them build that fortitude themselves, and THEN they can apply the ability to overcome hardship to something else.

 

I think you might be thinking of it wrong.

Let's say two people (A and B) are taking that same grading. Both train to the same level, have the same level of cardio, perform to the same level, etc. One progresses past the aforementioned mark, the other gives up because he hits that point and is knackered and allows that to stop him. That has every bit as much to do with mental determination and "heart" as it does to do with their training.

That really hasn't got that much to do with heart though, does it? Having "mental toughness"/"determination"/"heart"/etc is what separates the dude getting his face kicked in while competing in knockdown karate competition from quitting and the other dude from carrying on, regardless of whether or not they think they're winning.

Actually, that's a perfect example. The body hits a point where it literally just wants to stop, that point you can reach no matter how hard you train. What separates one guy from recognising their body really wants to give up and stopping with the other guy that pushes on through?

Using a more personal example, if you're talking about having "heart"...my brother ran the Edinburgh marathon a few months back. 16 miles in he tore the cartilage in his knee.

He limped for the next 8 miles to the finish in order to complete the run because he didn't want to give up. :wow:

I think that's the first time I could ever say I was honestly proud of him. I wanted to thump him so damn hard for it, but I was proud of him at the same time.

 

@ OP: I don't think there's many books on the subject actually. The closest I've come to listening to people I greatly respect talk about having heart are the guys who have pushed on in the face of adversity and managed to find ways to deal with something that logically would stop your average joe altogether. Typically they're guys who have been known to lock themselves away in a room for 4/5/6 hours just repeating the katas over and over again that would make average joe go "I can't do that." - guys like Hirokazu Kanazawa sensi, Morio Higaonna sensei, etc.

Then there's people like Andre Bertel (6th dan) who crushed one of the disks in his spine when he was 12 while lifting weights badly. He was told he would never be able to do karate again. Check him out now, you would never believe it. People like Hideo Ochi (8th dan) who when you watch him still teaching, as old as he is, make you smile and feel damned impressed at an age where every old person I have ever met has pretty much given up on life.

But of course, having that mental fortitude to keep going it not about MA, it's just that MA brings it out in you pretty well. Which is why I have more respect for people like this than many MAists (yeah, it's a compilation clip to promote a dvd, but it's worth watching. First saw it on Russell Howard's Good News):

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE"]LOOK AT YOURSELF AFTER WATCHING THIS.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]

I don't feel it is anything you can teach people. You can't really go "once a week, I'll teach you how to develop your mental fortitude". But it almost always comes down to personal belief, just how much you want something and being incredibly stubborn. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way of achieving it.

At least in my experiences.

 

Hmm, have you ever competed before, or done an extremely physically taxing event? While a sporting environment requires training to build your body up, the event you're training for is often far beyond constructive for your body and tips over into a physically damaging environment due to the required endurance and stress put on the body. One of the biggest things I was taught in boxing was the need to be able to think and perform technique when tired and it is extremely difficult to do, it's purely a mental thing. It's not easy to say "keep your hands up, move, just jab" when you feel like you weigh 1000lbs and can't breath because you just got socked in the gut.

This kind of mental toughness branches out beyond a sporting environment though. I invite you to strap 60lbs on your back and go for a 20k hike in a difficult terrain with limited water in 100 degree weather and 90% humidity to see if you don't have to dig down deep to keep yourself moving. There are limits you just can't simulate in a training environment very often because they're detrimental to building your body up, but if you don't do them every so often you won't know what to expect, how to deal with things, what to think about when you're having a hard time to push through, etc..

 

So I started to write a long reply, but I’ll try to keep this short instead.

It sounds like we have a different definition of mental toughness or whatever. I dislike the use of the word ‘heart’ in a martial arts and I suppose it comes down to the saying ‘you can’t teach heart’ and how I’ve heard people described as being ‘weak’ because they stop going after a certain point. Instead I'm a believer in preparation or more along the saying "more sweat in training, less blood in battle".

In my mind it’s about knowing yourself and having good self control and willpower and appropriate motivations. Some people naturally have more than others, especially in response to certain stressors. Some don’t. Some people don’t have to make a conscious decision to keep going (or not eat that cookie) and others have to weigh up their options first.

So is the person who stops a physical activity because they cannot risk injury because they know they can’t work and provide for their family if injured lack ‘heart’? Not really, they just have a different set of motivations and priorities than others.

The good news is the research shows that you can improve your willpower and self control which is great. But mostly it comes from first knowing yourself and identifying what your motivations are and looking critically at why you do the things you do. Willpower is also not infinite e.g. the stressed person with strict deadlines at work is less likely to be able to resist that cookie. It’s not an easy thing to do, but certainly possible.

And yes Ero, I have competed many times. And in those times done better than I ever thought I would. But the key thing for me was that I prepared myself both mentally and physically. I trained and drilled situations constantly so that I knew what to expect and to reduce the chance of being surprised and increase the chance of acting by instinct rather than conscious thought. I planned ahead and limited distractions so I was as focused as I could be at that time, in that place. I was prepared.

And afterwards, I ate a cookie.

 

No. I think you need to look more into what 'hitting the wall' actually means in physiological terms. Hitting the wall is not when the body wants to stop, it's when the body is physically incapable of continuing, at least not before you ingest some carbs.

Saying you can continue moving after genuinely "hitting the wall" is like saying I can force my car to continue moving after the gas tank is dry.

 

I came off a little "matter-o-fact" didn't I? I should have toned it down, I was honestly asking those questions to know where you're coming from and get a sense of your own experiences.

It can take just as much mental toughness to stop or not do something for one individual while it takes the same amount to keep doing something for another. You have to use your knowledge and understanding of your goals in order to harness your own will power/mental toughness. I believe the former requires more intelligence and experience to manipulate though. You first have to know your limits in that scenario and you don't know your limits until you push yourself. Those who need more will power to do something are generally stereotyped into being lazy, scared, or weak.

I agree with you as you explain it. You make "heart" out to be mindless and uncontrolled and if you're using that as your definition for heart I can't argue with it.

 

Aye very good point.
I recently went to a gym session with someone, when our shift patterns lined up.
He's quite bigger than me and been working out for a lot longer in his life. Anyway, we were doing legs, went in the gym, and for a warm up he did about 1 minute on the rower. Then straight on to 180kg on the leg press.

Most of his sessions are like this, but most of his following days are spent in pain and aching. When I workout I'll always do 10 minutes of cardio at the start and 10 at the end. And apart from occasional doms, especially if im moving up on deadlifts, I have no issues.

Mental toughness has a lot of potenial to cross into stubborn arrogance. I seem to be hitting quite a mental wall at the 10k mark in runs, but I know its mental.

 

But that comes another point to this conversation and that martial arts is largely self selecting, especially when it comes to higher grades and the gradings that commonly take place to get there.

What takes more 'mental toughness', the act of continuing through a grading against great physical stress and adversity or continuing to turn up for class and put in a decent effort week in, week out for many years? They are certainly related in my opinion. Those that have the motivation to continue showing up for training are more likely to have the motivation to prepare for and continue through a difficult experience such as a hard grading.

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen anyone genuinely make a choice to quit at a grading or similar sort of event? Injuries not included of course.

No problems Ero.

I'm not sure if I would say 'heart' is exactly like that. But I think it is a very misused term. In case it's not obvious by my writing, I am a very analytical and clinical thinker, and yes to a fault. I don't like to use terms that are difficult to define and 'heart' or whatever is one of those.

 

To your question, I have been in that spot myself. Sniper School in the Marine Corps is very difficult. You can split it into three categories; it consists of a physical, educational, and skill set aspect (lots of running/"hazing", being able to do a sniper's skill set, and learning the immense amount of information needed to do the job). I was doing something horrible to my body at the start of sniper school that I won't mention that caused me to do absolutely horrible at everything physical. It was so bad that I was causing the rest of the class to have to do extra stuff as punishment to try and get me to wash out. Once I stopped doing this thing that I won't mention to my body (after about 4 weeks) I got up to par with everyone else and I was no longer a problem.

I quit in my mind. Although I was towards the top in the class in both educational and skill level subjects I was so destroyed inside about being weak physically that it had repercussions on everyone else. I've never been that guy, I've always done great at physical things. The only reason I didn't say "I quit" was because I was too lazy to deal with the repercussions of saying I quit (unending harassment from the people in my unit, lack of trust in ability, possibly being kicked out of the sniper platoon) so I didn't. I know that sounds crazy, but inside I quit until I started getting better, I just didn't say it out loud and didn't suck anywhere near enough to be kicked out. One of my 'not so proud' moments in life.

For me I was a failure, even though I passed and did much better than average. I've seen people quit a lot of stuff in the military because it was too hard. For some guys it destroys them or enables a self-pity state. Others are mentally tougher and get better and move past it. There is certainly something to say about mental fortitude/heart for people who fail and try again and keep trying.

I understand the difficulty you have with a term that has such a broad meaning. I've written a lot more in previous posts in this thread that I just deleted and didn't post because I knew how I looked at it was a lot more narrow, a lot more defined and I didn't think the thread would go that route.

 

I think the danger with conceptualising "heart" or "toughness" as personal qualities is that you then imagine they're domain independent, that toughness exhibited by doing lots of push-ups crosses over directly into toughness in competition or in a real fight. My experience is that "tough" runners can be fighting wimps, and half-arsed runners can be scary "tough" fighters because the stressors aren't actually that similar.

More fine-grained still, I've trained with more than one guy who will walk through hell on the feet and keep smiling, but folds like a deckchair as soon as he's on his back.