Increasing Mental Toughness

What is your response when you hit a rough patch as an athlete? When you are not performing as expected, do you go through the motions during training sessions and competitions or do you find a way to achieve higher performance levels? When you are not competing at optimal levels, you have two choices, succumb or overcome. Many athletes succumb, or “mentally” give up when performing at subpar levels. The opposite of “giving up” is “mental toughness” and is the defining characteristic of Olympic champions.

Julia Mancuso, 29, is a US World Cup Alpine Skier known for her “mental toughness.” In fact, Mancuso’s teammates nicknamed her “Super Jules” for her fierce competitiveness on the slopes. Mancuso has won four Olympic medals: gold in the 2006 Giant Slalom, silver medals in the 2010 Combined and Downhill and, most recently, the bronze in the 2014 Combined event. Mancuso has won the most Olympic medals of any female American Alpine skier.

Mental toughness isn’t the absence of tough times; it’s persistence despite tough times. Mancuso had an inconsistent 2013 season that affected her confidence, “I let it get in my head and then I started making bad decisions. Every race, it was something different. I was always questioning. I was never confident. Skiing’s mental. It’s a mental game up there. A lot of us know how to ski. Every single girl in the start gate can ski well, especially in the top group. It’s about being mentally prepared and confident.”

Mancuso committed to overcome her performance issue by, first identifying the problem, “what really happened, in a nutshell, is I let a bad result make me question what I was doing.” Secondly, Mancuso took a break from the World Cup circuit and dedicated herself to regain her confidence and mentally tough form for the Sochi Olympic Games, “Being focused on the Olympics has enabled me to stay positive. I do think I perform well at the Olympics because they just really excite me.”

Mancuso takes pride in her mental toughness and her mental game, “At this point in my career, I believe (skiing) is 99 percent mental. I think the training and working on equipment has a lot to do with the mental aspect.” In fact, Mancuso incorporates mental toughness training with her physical training. During the off season while many skiers are resting, Mancuso engages in an unorthodox training regimen of weights, biking and underwater sprints, “It feels so good on your body. Getting into underwater training has helped a lot with mental training… you have to really know your limits and then believe you can push yourself to that limit.”

Mancuso’s mental toughness paid dividends in the Sochi Olympic Games. Mancuso regained her confidence and won the combined event. Commitment to overcoming adversity strengthens mental toughness.

How to Increase Mental Toughness:

You want to learn how to stay focused on what you are doing now. Focusing on past performances will keep you stuck in a rut.
You must commit to overcoming any adversity that comes your way.
You need to create conditions in training that will push your limits.

You must understand that mental toughness training is similar to strength training. By overcoming incremental stress loads over time, mental toughness increases.

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1 thought on “Mancuso Displays Mental Toughness in Sochi”

Jodi Murphy

February 19, 2014 at 6:34 pm

You can’t let one bad game/race, or even 10 bad games/races, get under your skin. Trust that you do know what to do on the field/court! Mental toughness means being able to put the past behind you and not let it undermine your confidence today.