Self-talk for Endurance Performance
“Talk to yourself, don’t listen to yourself”
Highlights:
Self-talk can increase time to exhaustion in endurance athletes, allowing them to compete for longer at a submaximal intensity
Motivational self-talk can reduce perceptions of effort in hot conditions allowing for increased performance
Even when RPE is not reduced by self-talk, potential motivation can increase allowing for an increase in maintaining a submaximal effort even when RPE is very high (Wallace et al., 2017)
By adding a counteractive motivational statement to negative self-talk, performance may be increased by up to 4% (Barwood et al., 2015)
By changing the perspective of your self-talk (i.e. from ‘I’ to ‘You’), a 2% increase in your race time could be achieved (Hardy et al., 2019)
Self-talk is any verbalisation where the sender of the message is the intended receiver. Basically, self-talk is what an individual says to themselves, either internally or out loud. These verbalisations can be internal or external, and may be spontaneous, goal-directed, or strategic (Latinjak et al., 2020).
Spontaneous self-talk is automatic and unintended. It is usually related to the current task but serves no purpose. Spontaneous self-talk can be positive or negative, and it usually has a past or future oriented focus. On the other hand, goal-directed self-talk is purposeful. This type of self-talk is related to the task at hand and usually serves a motivational or instructional purpose. Motivational self-talk is used to increase effort, enhance confidence, and to manage intensity levels before and during a performance. Motivational self-talk is beneficial across all types of sport, with a particular benefit seen in strength and endurance performance. Instructional self-talk can direct your attention to the task at hand, help implement a plan and strategy, and aid in the learning and development of skills and techniques. Instructional self-talk is expected to be more beneficial in sports which involve fine motor movements such as shooting and archery. These statements should focus on the tactical elements of a performance rather than the technical execution of a skill. Finally, strategic self-talk is the utilisation of a statement or cue word at pre-determined and specific moments with the purpose of enhancing performance. Strategic self-talk cues can be utilised in pre-performance routines (e.g. penalty kicks, basketball free-throw etc.) or strategies for endurance performance (e.g. mile 1 “smooth and steady”, mile 9 “keep pushing, you can do it”).
Figure 1. Self-talk model (Latinjak et al., 2018).
Self-talk: How it works
According to Hardy et al. (2009), there are four ways in which self-talk impacts our performance. These mechanisms through which self-talk works are cognitive, behavioural, affective, and motivational.
Cognitive mechanisms relate to attention and information processing. The words and statements we say to ourselves can impact what we focus on. You could be ruminating about past mistakes or worrying about something in the future but using trigger words or focus statements could bring your focus and attention back into the present moment, supporting performance, and minimising distraction. Hatzigeorgiadis and colleagues highlighted the benefits of using either motivational or instructional self-talk to mitigate the impacts of internal and distracting thoughts on two water-polo tasks, leading to better performances.
“Alert! Head up, Keep moving!”
Behavioural mechanisms of self-talk can improve or optimise technique by utilising self-talk which externalises our focus of attention. Research using self-talk to optimise movement has found increases in jump performance and greater force production off the ground (Tod et al., 2009) and has also been shown to improve technique through the use of instructional self-talk on a putting task (Bellomo et al., 2019).
“Explode off the ground with force”
Affective mechanisms relate to the effects self-talk can have on emotional regulation. Self-talk can be used to either ‘psych up’ or ‘calm down’ an individual depending on the needs of the sport and an athlete’s pre-competition mind state. Self-talk training with a sample of young tennis players was found to decrease levels of experienced anxiety, whilst increasing confidence (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., 2009). A scoping review on the relationship between self-talk and affective responses highlighted the beneficial impact self-talk can have when pre-planned and used to reduce the impact of anxiety on performance (Fritsch et al., 2022).
“Relax, I can do this”
Motivational mechanisms of self-talk relate to the potential for self-talk to increase confidence and effort levels in athletes. Verbal persuasion if one of four sources of self-efficacy (i.e. belief in abilities) (Bandura, 1977), and not only is this related to another person showing belief in you, but also in how much belief you have in yourself, and using your self-talk to enhance this belief. Hardy and colleagues (2005) found that both instructional and motivational self-talk were positively related to an athlete’s self-efficacy. Furthermore, during a time-to-exhaustion test in a cycling trial, cyclists utilising self-talk were able to perform for longer than a group in a control condition, while no differences were seen in both groups perceived exertion. Therefore, self-talk was assumed to have increased the interventions groups potential motivation to perform at a high submaximal effort.
“When my legs hurt, I say ‘shut up legs!’, do what I tell you to do”
Research: Self-talk and endurance performance
Research into self-talk has attracted a lot of interest from endurance sports. During an endurance race, there is often plenty of time where you can focus on the internal sensations of fatigue and tiredness which may lead to thoughts which are negative and unhelpful. These thoughts can lead to unhelpful emotions such as doubt, which can increase anxiety levels, further impacting performance in a negative manner. Purposefully developing and practicing self-talk plans to help overcome these instances is recommended for endurance athletes of all levels.
According to the psychobiological model of endurance performance, rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is one of the critical factors which can lead to endurance athletes slowing down or stopping. According to Marcora (2019), when maintaining a certain pace, RPE will continually increase over time. The higher our RPE, the more likely we might develop thoughts related to slowing down and stopping. Research has highlighted the beneficial impact self-talk can have on reducing RPE, thus improving performance and allowing for endurance athletes to continue striving for their goals. According to Blanchfield and colleagues (2014), endurance athletes using motivational self-talk (e.g. “Keep going”) reported a reduced rating for RPE when continuing at a sustained and intense effort. Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (2018) used a time-to-exhaustion test which highlighted the positive effects motivational self-talk can have for endurance athletes when performing in hot conditions. The self-talk group were able to produce more force in the final portion of the test in comparison to the control condition group. In a study where participants were asked to write statements with the aim of mitigating the impact of negative self-talk, participants completed a 10km cycling time-trial almost 4% quicker (Barwood et al., 2015). Similarly, in research where participants were asked to add a challenge statement to their negative self-talk (e.g. “This hurts…..but I am going to keep pushing”), the challenging self-talk group outperformed the negative self-talk group significantly (DeWolfe et al., 2020). Finally, when changing the perspective of your self-talk from ‘I’ to ‘you’, endurance athletes performed 2.2% better than those using a first-person perspective (Hardy et al., 2019). This type of self-talk may allow for better emotional regulation as it can create a more objective distance between how you feel and how you might actually be performing.
Overall, there is much support highlighting the positive and beneficial impact of self-talk for endurance athletes, specifically motivational self-talk. Endurance athletes looking to improve their performance and mitigate unhelpful and negative thoughts which may increase the drive to stop or slow down during a race should consider working on their self-talk. The following section will discuss how athletes can develop self-talk plans which they can practice during training before using them in a race-day.
Develop your Self-Talk: IMPACT framework
Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (2014) developed the I.M.P.A.C.T framework to support athletes to develop strategic self-talk plans. This is a step-by-step approach which can be used leading into individual training sessions and specific competitions in order to develop tailored self-talk statements and trigger words aimed at improving your performance. This framework will provide you with the skills to develop an awareness of your self-talk, and to identify what statements and cues work for you during performance.
Identify what you want to achieve
Match self-talk to needs
Practice different cues with consistency
Ascertain which cues work best for you
Create specific self-talk plans
Train self-talk plans to perfection
When IDENTIFYING what you want to achieve, think of how specific self-talk cues and statements can help you to tolerate pain and keep pushing, to refocus on the task at hand, and improve confidence prior to a competition.
In the MATCHING step, the aim is to identify what motivational and instructional cues will help you achieve your chosen outcomes.
Motivational self-talk (e.g “Keep going”, “You're doing great” etc.). During hard endurance events, the strategic use of motivational self-talk has been found to increase your ability to maintain a fixed and hard intensity for up to 20-40% longer before stopping. You can also use motivational self-talk to challenge any unhelpful self-talk that may naturally occur during a performance (e.g “This is really hard…..but I am going to keep pushing” etc.).
Instructional self-talk can be used to improve your form (e.g “Strong stride”, “High knees” etc.), direct your attention to the task at hand (e.g “Explode up the hill”), or to regulate your emotions during a performance (e.g “Calm down”).
These can be combined also, for example, at the start of an interval you might tell yourself to “explode off the ground…” and once you have settled into the rep say “….Keep pushing, keep working..”. Combining self-talk is dependent on the needs of a session or race-day, and also dependent on the preferences of the athlete themselves.
Through PRACTICING a variety of statements and self-talk cues during training, you can reflect on these and ASCERTAIN what works for you and helps you perform, and what is unhelpful. Developing this level of awareness around your self-talk can then allow you to CREATE specific self-talk plans to aid your performance.
An endurance athlete might break these plans down into specific blocks. For a 10 mile race, they might break it up into 5x2mile blocks and utilise certain statements and cues during each block. For example, the first couple of blocks might use statements that help the athletes stay focussed and in control early on (e.g “Steady, feeling great”). The final block might be focussed on using motivational and challenging self-talk to keep going and increasing effort (e.g “I am really suffering….but I am going to dig in and keep going” etc.).
Figure 2. Example self-talk plan for a 10-mile race using the IMPACT framework.
Once you have created a specific self-talk plan, and/or plans, then they must be practiced with consistency.
Tips to start:
Start a training log where you reflect on your self-talk and your mental performance during training. You might ask simple questions such as:
What went well? What was I thinking when it wasn't going well? What can I do to improve next time? What actions will I take? What can I say to myself to stay focused when it gets tough and when I get distracted?
Vary up your self-talk until you find what works for you
·Train instructional self-talk during strides (e.g. “Explode off the ground with force…..explode, explode, explode!”). This is a simple and effective way to begin training self-talk. This can also help by optimising form and training to use an external focus of attention.
Use different perspectives for your self-talk (i.e. ‘you’ vs ‘I’).
Challenge your negative self-talk
You will still experience negative self-talk, but stick to your own plan to overcome these unhelpful thoughts when they arrive.