Mental performance

Mental fatigue, motivation, athlete mental health and the running-wellbeing link.

A small but load-bearing section. Its most directly usable finding is that mental fatigue measurably impairs physical performance, which means a hard day at work is a legitimate input to today's session rather than an excuse. Alongside it sit brain endurance training as an emerging method, self-determination theory applied to exercise adherence, and mental toughness studied specifically in trail runners.

The rest is athlete mental health: the IOC consensus statement and its screening tools, and guidelines for supporting athletes at competitions. Leo does not run those screening tools on you and does not attempt any form of mental health assessment. What this section gives him is the self-determination work, which is why he asks rather than instructs, and why he will not use guilt as a motivator: the evidence says pressure-based coaching produces resistance, not adherence.

Papers in this domain

13 peer-reviewed references. Titles link to the publisher via DOI.

  1. Brain Endurance Training as a Strategy for Reducing Mental Fatigue (BET Review 2025)

    André, Audiffren, Englert · 2025 · DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1616171

  2. IOC Consensus-Driven Guidelines for Athlete Mental Health Support at Sporting Events

    Mountjoy, Sloan, Ali-Zada et al. · 2025 · DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2025-109646

  3. Changing the global obesity narrative to recognize and reduce weight stigma: A position statement from the World Obesity Federation

    Nutter et al. · 2023 · DOI 10.1111/obr.13642

  4. Mental Toughness and Resilience in Trail Runner's Performance

    Gameiro, Rodrigues et al. · 2022 · DOI 10.1177/00315125231165819

  5. Effective behavior change techniques to promote physical activity in adults with overweight or obesity: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

    Carraça et al. · 2021 · DOI 10.1111/obr.13258

  6. IOC SMHAT-1 / SMHRT-1 — Mental Health Screening Tools

    Gouttebarge, Bindra et al. · 2021 · DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102411

  7. A Scoping Review of the Relationship between Running and Mental Health

    Oswald et al. · 2020

  8. Mental Health in Elite Athletes: IOC Consensus Statement (2019)

    Reardon, Hainline et al. · 2019 · DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2019-100715

  9. Are physical activity interventions for healthy inactive adults effective in promoting behavior change and maintenance, and which behavior change techniques are effective? A systematic review and meta-analysis

    Howlett et al. · 2018 · DOI 10.1093/tbm/iby010

  10. Effective behaviour change techniques for physical activity and healthy eating in overweight and obese adults; systematic review and meta-regression analyses

    Samdal et al. · 2017 · DOI 10.1186/s12966-017-0494-y

  11. Successful behavior change in obesity interventions in adults: a systematic review of self-regulation mediators

    Teixeira et al. · 2015 · DOI 10.1186/s12916-015-0323-6

  12. Exercise, Physical Activity, and Self-Determination Theory: A Systematic Review

    Teixeira, Carraca, Markland, Silva, Ryan · 2012 · DOI 10.1186/1479-5868-9-78

  13. Mental Fatigue Impairs Physical Performance in Humans

    Marcora, Staiano, Manning · 2009 · DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.91324.2008

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Other research domains

Injury preventionSports nutritionPhysiology & performance predictionTraining methodologyRunning form & footwearMedical safetyCross-trainingRunner populationsTraining load managementTrail runningHeat & altitudeSleep & recovery