Maximizing the Benefits of a Cognitive Training Program: A Step-by-Step Guide
Cognitive training is a powerful tool that can help athletes enhance their mental performance on the field. Whether you're a coach, a sports psychologist, or an athlete yourself, you'll want to make sure that your cognitive training program is as effective as possible.
Cognitive training is a powerful tool that can help athletes enhance their mental performance on the field. Whether you're a coach, a sports psychologist, or an athlete yourself, you'll want to make sure that your cognitive training program is as effective as possible. In this article, we'll take a deep dive into how to progress a cognitive training program and get the most out of it.
Step 1: Analyze Your Athlete's Data
After your athlete has completed their training program, it's time to assess how they performed and identify areas for improvement. The Soma Analytics baseline comparison tool provides a breakdown of each individual cognitive task and an overall comparison. This will help you determine which cognitive demands have improved and which ones still need work.
Step 2: Utilize the Soma Profiling Tool
The Soma profiling tool gives a quick overview of each task's cognitive measures and which percentage was elite, average, or poor. This can give you a good sense of how your athlete's data trended over the course of the training program.
Step 3: Focus on Weaknesses
When designing your athlete's next cognitive training program, focus on their weakest cognitive demand from the previous plan. Then, add elements of the stronger cognitive demands in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of weak to strong demands. This will help your athlete continue to build on their strengths while also addressing their weaknesses.
Step 4: Avoid Boredom with New Tasks
To avoid boredom, consider incorporating new tasks into your athlete's next training program. If you do choose to use tasks from the previous program, add specialised training modes to increase the cognitive load and provide a new stimulus.
Step 5: Apply Intensity, Duration, and Specialised Modes
Just like in physical training, there's no magic cognitive training task. The key to success is in the reps, sets, rest combinations, and layers within a training plan. The same applies to cognitive training. Increase the overall cognitive load on your athlete's brain by applying sufficient intensity, duration, and specialised modes.
Summary
🧠 Cognitive training is an effective tool to improve athletes' mental performance on the field.
📊 The Soma Analytics baseline comparison tool can help assess an athlete's performance and identify areas for improvement.
📈 The Soma profiling tool gives a quick overview of an athlete's cognitive measures and can show trends over time.
🔍 When designing the next training program, it's important to focus on the athlete's weaknesses and add elements of the stronger cognitive demands in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio.
🆕 To avoid boredom, consider incorporating new tasks and specialised training modes to increase cognitive load and provide a new stimulus.
💪 The key to success in cognitive training is applying sufficient intensity, duration, and specialised modes to increase the overall cognitive load on the athlete's brain.
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