Picture this. You are deep into a Hyrox race, hands on the sled, with months of training behind you. Then your vision narrows, your breathing turns shallow, and a very firm voice inside tells you to stop, right now.
Most athletes call this hitting the wall and assume the body has run out. Sometimes that is only part of the story. What may also have changed is how your brain is reading the situation.
The wall may be partly a brain decision
For a long time fatigue was explained as a purely physical event: the muscles run out of fuel and stop. One idea in sports science, still debated, is that fatigue is partly a protective judgement made by the brain.
On this view, your brain is quietly collecting information throughout a race. How hot are you? How fast is your heart beating? How much is left to do? When the sums start to look risky, it is thought to turn the effort down before any real damage is done. Heavy legs and the urge to stop may be how that decision reaches you.
If so, it is a good system. It keeps you safe. The trouble is that an anxious, overloaded brain may pull the brake earlier and harder than the body needs.
What panic does to your pacing
Hard effort is uncomfortable. That part is normal. Panic is something extra that gets layered on top, and it is expensive.
When the brain's alarm system fires, the body tends to follow. This tense state is often linked with fast, busy brain activity that practitioners call high beta. You may notice some of these:
- Tight shoulders, jaw and hands, which waste energy on muscles that are not doing the work.
- Short, high breathing that never quite fills the lungs.
- Jerky rhythm on the ski erg or rower, with surges followed by long pauses.
- Catastrophic thoughts, such as being sure you cannot finish, well before your body agrees.
- Slow transitions, because your heart rate will not settle on the run into the next station.
None of this is weakness. It is a nervous system doing its job a little too enthusiastically.
Mental toughness is less about shouting at yourself and more about staying quiet inside while the work is loud.
How neurofeedback trains a calmer response
Neurofeedback is a way of showing your brain its own activity so that it can practise a steadier pattern. Small sensors rest on your scalp and read the tiny electrical signals your brain produces. They only read. Nothing is sent into your brain.
A computer turns those signals into feedback you can hear and see. When your brain shifts towards the pattern being encouraged, the sound or picture responds. The idea is that, over many repetitions, the brain learns what that state feels like and how to get back to it.
For athletes, two rhythms are often of interest. The first is SMR, short for sensorimotor rhythm, a calm and steady rhythm linked with a still body and an alert mind. The second is alpha, the relaxed but awake rhythm you slip into when you are at ease. Training these may help you keep the alarm quieter while the effort stays high.
Every client begins with a 19-channel brain map, which takes about an hour and a half. You can read more about the process on our what to expect page.
What the training aims for
Everybody responds differently, and brain training is not a shortcut around fitness. For an athlete, the aims of training are things like these, though none of them can be promised:
- Discomfort that feels more like information and less like an emergency.
- A smoother, more even rhythm on the machines.
- Settling more quickly between stations.
- Better sleep in a heavy training week, which matters more than most of us admit.
Sleep and recovery deserve their own attention. If you are flat, irritable and going backwards in the gym, you may want to read about nervous system burnout in heavy lifting. Runners facing a long day out may find the piece on mental endurance at the Comrades useful too.
Where it fits in your training
Neurofeedback is a complement to good coaching, sensible programming, enough food and enough sleep. It cannot replace any of them.
It is also not a tool for overriding real warning signs. Chest pain, fainting, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or a racing, irregular heartbeat during exercise need a doctor first. The aim is a calmer brain, not a brain that ignores the body.
Training sessions last 45 to 60 minutes and begin with a short check-in on how you are feeling.
Common questions
Can neurofeedback make me fitter or faster?
Not directly. Neurofeedback does not build your engine or your strength; training does that. What it may help with is how calmly your nervous system responds to hard effort, so that more of the fitness you already have is available on race day. Results vary from person to person, and nobody can promise you a finishing time.
Do I have to exercise during a neurofeedback session?
No. You sit still while sensors on your scalp read your brain activity, and the feedback comes through sound and a screen. The skill you practise is settling and steadying your own brain activity. The hope is that it then becomes easier to find that steadier state in the middle of a hard workout, though that differs from person to person.
Is neurofeedback safe for athletes?
Neurofeedback is non-invasive. The sensors only read your brain's electrical activity, in the same way a heart rate strap reads your pulse, and nothing is sent into your brain. If you have a medical condition, speak to your doctor before starting.
How soon before a race should I start?
There is no fixed answer, because every brain learns at its own pace. Brain training is gradual learning, a little like building an aerobic base, so it makes more sense to think about it during a training block than in race week. Everything starts with a brain map, and you are welcome to contact us to ask how it might fit around your season.
The wall is real, but it is not always where you think it is. If you would like to find out what your brain is doing under pressure, you are welcome to get in touch with us in Krugersdorp and we can talk it through.
- hyrox
- crossfit
- functional fitness
- mental toughness
- athletes
