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Sun Sachs

Elite Sports Coaches and Mental Fatigue: What You Need to Know

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We all know that athletes and other working professionals encounter mental fatigue. It’s in part why breathing exercises and guided meditation have become so popular over recent years. And in the elite athlete population, there’s never been so much emphasis on mental skills training and other psychological practices to improve mental performance.

Yet, there’s very little known about the effect of mental fatigue on elite sports coaches. Sure, they coach the best athletes in their individual sports, but this doesn’t mean they are immune to mental fatigue, burnout, and other stressors.

So, this blog post will highlight the findings of a relatively new study on mental fatigue in elite sports coaches, and then we’ll provide some tips on how coaches can reduce mental fatigue and improve their readiness to perform (and overall wellbeing).

Key takeaways:

  • Elite sports coaches also experience mental fatigue 
  • Very few sports teams optimize mental fatigue in coaches
  • More attention needs to be paid to coaches, their wellbeing, and mental fatigue

What does the science say?

A recent study in the Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance investigated mental fatigue in elite sports coaches over a 16-week preseason period. Physical fatigue, readiness to perform, and mental fatigue were analyzed, alongside other psychobiological markers of stress.

The results found significant individual variability, but also a notable inverse relationship between mental fatigue and readiness to perform. If sports organizations and teams optimized mental performance and fatigue the same way they do athletes, teams could generate a potential competitive advantage at the elite level. 

How can coaches better manage their mental fatigue?

A substantial amount of research in recent years has focused on improving the mental wellbeing of athletes. For example, more sports teams than ever have psychologists, and athletes are taught mental skills such as visualization, self-talk and guided imagery. However, as the aforementioned research indicates, very little has been done in regard to mental fatigue for coaches.

Elite sports coaches are pivotal in the development and success of elite athletes and sports teams. And with the research suggesting high levels of stress, coaches are perhaps more at risk than initially thought. 

So, how can coaches reduce mental fatigue? 

Because there is such an overlap between elite athletes and coaches, it would make sense to apply similar mental and physical fatigue management techniques. Therefore, we recommend the following:

  • Regular monitoring 
  • Know the signs of overtraining & burnout 
  • Stress management 
  • Finding an effective support network

We’ll break down each of these methods in more detail below.

Regular Monitoring 

It’s well known that elite athletes continually monitor their physical and mental performance, including their level of stress, fatigue, and other cognitive demands. Numerous tests and questionnaires can be used to detect early signs of fatigue and stress. However, at Rewire, our athletes use a daily readiness assessment to track their physical and cognitive readiness.

The daily readiness assessment tracks several data points — including cognitive, physical, and emotional measures — to provide a holistic overview of your readiness to perform. Data points include heart rate, sleep, training metrics, reaction time tests, and questions to assess your current levels of stress and rest.

But with the overlap, it may prove beneficial for coaches to also use Rewire to better understand their daily readiness and mental fatigue. 

Know the Signs of Overtraining & Burnout 

While we often discuss the topic of burnout in relation to athletes, workplace burnout is also common and can affect elite sports coaches. Knowing the signs of burnout can help you avoid burnout while alleviating stress.

According to one study, “Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job.”

The following symptoms — taken from the same study — are signs and side effects of burnout:

  • Overwhelming exhaustion 
  • Feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job
  • Ineffectiveness and a lack of accomplishment 

If you think you could be suffering from burnout, stress management techniques could prove useful — more on this below.  

Stress Management 

Elite athletes are known for their ability to successfully manage stress in highly competitive situations while still achieving peak performance. Coaches can take a page out of their own playbook on how to manage stress, adopting some of the strategies they — or the team’s psychologists — recommend for their athletes, such as:

  • Guided breathing exercises
  • Mediation 
  • Positive visualization 

In particular, box breathing and 5-10 breathing exercises can be especially helpful. 

The Rewire app includes numerous guided mindset and recovery sessions, including mindfulness and recovery, evening wind-down routines, and guided stress and anxiety relief sessions. 

Furthermore, the standard advice also applies: get plenty of exercise, eat a well-balanced diet full of nutritious foods, and take good care of your body and mind.

Finding an Effective Support Network

If you’re an elite sports coach, you likely already have access to a network of other coaches, sports psychologists, and professionals you can speak to. Finding an effective support network can help relieve stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue. 

Reduce mental fatigue & improve coaching performance

Elite sports coaches are not immune to mental fatigue, stress, and burnout. However, not enough is being done to support elite coaches. If sports teams were to better optimize the health, mental fatigue, and daily readiness of their coaches, they could potentially improve overall team performance.

If you’re a sports coach, you can use the Rewire platform to perform a daily readiness assessment, guided sessions to reduce stress and anxiety, and overall, gain better clarity on mental fatigue (and how to avoid it)

Book a consultation and find out how to best use Rewire for teams

Sun Sachs

How to be a Good Coach in Sports

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“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” – John Wooden.

It doesn’t matter who you coach — whether a youth sports team, the starting line-up for an international event, or a track and field team at your local University, you want to do a good job — you want your athletes to succeed. 

The better at coaching you are, the better your performance from the individual athletes.

But how do you become a good coach? And what separates good from great?

This blog post will outline seven proactive ways to become a good coach, helping you get the most out of your athletes.

Key takeaways:

  • What works for one athlete may not work for another (adopt an individual approach)
  • Learn how to communicate effectively (and deliver feedback w/o resentment)
  • Adopt two-way communication with your athletes

Stay up to date with the latest research

A good coach most likely already knows a lot about their sport. But even the most knowledgeable coach should keep up to date with the latest research, coaching, and training techniques.

For example, you could attend workshops that discuss other training components, such as nutrition and psychology. 

Improving your skill set and remaining up to date with the research ensures you get the most out of your team. You can find marginal gains here and there, implementing new techniques when necessary. 

You don’t need to incorporate all of your learnings, either. But you can try, test, and learn to see what works best for you and your athletes.

Know how to motivate your athletes

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Bobby Knight, former American basketball coach.

No athlete is motivated for every single training session — that’s just the way that it is. However, a good coach knows how to tap into each athlete’s unique motivators and goals, helping increase motivation and drive. For example, one athlete may respond well to a challenge or competition, while another may benefit from positive reinforcement or constructive feedback.

Find what works best for each athlete, and do that.

It’s your job as the coach to motivate your athletes and drive them toward success.

Listen to your athletes

A lot of coaches do an excellent job of instructing and guiding their athletes but often fall short when it comes to maintaining effective communication. Your athletes need to feel heard and understood, and you need to take on board what they have to say. 

To achieve this, strive to create an environment where athletes feel comfortable expressing how they feel. One way to do this is to be available. For example, you can stay late after training if they want to speak to you, and you can also incorporate an open-door policy.

Adopting open communication can help improve athlete performance, coaching philosophies, and more. Let’s use the example of an athlete who is experiencing sharp knee pain but is supposed to run laps…

If the athlete does not feel confident to confide in their coach, they’ll run through the pain and make it worse. They might even cause themselves an injury. Conversely, if the athlete feels like they can talk to their coach, they can express their pain and frustrations and adapt the training as needed.

Communication is a two-way street — you have to want to listen to your athletes and not just close the book on what they have to say, but take the feedback onboard.

Adapt your training to each athlete

While you may have a team of athletes, no two athletes respond to training the same. One athlete may need more recovery, and another might respond differently to a certain type of training (e.g., one athlete who runs 50 miles a week may improve at a rapid rate, while another thrives on a lower 30 miles a week training volume).

Instead of prescribing the exact same training to each athlete, adapt the training to suit their abilities. If you’re just starting out in a coaching role, finding what works best can take some time. But a good place to start is simply by speaking to your athletes — ask what type of training they prefer, how their recovery is after certain sessions, and so on… a lot can be learned from a quick conversation!  

Develop excellent communication skills 

Knowing how to talk to your athletes is a must-have skill. If you don’t know how to communicate effectively, then you’ll struggle to motivate your athletes. Furthermore, clear and concise communication is key during a game or competition — you give instructions to improve team performance.

Work on your communication and you’ll see a big return in how your team listens and implements your instructions.

Foster a positive team culture 

Building a positive team culture will help your team thrive. You could have the best players in the world, but with poor culture and zero team dynamics, they’ll struggle to perform consistently at a high level.

As a coach, aim to build a culture that you would want as an athlete. It’s your responsibility to create an environment where your athletes feel valued, motivated, respected, and a part of the team.

Below are a few ways you can start building team culture:

  • Encourage open communication
  • Set short and long-term goals as a team
  • Perform team bonding activities
  • Celebrate small victories

Prioritize rest & recovery

We touched upon this briefly already. However, no two athletes are the same, especially when it comes to rest and recovery. Despite this, measuring rest and readiness can be difficult — how do you know when to step on the gas and when to sit back and take it easy?

Rewire for Teams provides your athletes with a daily readiness assessment. We factor in a mix of cognitive, emotional, and physical readiness scores to determine how ready they are for training. As a coach, you can use these scores to decide what training sessions to do, for what athletes, and who might need a rest day.

“Rewire’s Readiness Assessment gives me really valuable insights into all aspects of my Readiness and allows me to make better training and recovery decisions.” – Laura Kline, Elite ultra runner & endurance athlete.

Find out more about Rewire for Teams.

Matthew Mace

How to Motivate a Team After a Bad Loss

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The whistle blows, and it’s game over. The other team won, they’re running around the pitch celebrating, and the only thing on your mind is worrying about how you’ll talk to your team in the locker room.

They don’t want to be there, everyone is disappointed, and the last thing you want to do is pick apart the game to understand what happened and why you lost. However, your role as a coach is to motivate your team and lift morale — so how do you do it?

This blog post will provide actionable advice to help you come back from a bad loss, including tips on improving motivation and others to improve performance in certain areas of your game. 

Key takeaways:

  • Focus on the positives 
  • Set new short-term goals
  • Lead by example

Focus on what the team did well

After a loss, it’s easy to focus on what went bad — maybe the team wasn’t working with each other, perhaps your possession was poor, or possibly the other team just played better than you. 

But instead of focusing on the bad, do your best to focus on the good. There are always positives that can be found, even in the worst of defeats. This is not something you need to do by yourself, either.

Make a team activity of it. After a loss, ask each player one thing they think went well, either as a team or an individual performance — it doesn’t have to be something they did well, it can also be a teammate.  

If you have eleven players, that’s eleven positives to motivate, inspire, and get you back on the pitch for your next game!

Analyze the performance and learn from the mistakes

While focusing on what went well, even after a loss, can be extremely beneficial, you still need to analyze overall performance and put together a strategy to learn from any mistakes.

For example, while your short passing may have been great — a positive to note down — perhaps your long passing could have been better. Make a list of things that didn’t go so well, and focus on adding these elements to practice sessions before your next game.

For the sake of example, let’s say you play football — your list of things to improve may look like this:

  • Short passing
  • Spatial awareness
  • Crossing from a corner
  • Applying pressure 

Focus on improving the weaker areas of the team within training, helping to improve performance for your next game. It’s a simple task, but a much-needed one.

Set new goals and get your team focused 

Once you have your two lists: one of the things the team did well, and another of areas that can be improved, it’s time to set new goals. And while you may already have long-term goals, short-term goals, i.e., for the next game(s), can help increase motivation and focus.

For example, you may set a goal for the team to control majority possession in their next game. If you know this is a weak area, then focusing on this will challenge your team to improve under pressure.

Even when things are going bad, and you can’t seem to catch a break, you can stack these smaller wins — you held majority possession, you improved your short passing, your crossing from a corner got better, and so on…

Over the next few games and weeks, you can turn weak areas of your game into not necessarily strengths, but stronger aspects of your game.

Don’t blame one player

At the end of the day, a team sport is exactly that: a team sport. 

You celebrate the victories together just as much as you celebrate the defeats.

As a coach, it’s all too easy to blame one player. But usually, this is not only not true, but if you were to blame one player, you’d knock their confidence and motivation. 

Instead, talk to all players…

Ask them what they think went well (and what didn’t go so well), and then you provide feedback on the same points. 

Try to give constructive feedback, such as: “Your short passing was great, but if we improve your long passing, we’ll control the field even better.” 

When giving feedback, do not blame one player. Instead, provide positive and constructive feedback to all athletes. Tell them what they can work on and what, if they continue to do, will result in great performances.

Foster a supportive team environment

Remind your team that you are not alone when facing setbacks — you win and lose together. You work on weaknesses together, and soon, you will win together.

Encourage open and honest communication. Allow players to express their concerns, frustrations, and ideas. Create bonding activities and experiences that allow players to get to know each other better, helping to grow as a team.

Inspire and lead by example

And finally, it’s important to lead by example. If you expect your players to stay late after training, you also stay late. If you want them to work on their weaknesses, you help them work on those areas.

If you expect (and ask) your players to be on time for training, you better be on time.

It’s easy to do, but you must stick with it. Plus, leading by example often helps foster a supportive team environment.

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence…If you’re in control, they’re in control.

Tom Landy, professional American football player and coach

To summarize 

A bad loss can kill the vibe of any team, bringing you down from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. 

You can feel it in the locker room, on the pitch, and in your next training session. But the sooner you can put the loss behind you, the better. You — and your team — must focus on moving forwards.

Set new goals, evaluate what went well (and what could be improved), and create a game plan to help your team come back stronger than ever.

Sun Sachs

Overview of Rewire’s Neuro-Training System

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What is Neuro-Training?

Neuro-Training is cognitive training that involves mentally fatiguing activities to induce mental fatigue to help augment training stimulus and build more resilience.  The traditional way of building mental resilience and grit is to push your body very hard during training, hoping for a side effect that translates to more resilience. The problem is that while this works initially it has diminishing returns over time and can lead to burnout and injury as you will need to continually push yourself harder and harder to realize some form of benefit. Neuro-training is a direct path to mental resilience and targets the specific area of the brain responsible for goal driven behavior, sustained attention and the perception of effort. Neuro-training allows to you to layer on additional cognitive load without the negative consequences or risk of injury from over training. Learn More

How it Works

The Rewire system allows you to perform neuro-training before, during and after workouts using the built-in cognitive training system in the Rewire app in combination with the patented Neuro-Training hardware (only needed for brain training while working out). The most common response inhibition test is called the Stroop test where the subject tries to match the ink color (large word) with the matching word meaning (small word).

(On Left) example of neuro-training workout | (On Right) example of neuro-training Stroop task

How Does the Neuro-Training Hardware Work?

The neuro-training hardware consists of patented ergonomically designed buttons and straps that allow you to perform audio and visual based brain training tasks while working out. This first-to-market innovation enables a brand new way to train both the mind and body at the same time.

Running Example

Cycling Example (For Indoor Use Only)

Features of the Neuro Performance System

  • Neuro-Training hardware consisting of ergonomically designed buttons and straps, wireless Bluetooth technology with rechargeable batteries
  • Library of neuro-training workouts that can be done before, during and after workouts
  • Connects with standard power meters and heart rate monitors to track physical performance
  • Audio and visual-Based neuro-training
  • Voice controls (audio only neuro-training)
  • Comprehensive training analytics for cognitive and physical analysis over time
  • Custom workout builder for creating workouts for a variety of different sports including:
    • Cycling (indoor use only)
    • Duathlon
    • Functional Fitness
    • Flexibility Training
    • Powerlifting
    • Running
    • Triathlon
    • Walking
    • Weightlifting
    • Yoga
    • And More
Custom workout builder for creating mental and physical workouts

What is the Science Behind Neuro-Training?

The science of brain endurance training (BET) was first established in 2009 and has been validated across a variety of different sports. As validated in the lab and numerous peer reviewed studies, BET works by targeting the anterior cingluate cortex (ACC) with a specific type of cognitive task called response inhibition i.e. impulse control tasks.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is the frontal part of the cingulate cortex that resembles a “collar” surrounding the frontal part of the corpus callosum

Many studies attribute specific functions such as error detection, anticipation of tasks, attention, motivation, and modulation of emotional responses to the ACC.  In the landmark study in 2009 and subsequent studies, scientist proved that the ACC is also responsible for managing the perception of effort which has been shown to be a limiter to athletic performance when this part of the brain is fatigued during challenging physical and mental efforts.

These response inhibitory tasks such as Stroop task, go/no-go and others add more cognitive load to the brain creating an adaptation overtime that translates to a greater level mental resilience translating to improved physical performance when an athlete is under mental and physical stress

Read Studies

What Athletes & Coaches Are Saying

“As a professional athlete, I’ve known firsthand the importance of training the mind and body to push the limits of performance. Rewire’s latest platform makes mental strength training more accessible to athletes everywhere with easy-to-use tools to help them reach their goals.”

Kyle Korver NBA All-Star & Director of Player Affairs and Development for the Atlanta Hawks

“I have been using the app for a few months. It has helped me set the proper mindset before workouts, disconnect before bedtime, and gauge my mental readiness on a daily basis. I have also been enjoying working on the Neuro-Training component during some of my indoor rides.”

Matt Hanson Professional Triathlete and Coach

“With the app it’s giving you a controlled environment and structure so that you can choose when you want to to add mental training to your workouts and you can do it as often as you’d like.“

Laura Kline Elite Ultra Runner & Endurance Athlete

“Mental health and strength is so super powerful, but despite that, athletes rarely train it. With Rewire Fitness there is a new platform where it’s accessible and easy to train.”

Marc Anthony Klok Professional Footballer | Liga 1 club Persib Bandung and the Indonesia national team

Neuro-Training Sports Examples

These examples are to give some idea of how one may fit neuro-training into fairly standard weekly plans and periodisation models for the given example scenario. These are not exhaustive but aim to put some paradigm and context to the above information. 

Endurance Athlete

  • More neuro-training in base building, off-season and pre-season phases and less in-season.
  • Try to avoid neuro-training before key workouts and races. 
  • Good times for neuro-training: during or around easy volume (60-90mins Zone 2 of a 5-zone model for instance). 

Team Sport Athlete

  • More neuro-training in base building, off-season and pre-season phases and less in-season.
  • Try to avoid neuro-training before skill training and game days.  
  • Good times for neuro-training: Conditioning days, easy lifting days, rest days. 

Strength Sport Athlete

  • More neuro-training in base building, off-season and pre-season phases and less in-season.
  • Try to avoid neuro-training before technically challenging days, key sessions and competition days.  
  • Good times for neuro-training: Conditioning days, easy lifting days, rest days.

Ready to Change the Way You Train?

Level-up your mental and physical performance by ordering Rewire’s Neuro Performance System today (available while supplies last).

ORDER NEURO PERFORMANCE SYSTEM TODAY
Sun Sachs

Exclusive Offer to Become a Founding Investor of Rewire Fitness

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Exclusive Offer to Our Rewire Community

We’re offering our Rewire community an exclusive opportunity to invest in the Rewire business and become a founding investor this month (October 2022).

Market Trends
When it comes to investing they say timing is everything and this is literally the perfect time to consider investing in Rewire. The mindful movement trend has become a $29 Billion dollar market with brands like Nike, Under Armour, Hyperice, Therabody, Othership, Breathwork and others doubling down on the “Mental Fitness” category. Rewire Fitness is the first to market, patented solution that provides holistic readiness, mindset recovery and resilience training for athletes using evidence based solutions from neuroscience, NASA, the military and sports science. According to the research group Mintel, mental and emotional well being is now the #1 reason for exercising and with athlete burnout and overtraining on the rise, the Rewire solution needs to be in the hands of athletes all around the world.

How will Funding be Used?
This funding will go directly into continuing the mission of helping athletes around the world by supporting the ongoing development of new product features, the launch of our new Teams product and Neuro-Training hardware.


“Rewire is a product built by athletes for athletes. Our mission is to help you reach your full potential and avoid burnout by providing tools that improve mindset, readiness and resilience. We have a market-leading product with deep IP that harnesses the best science and technology to help athletes and teams around the world. We hear from many of you every day about how helpful Rewire is to your performance and well-being. This keeps us constantly inspired and motivated to continually improve the product. We also have a fantastic group of investors, advisors, and partners who love what we’re doing and believe in our mission. If you feel the same about what we’re doing please join us in becoming a founding investor of Rewire Fitness.”

Sun Sachs, CEO & Co-Founder, Rewire Fitness

Company Facts

  • Rewire holds a U.S. Patent with international patents pending
  • Prior funding rounds included investments from sports brands and athletes including Under Armour and notable pro athletes such as NBA All-Star, Kyle Korver & 7 other professional athletes from around the World
  • Rewire created an advisory board with notable scientists, human performance experts and athletes in Sept 2021
  • Techstars Sports Accelerator Alumni (Q2 2022)
  • Rewire launched a closed beta program for teams and coaches in Jan 2022 which is set to launch in Nov 2022
  • Rewire’s first-to-market neuro-training system hardware is launching in Dec 2022

Requirements of Investors

  • At this time we can only receive investments from accredited investors
  • Minimum investment amount: $5,000 USD

Investment Terms

Rewire is raising $250,000 on a SAFE note with a $8M Post
No additional terms, discounts or incentives are being offered at this time

Offer Ends on October 31st, 2022
If you feel strongly about what we’re doing and would like to learn more about becoming a founding investor in the Rewire business please reach out to us as soon as possible as this opportunity will no longer be available beyond this month (Ends on October, 31st 2022). [email protected]