Exercising Willpower: Differences in Willpower Depletion Among Athletes and Nonathletes

Hoffer, Adam J.; Giddings, Lisa

doi:10.1111/coep.12150

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(99 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, the fact that athletes' self-control competencies initiated the causal paths between self-control and motivation reflect that athletes in the competitive nature of elite sport possess strong self-control and willpower competencies (Hoffer & Giddings, 2016). These mental characteristics have been found to help athletes stay focused on the task at hand and guide their performance toward goal achievements (Boes, Harung, Travis, & Pensgaard, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Temporal Ordering of Motivation and Self-Control: A Cross-Lagged Effects Model

Jordalen

Lemyre

Durand‐Bush

et al. 2020

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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Mechanisms leading to cognitive energy depletion in performance settings such as high-level sports highlight likely associations between individuals’ self-control capacity and their motivation. Investigating the temporal ordering of these concepts combining self-determination theory and psychosocial self-control theories, the authors hypothesized that athletes’ self-control capacity would be more influenced by their motivation than vice versa and that autonomous and controlled types of motivation would predict self-control capacity positively and negatively, respectively. High-level winter-sport athletes from Norwegian elite sport colleges (N = 321; 16–20 years) consented to participate. Using Bayesian structural equation modeling and 3-wave analyses, findings revealed credible self-control → motivation → self-control cross-lagged effects. Athletes’ trait self-control especially initiated the temporal ordering of the least controlled types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic, integrated, and amotivation). Findings indicate that practicing self-control competencies and promoting athletes’ autonomous types of motivation are important components in the development toward the elite level. These components will help athletes maintain their persistent goal striving by increasing the value and inherent satisfaction of the development process, avoiding the debilitating effects of self-control depletion and exhaustion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Temporal Ordering of Motivation and Self-Control: A Cross-Lagged Effects Model

Jordalen

Lemyre

Durand‐Bush

et al. 2020

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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show abstract

“…Clearly, ultra-endurance sports pose a multitude of self-regulatory challenges that likely far outweigh boredom in their magnitude and salience. For example, exerciseinduced pain, as well as having to employ willpower and effort toward reaching one's sporting goal, are frequently associated with (ultra-)endurance sports [28][29][30][31]. Indeed, subjective pain, perception of exertion, and willpower have all been described as being particularly relevant in ultra-endurance sports [32][33][34][35].…”

Section: Self-regulatory Challenges and Action Crises During Competit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

24 hours on the run – Does Boredom matter for ultra-endurance athletes’ crises?

Weich¹,

Schüler²,

Wolff³

2022

Preprint

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Sport and exercise can be boring. In the general population, thinking of sports as boring has been linked to exercising less. However, less is known about the role of boredom in people who partake in ultra-endurance competitions: Do these athletes also associate their sports with boredom, and does boredom pose a self-regulatory challenge that predicts if they encounter a crisis during an ultra-endurance competition? Here, we investigate these questions with a sample of N = 113 (n = 34 female) competitors of a 24h hour running competition aged M = 37.6 ± 13.8 years. n = 23 very extreme athletes competed as single starters or in a relay team of two, and n = 84 less extreme athletes competed in relay teams of four or six. Before the run, athletes completed self-report measures on sport-specific trait boredom, as well as the degree to which they expected boredom, pain, effort, and willpower to constitute self-regulatory challenges they would have to cope with. After the run, athletes reported the degree to which they actually had to deal with these self-regulatory challenges and if they had faced an action crisis during the competition. Analyses revealed that very extreme athletes displayed a significantly lower sport-specific trait boredom than less extreme athletes (p = 0.024, d=-0.48 ). With respect to self-regulatory challenges, willpower, pain and effort were expected and reported at a much higher rate than boredom. However, only boredom was as a significant predictor of experiencing a crisis during the competition (Odds Ratio = 12.5, p = 0.02).Our results show that boredom matters for highly active athletes too. That the experience of boredom - and not more prototypical competition-induced challenges, such as pain or effort - was linked to having an action crisis highlights the relevance of incorporating boredom into the preparation for a race and to the performance management during competition.

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“…Clearly, ultra-endurance sports pose a multitude of self-regulatory challenges that likely far outweigh boredom in their magnitude and salience. For example, exercise-induced pain, as well as having to employ willpower and effort toward reaching one’s sporting goal, are frequently associated with (ultra-)endurance sports [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Indeed, subjective pain, perception of exertion, and willpower have all been described as being particularly relevant in ultra-endurance sports [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

24 Hours on the Run—Does Boredom Matter for Ultra-Endurance Athletes’ Crises?

Weich

Schüler

Wolff

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sport and exercise can be boring. In the general population, thinking of sports as boring has been linked to exercising less. However, less is known about the role of boredom in people who participate in ultra-endurance competitions: Do these athletes also associate their sports with boredom, and does boredom pose a self-regulatory challenge that predicts if they encounter a crisis during an ultra-endurance competition? Here, we investigate these questions with a sample of N = 113 (n = 34 female) competitors of a 24 h hour running competition, aged M = 37.6 ± 13.8 years. In this study, n = 23 very extreme athletes competed as single starters or in a relay team of 2, and n = 84 less extreme athletes competed in relay teams of 4 or 6. Before the run, athletes completed self-report measures on sport-specific trait boredom, as well as the degree to which they expected boredom, pain, effort, and willpower to constitute self-regulatory challenges they would have to cope with. After the run, athletes reported the degree to which they actually had to deal with these self-regulatory challenges and if they had faced an action crisis during the competition. Analyses revealed that very extreme athletes displayed a significantly lower sport-specific trait boredom than less extreme athletes (p = 0.024, d = −0.48). With respect to self-regulatory challenges, willpower, pain, and effort were expected and reported at a much higher rate than boredom. However, only boredom was as a significant predictor of experiencing a crisis during the competition (odds ratio = 12.5, p = 0.02). Our results show that boredom also matters for highly active athletes. The fact that the experience of boredom—and not more prototypical competition-induced challenges, such as pain or effort—were linked to having an action crisis highlights the relevance of incorporating boredom into the preparation for a race and to the performance management during competition.

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Exercising Willpower: Differences in Willpower Depletion Among Athletes and Nonathletes

Cited by 4 publications

References 47 publications

The Temporal Ordering of Motivation and Self-Control: A Cross-Lagged Effects Model

The Temporal Ordering of Motivation and Self-Control: A Cross-Lagged Effects Model

24 hours on the run – Does Boredom matter for ultra-endurance athletes’ crises?

24 Hours on the Run—Does Boredom Matter for Ultra-Endurance Athletes’ Crises?

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