Addressing the Confusion Between Suffering and Strength in Training

Why Some Teams Confuse Suffering with Strength

You’ve probably seen it. Athletes bent over trash cans, collapsing after the last rep, pushed well past the point of usefulness. A coach makes the whole team do 1,000 push-ups as punishment. Players run until someone throws up. Everyone grinds through brutal workouts together, bonded by exhaustion. It feels intense. It looks tough. It gives the illusion of progress. Many people see it and mistake it as a sign of discipline or toughness. 

But here’s the truth: suffering doesn’t equal improvement.

A lot of coaches believe that if they can make athletes obedient and willing to suffer through anything that the athlete will become unbreakable under pressure. Some coaches believe that if they can create total physical compliance, they’ll build mental toughness too.

But that’s not how it works.

In fact, it does the opposite. When training is built on blind obedience and physical suffering, it shifts the athlete’s brain activity away from the areas that handle competition. In fact, the brain is shifted to the areas responsible for cooperation. That’s a problem. Because being clutch in big moments doesn’t come from following orders. It comes from being able to adapt, make decisions, and stay composed when the game gets unpredictable.

If an athlete is always told exactly what to do, punished into submission, and praised only for enduring pain, then what they’re really learning is how to comply—not how to compete. The athlete may become great at surviving workouts, but they won’t be any more prepared to handle pressure during competition. And when the game tightens, he won’t rise to the occasion—because his training never taught how.

Let’s break down why this happens—and how smart training builds both the mental sharpness to compete and the unity to thrive as a team.

What Happens in the Brain: Cooperation vs. Competition

This part is crucial. When people train, the brain isn’t just along for the ride; it’s adapting and rewiring based on the type of environment. Different types of training light up different parts of the brain, which shape how athletes perform under pressure.

So what’s the difference between cooperation and competition?

• Cooperation is when athletes work together—sharing a goal, supporting each other, staying predictable, and following a plan.
  

• Competition is when athletes face unpredictable situations—making fast decisions, adjusting strategies, and managing stress in real time.
  

Both are important. But they activate very different systems in the brain. And if you don’t train both, athletes/teams won’t be ready for the realities of sport.

When Training Is Cooperative

When athletes are cooperating—running plays together, encouraging each other during drills, or enduring group punishment—they're engaging the part of the brain that manages teamwork, social awareness, and emotional control. It’s called the orbitofrontal cortex. This area helps athletes:

• Understand how their actions affect the group
  

• Stay composed under pressure from authority or teammates
  

• Follow a plan and regulate their emotions
  
  

This kind of brain activity builds chemistry, trust, and predictability. Which is good… up to a point.

But if an athlete only works in predictable, group-based training environments, they don't get the chance to think for themself under stress. The athlete learns how to follow and not how to lead, react, or adjust.

Sport does not reward obedience. It rewards adaptability.

When Training Is Competitive

Now flip the setting.

In the 9th inning, the pitcher is on the mound. The batter adjusts mid-count. The umpire tightens the strike zone. The game is tied. It’s loud. Uncertain. Pressure is high.

That’s not a cooperative moment. That’s a competitive one. And it lights up a different part of the brain: the medial prefrontal cortex. This area helps athletes:

• Make decisions under stress
  

• Recognize patterns and respond quickly
  

• Stay mentally sharp and confident in chaotic situations

Competitive training forces athletes to adapt, stay alert, and solve problems. It sharpens instincts, fuels focus, and prepares them for the unpredictable nature of sport.

If an athlete never trains this way, if they're always in controlled environments where success means following directions, then the brain never practices the kind of thinking that turns good athletes into clutch performers.

Why “Just Push Through” Doesn’t Work

A lot of teams believe the harder a workout is, the better it must be. So they keep stacking punishment—extra sprints, nonstop circuits, push-ups for every mistake. They say it builds “mental toughness.”

But here’s the truth: just being tired doesn’t make you better. And it definitely doesn’t make you a winner.

• Hard doesn’t equal helpful. A workout can be exhausting without doing anything to improve strength, force expression, or in-game performance.

• Mental toughness isn’t built by pain. It’s built by staying calm and making smart decisions when the pressure is real.

• Suffering doesn’t teach strategy. If an athlete is always in survival mode, they’re never learning how to adjust, adapt, or outthink the opponent.

This is where cooperative vs. competitive training really matters.

Cooperative training teaches athletes how to follow directions and stay in sync with others. That’s useful for team chemistry, but not enough for performance: Because when the game’s on the line, the pitcher is not working with the batter. He’s trying to beat him.

Competitive training is where success is built. It prepares athletes to make fast decisions, solve problems, and keep their edge when everything’s unpredictable. That’s the kind of training that actually translates to winning.

And research backs this up. In a study by Tremblay and Schultz (1999), the orbitofrontal cortex—the part of the brain activated in cooperative environments—was shown to respond based on the relative value of a reward. In simple terms, the brain doesn’t just respond to effort, it responds when a task feels meaningful and tied to success.

That’s what makes competitive training so powerful: it forces the brain to stay engaged, make decisions, and chase real outcomes. Punishment-based training doesn’t do that. It just teaches athletes to shut up and survive.

If an athlete wants to be confident in big moments, they need to practice thinking in big moments, and not just suffering through another workout.

The Right Way to Build Strong Athletes and Teams

Great training doesn’t ignore cooperation—it just knows that cooperation alone won’t win the game. That’s why we focus on the mental side of training just as much as the physical.

We train athletes to think fast, adapt, and stay in control when everything around them gets chaotic. And we don’t guess if it’s working—we track it.

Here’s how we do that:

• Pressure-based decision drills: Athletes make fast decisions in unpredictable situations, just like they have to during a game.

• Timed reaction work: We track how quickly and accurately they respond under stress because game speed is different from practice speed.

• Competition-style reps: Even in the weight room, we measure who moves with purpose, reacts faster, keeps composure, and maintains cognitive ability under fatigue.

• Video and feedback sessions: Athletes see how they think and move under pressure—then learn how to fix it.

We don’t just hope athletes are getting better or “tougher”—we measure how they handle pressure. We look at how quickly they react, how well they stay composed, and how consistent their decision-making is under fatigue.

That’s what real progress looks like. It is being in better shape, and also being more confident, more capable, and more clutch when it matters most.

Final Thought: Is Your Program Just About Working Hard—or Actually Getting Better?

A lot of teams work hard. Very few train the right way.

If a team’s training is just about obedience and suffering, It’s teaching them how to follow and obey. It’s not preparing them to succeed in competition. 

We don’t train athletes to be tired. We train them to be better. To be smart. To be strong. To be the player you trust when everything is on the line.

If that’s the kind of development you’re looking for, let’s talk. Because when it comes to performance, the difference between suffering and success isn’t small—it’s everything.

References

De Cremer, D., & Stouten, J. (2003). When do people cooperate? The effect of power and stability of the group. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 914–924.

Knoblich, G., & Jordan, J. S. (2003). Action coordination in groups and individuals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29(5), 1006–1016.

Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167–202.

Schmidt, R. A., Lee, T. D., Winstein, C. J., Wulf, G., & Zelaznik, H. N. (2005). Motor control and learning: A behavioral emphasis (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Sebanz, N., Knoblich, G., & Prinz, W. (2003). Representing others’ actions: Just like one’s own? Cognition, 88(3), B11–B21.

Tremblay, L., & Schultz, W. (1999). Relative reward preference in primate orbitofrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2(11), 1068–1071.

Walker, M. P., & Stickgold, R. (2006). Sleep, memory, and plasticity. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 139–166.