This is your Soma workflow. Four pillars. Work through them in order the first time. Come back to any section as a reference when you need it.

Mental fatigue is invisible. It does not show up the way physical fatigue does. Reaction time slows, decisions become less clean, and focus fades long before the body gives out. You cannot rely on what you see or what the athlete says they feel. It must be measured objectively. Soma gives you three tools to do it.

The PVT-B

A simple reaction test. The athlete reacts as fast and accurately as possible. There is no strategy and nothing to hide behind, which is why even small drops in focus show up immediately in the data.

Run it before and after every session, three minutes each way. Three metrics matter: reaction time, variation, and lapse count. Read them together, never one in isolation. Lapse count is the most important signal. A lapse is any response slower than 355ms and even a small rise tells you cognitive fatigue has arrived long before reaction time shows any obvious change. If post-session numbers barely shift, the load was not high enough. If the shift is very large, you exceeded capacity. The goal is a controlled, measurable shift in the right direction every session.

Not all fatigue is bad. Healthy fatigue means the session created enough stress to drive adaptation. Unhealthy fatigue means the load exceeded capacity. The data tells you which one you are dealing with and the response to each is completely different.

The PFTT

The Psychomotor Fatigue Threshold Test finds the exact point where cognitive performance begins to break down during physical work. It is a three-choice reaction task: tap right for red, tap left for green, do not tap for yellow. Simple rules make it extremely sensitive to fatigue. The moment cognitive control starts to slip, it shows up immediately.

Run it between sets during the training session, not as a standalone test. The sequence is: cognitive task, physical set, PFTT. Repeat that throughout the session and aim for six PFTT tests in total. This gives you enough data points to see exactly where in the session performance starts to fall. Over time, if the athlete holds their peak zone longer before scores drop, mental endurance has improved.

The RMF

The Rating of Mental Fatigue scale captures how mentally tired the athlete feels after each task. It takes seconds to complete and links automatically to each task in Soma. Use it alongside the PVT-B, not instead of it. When RMF and PVT-B data agree your read is accurate. When they disagree, that gap is worth investigating because it often tells you something the numbers alone cannot.

Once you can measure cognitive load, you need to decide where it fits in the training day. There are four methods and all four are backed by peer-reviewed research. The right choice depends on what you are trying to achieve and where you are in the season.

Pre-training applies cognitive load before the physical session starts. The athlete begins physical training already mentally fatigued, which raises the perceived intensity of the session without adding any mechanical stress to the body.

Intermixed slots three-minute cognitive tasks between physical sets. The athlete stays mentally engaged during rest periods rather than drifting. Total cognitive load rises across the session without extending the session length at all.

Concurrent runs cognitive tasks during steady cardiovascular work. The athlete must maintain physical output while processing information under fatigue at the same time. One of the strongest methods for building mental resilience but use it in off-season and pre-season only.

Post-training places cognitive tasks immediately after the physical session ends. This trains decision making under the same tired conditions the athlete faces late in competition. The simplest entry point and the most flexible method. Works all year.

If you are new to this, start with post-training. Add other methods progressively once you understand how your athlete responds to cognitive load.

Priming is not training. The goal is to activate the brain before competition, not build adaptation over weeks. Short, sharp cognitive work done as a mental warm-up so the athlete steps into performance already switched on.

Run four three-minute tasks between warm-up drills and the main session. Around 12 minutes total. The tasks to use are cMSIT, Task Switching, Incongruent Flanker, and Posner. Rotate them across sessions to keep the stimulus fresh. Before relying on priming for competition, run three to five priming sessions when the athlete is fully fresh to build a baseline. This tells you what activated performance looks like for this athlete specifically.

Monitor priming scores over time. If they start drifting down, priming is accidentally becoming fatiguing and you need to pull back immediately. Priming should sharpen the athlete, not tire them. When in doubt, do less.

This is where everything comes together. You have the measurement tools. You know where cognitive work fits. You know when to prime. Now you build the plan.

Step 1: Identify the cognitive demands your sport requires

Every effective plan starts with understanding what the brain actually needs to do in competition. You are not choosing random tasks. You are choosing which mental demand to train. There are four demands: sustained attention, inhibitory control, working memory, and decision making. Most athletes benefit from training all four but prioritise the ones most dominant in the sport.

Step 2: Run a baseline

Before building the plan, run a baseline session. Around 30 minutes, three to six tasks with four being ideal. Choose tasks that cover the demands most relevant to the sport. The baseline shows you which demands are strong and which ones break under load. It is also the reference point you use at the end of the block to confirm that adaptation actually happened, so include some of the same tasks in both the baseline and the training plan.

Step 3: Apply a ratio

Once the baseline shows where performance breaks, load that weakness harder than the strengths. Use a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 ratio across the block. The weak demand gets more sessions or more tasks per session than the stronger demands. Once it improves, shift toward more balanced programming.

Step 4: Use modes to progress load

The task does not create adaptation. The load does. A low load Flanker does nothing. A high load Flanker creates adaptation. The difference is not the task, it is the load applied to it. Modes are how you increase load without switching tasks constantly. They add pressure, speed, fatigue, or automatic scaling on top of any task. For your first block pick one mode and stick with it for all four weeks. You want to see what is actually driving the adaptation before adding more variables.

Step 5: Periodize the block

Once tasks and modes are selected, adjust the load each week. For your first block use progressive overload. Increase intensity, duration, or frequency week by week across the four weeks. Once you know how your athlete responds to load, you can switch to undulating periodization which alternates load rather than increasing it linearly, keeping the brain adapting through constant variation.

Step 6: Let the plan run

You need at least nine sessions before a trend becomes clear. The first week often feels messy and that is normal. By week three adaptation starts. By week four the athlete has adjusted. Do not change the plan mid-block based on one or two sessions. If the load is right, post-session data will show slower RT, higher variation, and more lapses. That means the brain has been pushed enough to adapt.

This step-by-step guide walks you through setup, session design, and plan assignment so you can build effective, data-driven training programs for your athletes.

Give your plan a clear, descriptive name so you can identify it easily later. Select New Plan to start from scratch.

Before adding tasks, set up all your sessions with names, scales, and any tracking features you want to include. Select Add Session to create a new one.

Use a simple naming format such as Baseline, Session 1, Session 2, Session 3. Define how many times each session should repeat. The default is one cycle.

Scales allow athletes to record feedback after each task. The three available scales are Fatigue (RMF), Effort (RME), and Exertion (RPE). Enable Baseline Comparison to automatically generate pre and post-baseline reports. When this feature is turned on, the session cycle automatically changes to two for accurate comparison. You can also activate Minute-on-Minute tracking for detailed performance data within each session.

Once all sessions are ready, begin building the structure of your training plan. Soma allows you to filter tasks by cognitive demand, making the process faster and more efficient. Most athletes will benefit from training all four demands, but prioritise the ones most dominant in their sport where split-second focus, control, or decision-making matter most.

Decide when cognitive work will occur relative to physical training: pre-session, in-session, or post-session. Only the selected placement will appear inside Soma NPT, keeping the athlete's workflow clear. Select Add Drill within a session to insert tasks. Configure each with a duration, intensity level, and mode. The mode adds an extra layer that increases the overall load on top of the task. Repeat this process until the session is complete.

A practical programming approach is to create a small core group of sessions, for example Session 1 to 3, and repeat them each week. Progressively increase the load or apply undulating periodization by adjusting intensity, duration, or frequency across the block.

If you want to analyse baseline data before finalising the plan, set up the session names, add scales, and enable MoM first. After reviewing baseline results, continue building the rest of the plan.

To assign immediately, select Assign Users, choose the athletes to receive the plan, and click Assign. If you want the plan to activate later, select a date and time from the calendar and Soma will assign the plan automatically at that time.

When a new plan is assigned, the athlete must open the Home tab in Soma NPT to refresh the plan list. Once refreshed the new plan will appear automatically. For example, a plan name that updates from Soma 1.0 to Soma 1.1 will only show after the athlete taps the Home tab.

Important: Saving and Deleting Plans

Plans save automatically while you work. Assigned plans appear under Active and unassigned plans appear under Inactive. If you delete a session that has already been completed by one or more athletes, all associated data will be permanently lost. This action cannot be undone.

Template plans are one of the most practical tools inside Soma Analytics for coaches managing multiple athletes or training groups. Rather than rebuilding a cognitive training program from scratch each time, you create a master structure once, then load a fresh copy whenever you need it. Your programming stays consistent across athletes and blocks without the repetitive setup work.

Here is how to build a template plan.

Step 1. Create a New Template Plan

Select New Plan to open the Plan Builder. Give your template a clear, descriptive name so you can identify it easily later. Examples: 12-Session Template or 16-Session Cognitive Load Block. Under Save Plan As, select Template.

Step 2. Set Up Sessions

Select Add Session to create your first session. Use a simple naming format: Baseline, Session 1, Session 2, Session 3. Set how many times each session should repeat. The default is one cycle.

Scales let athletes record feedback after each task. The three available scales are Fatigue (RMF), Effort (RME), and Exertion (RPE). Enable Baseline Comparison to automatically generate pre and post-baseline reports. When this is turned on, the session cycle is automatically set to two for accurate comparison. Enable Minute-on-Minute tracking for detailed performance data within individual sessions.

Repeat until all sessions are created before moving to plan design.

Step 3. Design the Template Plan

Once all sessions are in place, build out the training structure. Select Add Drill within a session and configure each task with a duration, intensity level, and mode. The mode adds an extra layer that increases overall cognitive load on top of the task.

Repeat until each session is complete.

For most coaches, two base templates cover the majority of programming needs: a 12-session plan for shorter training cycles and a 16-session plan for extended cognitive load blocks. Apply scales to every session, enable Baseline Comparison for the baseline session only, and turn on Minute-on-Minute for sessions where trend data matters most.

Step 4. Save the Template Plan

Select Save Template to store the plan for future use. Templates are held in My Plans under the Inactive tab.

Loading a Template Plan

Select Create Plan. Name the new plan for the athlete or group, for example Athlete Cognitive Block 1. Under Save Plan As, select New Plan, then choose a template from your saved list. Customize as needed and assign when ready.

How Master Templates Work

When you load a template, Soma creates a fresh editable copy of the most current version. The master template is never assigned to an athlete directly and remains unchanged. You can edit the new plan freely without affecting the original, and athlete progress data is never at risk of being overwritten by a template edit. To update the master itself, go to My Plans, open the Inactive tab, find the template, and make changes there. The next plan loaded from that template will include your updates automatically.

Duplicating a Template Plan

Duplicating is the fastest way to reuse an existing structure when you want to keep the same tasks, layout, and flow but adjust things like modes, durations, or placements.

Go to the Inactive tab, find the template you want to duplicate, select the three dots next to it, and choose Duplicate. Give the duplicate a clear name to distinguish it from the original. All tasks, settings, and modes copy across automatically, and you can edit the duplicate freely without affecting the master.