Welcome to your roadmap for building an effective cognitive training plan for your athletes with Soma. This guide will walk you through the strategic implementation and adaptation of tasks, ensuring that your athletes’ training evolves alongside their progress. Cognitive training isn’t just about selecting exercises—it demands a tailored approach to meet the unique needs of each athlete. A well-designed plan keeps athletes engaged, consistently challenges them, and helps prevent plateaus in their development.
Creating and Implementing a Cognitive Training Plan
Focus on Cognitive Demands
The foundation of an effective cognitive training plan lies in identifying and targeting the right cognitive demands. It's more important to choose the appropriate cognitive challenges than specific tasks. Ensuring sufficient cognitive load is key to driving progress.
Common Cognitive Demands:
Memory: Holding and using information consciously.
Attention: Focusing on relevant cues and maintaining concentration.
Response Inhibition: Suppressing inappropriate or irrelevant actions.
Decision-Making: Choosing the best option from several alternatives.
With Soma, you can modify tasks with training modes to meet the required challenge, eliminating the need to find the perfect task.
Conducting Baseline Testing
Start by assessing each athlete’s current cognitive abilities with a baseline test. This diagnostic tool identifies strengths and weaknesses, providing crucial data to design a personalized and effective training plan.
Baseline Test Recommendations:
Duration: At least 30 minutes to adequately challenge the brain and reveal cognitive deficits.
Task Selection: Choose 3 to 6 tasks that align with your focus areas, ideally around 4 to avoid overwhelming the athlete.
Using the Results: Use baseline data to emphasize weaker areas. For example, if an athlete excels in decision-making but struggles with response inhibition, prioritize inhibition tasks in their training plan.
Baseline Test Example
PVT-B I 3 mins
cMSIT I 10 mins
RVIP I 10 mins
4 Choice Flanker I 10 mins I 90%
PVT-B I 3m
Total Duration: 36 mins
Integrating Cognitive Training
Decide how to incorporate cognitive tasks into your athlete’s training regime.
Here are your options:
Pre-Training: Perform cognitive tasks before physical training to pre-exhaust the brain, making the physical workout feel more intense.
Intermittent: Add cognitive tasks during rest periods between physical training sets to increase the overall training load.
Concurrent: Combine cognitive tasks with cardiovascular training within a specific heart rate zone for maximum time efficiency and enhanced training load.
Post-Training: Complete cognitive tasks after physical training to leverage residual mental fatigue and push cognitive boundaries further.
Minimal Effective Dose
Recommended Minimum
Research suggests that a minimum of 20 minutes of cognitive training is effective. It's recommended to conduct a PVT-B test both before and after each session to accurately measure cognitive fatigue. With a 20-minute training session and the pre- and post- session PVT-B tests, the total session duration will be 26 minutes.
Optimal Duration
For optimal results, aim for a full 30-minute training session if feasible.
Selecting the Right Tasks
After baseline testing and determining your integration methods, select tasks aligned with the athlete’s specific goals and cognitive demands. We suggest choosing 3–6 tasks per session to provide sufficient variety in the training program. Once you’ve selected the tasks, consider incorporating Soma’s training modes to maintain challenge and variety.
As a coach, you know that using the same cognitive tasks—even with slight adjustments in time or intensity—can quickly lose their impact. Athletes adapt, and the tasks become less challenging.
That’s where Soma’s training modes come in.
Soma’s training modes stack directly on top of any existing cognitive task, allowing you to increase complexity without constantly searching for something entirely new.
For example, take a simple visual choice task. On its own—or even with adjustments to intensity and duration—it can quickly lose its impact as athletes adapt.
Now imagine applying a heart rate zone mode to that same task, requiring the athlete to maintain their heart rate in Zone 4 throughout. Or, add a secondary decision-making task on top of the primary one, forcing the athlete to switch between two tasks simultaneously. Suddenly, the cognitive load is significantly increased.
You could even take it a step further by having them respond through elevating their heart rate instead of tapping the screen. With modes, the options are endless, making tasks more demanding and engaging.
Instead of constantly searching for new tasks—which are inevitably limited—simply apply a specialized mode to a task to increase its cognitive load and complexity. This approach makes each task scalable, versatile, and endlessly engaging—keeping your athletes sharp, adaptable, and continuously improving.
Periodization
Periodization adjusts cognitive load through Progressive Overload or Undulating Periodization, both adapted from physical training principles.
Progressive Overload
Gradually increase the cognitive load to ensure continuous cognitive growth and adaptation. Select one method or blend several strategies according to your needs.
Intensity:
Start: 60-70% intensity.
Increase: By 10% each week, reaching 90-100% by week four.
Session Duration:
Start: 20-minute sessions.
Increase: Add 5 minutes each week, reaching 35 minutes by week four.
Frequency:
Start: Two sessions in week one.
Increase: Add one session each week, reaching five sessions by week four.
Undulating Periodization
Introduce variability in intensity, volume, and frequency to prevent mental stagnation and promote adaptability. Select one method or blend several strategies according to your needs.
Task Intensity:
Vary daily or weekly.
Alternate between high-intensity and lower-intensity tasks.
Task Intensity Over a Week
Task Intensity Over a 4-Week Period
Task Duration & Frequency:
Undulate session durations and frequency each week.
Variation of Session Duration and Frequency Over a 4-Week Period
Understanding Cognitive Load: Intensity and Duration
Impact of Intensity and Duration
Varying the intensity of cognitive tasks affects the total number of responses during different session durations. Higher intensity (shorter intervals between responses) increases the overall cognitive load, similar to increasing volume in physical training.
Response Rate Breakdown:
45 rpm: 1 response every 1.33 seconds
50 rpm: 1 response every 1.2 seconds
60 rpm: 1 response every 1 second
80 rpm: 1 response every 0.75 seconds
90 rpm: 1 response every 0.67 seconds
100 rpm: 1 response every 0.6 seconds
110 rpm: 1 response every 0.55 seconds
120 rpm: 1 response every 0.5 seconds
This breakdown helps visualize how reducing the time between responses (increasing intensity) significantly raises the total cognitive load.
Total Responses by Session Length and Response Rate
⚠️ Note: These numbers are illustrative examples. Lower intensity results in fewer responses, while higher intensity leads to more responses, demonstrating how adjusting these variables can escalate the total cognitive load.
Conclusion
Designing an effective cognitive training plan with Soma involves a strategic approach that focuses on identifying the right cognitive demands, conducting thorough baseline testing, integrating cognitive tasks into physical training, selecting appropriate tasks, and applying periodization techniques such as progressive overload and undulating periodization. By carefully adjusting intensity, duration, and frequency, you can ensure continuous cognitive growth and adaptability in your athletes, keeping their training engaging and effective.
Example
Focus: Attention I Inhibition
Integration: Pre Training
Session 1
PVT-B
Task Switching I ADM Mode
Attention Switching I ADM Mode
MSIT I ADM Mode
Session 2
PVT-B
RVIP I CSQ Mode
Sustained Attention I CSQ Mode
Mackworth Clock I CSQ Mode
PVT-B
Session 3
PVT-B
Incongruent Flanker I - Audio Mode
Visual Inhibition I - Audio Mode
Inverted Stroop I - Audio Mode
PVT-B
Periodization: Progressive Overload
Week 1: Intensity 70%
Week 2: Intensity 80%
Week 3: Intensity 90%
Week 4: Intensity 100%
Periodization: Undulating
Week 1: Intensity 70%
Week 2: Intensity 90%
Week 3: Intensity 60%
Week 4: Intensity 100%
Important: Design your athletes’ cognitive training program by consistently repeating a set of core sessions (1, 2, and 3). Each week, either progressively increase the load or undulate it through adjustments in intensity, duration, or frequency.
Avoid Introducing Excessive Variation in Tasks: Select 12–16 tasks per training plan (3–5 per session), as maintaining consistency and an appropriate level of cognitive load are crucial for effective brain adaptations. Just as in physical training, a well-structured program with the right load is more effective than a program with an excessive number of exercises. The overall cognitive load is more important than the number of tasks.
Example Plans
The following example plans are designed to help you quickly get started with Soma. You can easily adapt them to meet the specific needs of your athletes. Here’s how to use them:
1. Create a Baseline Test:
Use the plan builder to set up the baseline test by selecting the mode, intensity, and duration of each task.
2. Build 12 Sessions:
For each session, select 3-5 tasks.
Once you’ve created your first three sessions, follow these steps:
Session 1: Copy and paste it to Sessions 4, 7, and 10.
Session 2: Copy and paste it to Sessions 5, 8, and 11.
Session 3: Copy and paste it to Sessions 6, 9, and 12.
3. Adjust Intensity and Duration:
After creating all 12 sessions, review each week and adjust the intensity or duration of tasks.
4. Task Placement:
The placement of tasks depends on your training needs.
Here are your options:
Pre-Training: Perform cognitive tasks before physical training to pre-exhaust the brain, making the workout feel more intense.
Intermittent: Add cognitive tasks during rest periods between physical training sets to increase overall training load.
Concurrent: Combine cognitive tasks with cardiovascular training within a specific heart rate zone for maximum efficiency and enhanced load.
Post-Training: Complete cognitive tasks after physical training to leverage mental fatigue and push cognitive limits further.
Attention and Decision Making Plan
Decision Making and Response Inhibition Plan
Response Inhibition and Attention Plan
Decision Making and Memory Plan
Memory and Attention Plan
Response Inhibition and Memory Plan
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: How often should I conduct baseline tests for my athletes?
A: It's recommended to conduct baseline tests at the beginning of a training program and periodically (e.g., every 6-8 weeks) to assess progress and adjust training plans accordingly.
Q: Can cognitive training be integrated with all types of physical training?
A: Yes, cognitive training can complement various physical training regimes. It's essential to tailor the integration method (pre-training, intermittent, concurrent, post-training) to fit the specific needs and goals of the athletes.
Q: What if an athlete shows no improvement over time?
A: If there's no improvement, consider reassessing the cognitive demands, adjusting task difficulty, or modifying the training schedule to better match the athlete's needs.
Q: How do I keep athletes motivated during cognitive training?
A: Varying tasks, tracking progress, setting achievable goals, and incorporating engaging activities can help maintain motivation. Additionally, highlighting the benefits of cognitive training on overall performance can reinforce its importance.