Cognitive demands refer to the specific mental capabilities or outcomes that one aims to develop or strengthen. By emphasizing cognitive demands, you can more easily select the most suitable tasks to achieve desired outcomes. Simply choose the demand and then select tasks that train that specific demand. This streamlines the process, allowing you to filter out irrelevant tasks more efficiently instead of sifting through a multitude of options.

Once you have decided on the cognitive demands you want to focus on the upcoming plan, the next step is to conduct a baseline test.

Once you have decided on the cognitive demands you want to focus on the upcoming plan, the next step is to conduct a baseline test.

To effectively measure an individual's current cognitive capacities, it is recommended to start with a baseline test tailored to the individual's needs.

Here is a structured approach to set up this foundational assessment:

Test Duration: The length of the baseline test is crucial. We suggest a duration no shorter than 30 minutes to ensure a comprehensive assessment. A test that's too brief might result in sparse data collection, potentially affecting the quality of results and impeding informed decision-making. Additionally, a baseline test that's too short may not sufficiently challenge the athlete, resulting in an inaccurate assessment of their capabilities.

Task Selection: Choose between three to six tasks that align closely with the cognitive demands you want to target. These tasks will form the essence of your baseline assessment. Avoid overthinking this step, as your main objective is simply to gather data for each cognitive demand you want to focus on for the current program.

Data Analysis: After the individual completes the baseline test, analyze the data to start creating a training plan based on their performance. Focus on areas where they show difficulty. Depending on their needs, you might concentrate solely on one specific cognitive demand or balance several. For example, if an individual excels in decision-making but struggles with inhibiting responses, incorporate more tasks focused on inhibition than those on decision-making in their training. They could undertake two inhibition tasks for every decision-making task. This approach not only maintains their strengths but also improves weaker areas, equipping them mentally to tackle a variety of challenges.

With the foundational data gathered, it's time to design the cognitive training program. This stage can feel like navigating a vast, unfamiliar forest due to the plethora of cognitive tasks available. This abundance of choices makes the process exciting, but it can also be overwhelming, especially for those new to this field. The key isn't to find the "best" task universally, but rather to select the "right" one that aligns with the specific goals of the individual.

Using Soma simplifies this process. When you start with a task, if it turns out to be less challenging than needed, there's no need to discard it completely. Instead, you can modify its difficulty level or utilize one of Soma's unique training modes to customize it to the user's requirements.

In the past, if a task didn’t sufficiently challenge the user, the typical response was to look for a completely new task targeting the same cognitive function, replacing the one that wasn't effective. However, with Soma, you have the flexibility to take the existing task and enhance it using a specialized mode to increase its cognitive load. This allows for a more tailored approach, ensuring that the training remains relevant and challenging. We will delve into this in greater detail in the subsequent step.

As previously emphasized, it's important to tailor your approach based on the specific areas where the individual faces challenges. Depending on their unique needs, you might concentrate on improving a single cognitive demand or balance the training across several demands. This personalized approach ensures the cognitive training is effective and relevant to the individual's requirements.

Building on the selection of tasks, the true transformation in cognitive training arises when you meticulously adapt these tasks to meet the specific challenges and needs of the individual. With Soma, this level of customization isn't just an added feature; it's a fundamental aspect of the approach. Whether it's adjusting the task's complexity or merging it with physical challenges, the customization possibilities are vast and game-changing.

To facilitate this, we provide a comprehensive chart outlining various modes that can be integrated into cognitive training tasks. These modes are designed to ensure that each training session is personalized. For achieving the best outcomes, it's recommended to incorporate 1-3 of these modes into each training cycle. By doing so, the cognitive training plan becomes highly tailored, perfectly aligning with the individual’s unique requirements.

As you proceed with developing a customized training regimen, it’s essential to ground your decisions in data. Monitoring metrics such as reaction times, accuracy, and variability is crucial. These metrics serve as key indicators of the effectiveness of your chosen tasks. This data-driven approach affords you the flexibility to either tweak the training plan for better alignment or to continue with the current trajectory if it proves effective. Should a task prove insufficient in terms of cognitive load, the first step should be to modify it using one of the modes, instead of immediately looking for a replacement. This method ensures a more efficient and targeted approach to cognitive development.

Before to moving into the periodization phase of the cognitive training plan, it's imperative to select the appropriate strategy for incorporating Soma into your athletes' training schedules.

​

Now that you've assembled all the necessary components, the next step is periodization. This entails organizing the cognitive tasks you've chosen in a manner that each session or week is progressively more challenging than the last. We'll delve into two straightforward periodization methods. Within these methods, there are various strategies you can tailor based on individual requirements.