11 Olympians Share Their Keys to Success That Help Them When Things Get Tough
If you’re trying to stick to a training schedule this summer, whether it’s for a fall marathon or a specific fitness goal, now is the perfect time to take inspiration from the world’s greatest athletes.
With the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris about to begin, we spoke with Olympians competing in the Games—plus former Olympians and a trainer—about how the world’s top athletes use mental strategies to achieve peak performance in their workouts.
Here are the key habits they practice, which you can incorporate into your own routine to level up your training.
1. They stay consistent
With Olympians, there’s no such thing as an “I just don’t feel like it” day. The athletes we spoke with emphasized building their training schedule into their routine to a point that it became an integral part of their day.
“Every 45-second run is the result of hours of hard work,” says U.S. Olympic skateboarder Jagger Eaton, who is competing in the Games this year. “Sticking to a routine and staying persistent are key in my daily training grind to reach my peak performance.”
For Eaton, that means starting each day with a dip in the ocean, practicing breathwork on the beach, doing dynamic neuromuscular exercises, and hitting the skatepark to train.
Meanwhile, both morning and evening routines are important for pro triathlete Grace Norman, who is competing in the Paralympic Games Paris this year and follows the same routine every day in terms of when she wakes up, snacks, works out, and goes to sleep. Norman also incorporates a gratitude practice into her everyday routine.
Of course, that’s not to say it always comes naturally, even for Olympians.
“Sticking to a training plan can be difficult, but it can also be very easy if you choose to make it part of your daily life in your routine,” Norman says. “You have to view your workout sessions as part of your daily life and a nonnegotiable in your daily pattern.”
It also means showing up in the same way consistently, even when you’re feeling more tired than usual.
“Olympic athletes are consistent about everything they do to perform at the highest level,” says Mateus Manoel, CSCS, an NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist and director of high performance at The St. James, a sports facility in Springfield, Virginia, that develops top athletes including Olympians. “This includes showing up to training, even when they aren’t feeling up to it.”
This type of discipline will affect other parts of your life, even if you’re not training for a big race or tournament. MyKayla Skinner, U.S. Olympic silver medal gymnast, says she would have never learned how important perseverance is if it weren’t for her Olympic journey—something that benefits her everyday life today.
“Most people think of grit and hard work as things you do, but it was something I had to live for 20 years to achieve my goal,” Skinner says. “Even though I’m not training for the Olympics anymore, I still try to stay consistent with my workouts and take care of my body, especially postpartum and being a new mom.”
Research backs up the importance of consistency: People who worked out at the same time every day reported more frequent and longer workout sessions than those who didn’t stick to a specific time in a 2019 study in the journal Obesity.
2. They practice visualization
Many of the Olympians we spoke with practice visualization, envisioning what success looks like in great detail.
This has long been studied in athletes: For instance, non-runners who visualized what it would feel like to achieve their goal were five times more likely to complete an ultramarathon than those who simply spoke to a counselor about their motivation and didn’t envision their success, per a small 2021 study in the Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity.
Visualization not only helps you “practice” reaching your goals mentally, but it can also keep you positive when the training gets hard.
“Developing mindfulness tactics and employing them while training and racing was key to my success,” says Hunter Kemper, a four-time Olympic triathlete and brand ambassador at HumanN. “By using goal visualization and positive self-talk to get through the difficult training sessions and long races, I was able to avoid burnout and stay mentally committed to my objectives.”
For Skinner, visualization was also a key part of training, not just competition.
“I would try to visualize myself doing my routine before I got to the arena, so when I got there, I knew most of the preparation was done and I could just trust my training and have confidence in myself,” Skinner says.
If she ever felt “out of the zone” or fell on an obstacle, Skinner says she would take a few seconds to focus on her breathing and mentally reset herself.
Many Olympic athletes combine these visualization and mindfulness practices as part of mental preparation for the Games.
“Mental preparation is just as vital as physical training,” Eaton says. ”Regular visualization techniques enhance my confidence and focus on perfecting routines, while mindfulness practices like meditation and controlled breathing help me maintain composure under competitive pressure.”
If you’re preparing for a race or competition, you can also bring visualization to life by simulating what you expect to see during the event in your training (like a certain obstacle or roadblock).
“Once we’re training tactics or certain drills, I try to recreate the scenarios that I’ll be seeing in the game,” says Ben Hallock, men’s captain for the Team USA Water Polo Team. “Putting myself under constant stress in practice makes it a lot easier to execute come game time.”
“If it starts to feel like you’re falling off track, I would take a step back, break things down into smaller more manageable tasks, and create a plan around that.” —Nikita Ducarroz, BMXer
3. They rely on their favorite music during their workouts
Even Olympic athletes have pump-up songs, with music powering champions (even those who compete in the water).
Cullen Jones, Olympic gold medal swimmer and Goldfish Swim School ambassador, says listening to music helped with focus during peak performance training.
“Many swimmers wear headphones to block out crowd noise, but it also helps to quiet nervous thoughts,” Jones says. “Music is a great motivator and mood elevator, so having a playlist for working out is a great way to tackle any challenge.”
Listening to music has been found to affect certain physical responses like heart rate and muscle activation, along with boosting your mood and reducing how hard a workout feels, per a 2021 review in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. However, some research points to the importance of preference: Whether or not you like the music you listen to can greatly influence its effect on your workout.
4. They get back up (over and over again)
We see Olympic athletes perform at peak levels during the Games, but what we often miss is the hours of falls, mistakes, and “bad days” that go into getting there.
“The amount of times I fell short at practice or on my diet is more than most would assume,” Jones says. “The key to success is getting back on track after you fail and forgiving yourself.”
Jones’ advice: Don’t think of your goal as just one achievement to reach, but rather as a lifestyle.
“This simple shift has made the entire experience more enjoyable and paved the way to success,” Jones adds.
Gold medals aren’t won overnight—or even in a year or two. Your own workout goals will also take time and consistent effort, so celebrate the little wins along the way.
“Remember that a little progress everyday leads to a mountain of improvement in a few weeks or months,” says Jaime Czarkowski, an artistic swimming athlete competing in the 2024 Games. “Don’t get discouraged by lack of achievement. Stay consistent and hopeful and the results will come.”
5. They prioritize rest and sleep
Growth takes place as you heal and recover from your workouts, which is why Olympians take rest so seriously.
“Sleep is our body’s primary source of mental and physical recovery,” Manoel says. “Getting enough sleep each night makes athletes stronger, fitter, faster, more focused, more accurate, and allows them to have a sharper reaction time.”
On the other hand, when sleeping habits aren’t in check, both athletes and nonathletes make more mistakes, sustain more injuries, and develop less muscle mass, Manoel adds.
Many Olympic athletes also aren’t afraid to try something new when it comes to boosting their recovery.
“I’m really into recovery techniques, like saunas, ice baths, and red light therapy,” says Mitchell Saron, a fencer on the men’s saber squad for the 2024 Games. “I spend a lot of time optimizing my sleep as well and have it down to a science.”
6. They speak positively to themselves
If you imagine Olympic athletes’ internal dialogue, you may think of a tough-as-nails coach shouting commands to do better. However, the best athletes know that staying positive is key to success.
“By using positive self-talk to get through the difficult training sessions and long races, I was able to avoid burnout and stay mentally committed to my objectives,” Kemper says.
Examples of positive self-talk Kemper used include:
“I’ve done the work and prepared to the best of my abilities.”
“I’ve given my best effort.”
“You are ready, you are loved.”
“There will be many ups and downs during this race, but stay in the game always.”
“This is going to hurt, but just know that if it’s hard for you, then it’s really hard for everyone else.”
“Be resilient today and confident in the work you’ve put in to get here.”
“Have fun and race with joy.”
“Focus on yourself and your race and don’t be concerned about the attitude of others. There are only two things you can control today, your attitude and effort, so bring your best in both.”
“I can live with whatever outcome happens today, as long as I give my very best effort.”
Positive self-talk can also include reminding yourself why you’re working out, training, or competing in the first place.
“For me, it’s all about the passion, not just the necessity,” Eaton says. “Every time I hit the skatepark and feel the pressure to perform, I remind myself why I love it.”
7. They set mini goals throughout their workout
Despite having huge feats to achieve, Olympians keep their goals simple on the path to gold.
“Set your umbrella goal, something that’s a bit bigger and exciting and that you’d want to talk about,” says Maggie Steffens, women’s captain for the Team USA Water Polo Team. “Then set smaller goals that you can be proud of accomplishing to help you achieve the umbrella goal.”
Kemper also applies Olympic training strategies to workouts by setting mini goals throughout.
“If I have a hard workout on the track or hard efforts that I’m doing for my bike, I’ll focus on the consistency of my turnover when I’m running, keeping it around 95 foot strikes per minute for one leg,” Kemper says. “Or, when I’m swimming, I’ll focus on my head position by looking straight down to the bottom of the pool and not looking out towards the end of the pool where the wall is.”
Creating these little goals can help you stay focused and mindful as you work toward a bigger milestone, like a new record time.
Nikita Ducarroz, a BMXer who is competing again in Paris after winning Bronze in the last Olympics, says breaking big goals down in this way can help in everyday exercise, too.
“If it starts to feel like you’re falling off track, I would take a step back, break things down into smaller more manageable tasks, and create a plan around that,” Ducarroz says.
8. They surround themselves with the right people
The people in your circle can make all the difference in your success, something that Olympic athletes tap into.
“I found that accountability through community has been huge,” Saron says. “My friends and I have a group chat where we all share our meals and habits.”
Saron’s advice: For any habits you’re building to reach a goal, focus on having support from the beginning and join a community to help you move forward.
The right crew can also help you stay encouraged when you’re ready to give up.
“When training gets difficult, I try to remember all the people that have supported me to be here to get extra motivation—my family, friends, coaches and trainers who have been there for me since the beginning,” says Team USA’s Payton Jacobson, who is headed to Paris to compete in wrestling.
That accountability can keep you moving forward, even in your own day-to-day training.
“Remember that a little progress everyday leads to a mountain of improvement in a few weeks or months. Don’t get discouraged by lack of achievement. Stay consistent and hopeful and the results will come.” —Jaime Czarkowski, artistic swimmer
9. They refuse to procrastinate
For Ducarroz, procrastination has always been an easy trap to fall into, but she’s implemented a simple trick to avoid it in everyday life and her training.
“When I’m having a hard time getting started with things, I use my ‘do it now’ strategy,” Ducarroz says. “Basically, if I think about doing something or say I’m going to do something, I don’t allow myself to put it off for another time—I have to do it now.”
Ducarroz starts with simple household tasks: If she sees a pile of clothes that need to be folded, she doesn’t allow herself to wait until later. The same goes for dishes piling up in the kitchen.
“If I’ve done things this way all morning before heading to training, by the time I get there, I’ve gotten in the habit of doing it in that moment and not pushing it to later,” Ducarroz says.
10. They push themselves to the limit (bit by bit)
Olympians are always paying attention to the level they’re performing at, even in their routine workouts or training.
“Physically, a habit or strategy that I find really important is being aware of how much effort you give every minute of practice,” Czarkowski says. “I find it quite valuable to continuously check in with myself and make sure I am pushing to my maximum effort in every little and big drill or moment in training.”
Czarkowski’s advice for when you’re tired and think you’ve reached your limit: Do just one more repetition or give a little extra effort for a few more seconds.
“This is extremely valuable in improving in the long term and short term,” Czarkowski says. “It also makes you become mentally tougher, because you teach yourself that you are not actually at your limit yet and there is more to accomplish.”
For Hallock, pushing further often unlocks new reasons to keep training.
“I believe that you are never truly as tired as you may think you are,” Hallock says. “I have been pushed to my physical limit so many times in training for multiple Olympics and there is always another level or a deeper motivation that you can find.”
Overall, Olympians get comfortable working out at maximum effort in their everyday routines. Kemper says he learned more about workout grit and persistence during his Olympic training by engaging in threshold training sessions, where he worked at or just below the maximum sustainable effort.
“These sessions were incredibly tough mentally and physically, but they taught me to cope with and manage discomfort, which is essential during races,” Kemper says.