I am Scott H. Frey, Ph.D., Ed.M., an award-winning scientist, mentor, and lifelong endurance athlete. For the past 30 years, I led a research program that focused on understanding the relationship between the brain and human performance. Of course there is a lot more to my story. If you are curious about my education, peer-reviewed science, and background, visit the “About” page. Ready to unlock your full potential? Schedule a free consultation.
More than Legs and Lungs. My experiences and education have convinced me that the brain holds enormous and largely overlooked potential to revolutionize how we perform athletically and in life more generally. I left my career in academia and started Cerebral Performance to help individuals and teams harness this power. My approach diverges from traditional sport psychology. It is grounded in my expertise in brain and psychological science, and is informed by my practical insights and experiences as an endurance athlete and mentor.
My clients range from aspiring age-group to professional endurance athletes. They share a curiosity about what is possible within the context of their personal life circumstances and a drive to find out. Beyond the structured training, nutrition, and recovery protocols, they recognize that the difference between success and failure often comes down to the most neglected component of training, the brain.
Optimizing the Brain for Endurance Performance. Even if your legs are fresh, a fatigued brain will make the same workload feel much less tolerable. Rachet the intensity up a few notches and even the most hardened athlete will ease back much sooner than if their brain was less burdened.
Both physical and mental loads burden common brain networks that, among other things, contribute to our sense of perceived exertion. This matters because your perception of effort, rather than your muscles, is what “grabs the brakes” on performances lasting over a minute. Fortunately, research in my field of cognitive neuroscience reveals a way forward that capitalizes on the brain’s unique ability to reconfigure itself adaptively to challenges (i.e., neuroplasticity). Like a muscle, the brain gets stronger through repeated overload and rest, and we have developed protocols that selectively challenge and train particular brain networks. For instance, the clip at the top of this page shows patterns of brain activity in motor areas of the brain while people performed a task that required them to imagine movements in my lab. A growing abundance of evidence shows that targeted neurological training enhances physical performances by lowering perceived exertion, and lessening the impact of fatigue on critical functions including focused attention, reaction time, and decision-making when it matters most. Visit my “science” page for links to some recent peer-reviewed publications.
Like all training, getting this recipe correct is both a science and an art. Beyond neuroscience expertise, it requires experience, communication, and commitment. The key principles at work here are, however, familiar to coaches and experienced athletes alike — consistency, periodization, specificity, progressive overload, and recovery.
Strengthening the Foundation. Successful athletes are humans first. The best training, nutrition, equipment etc will never be enough to achieve your full potential if the rest of your life is not in a reasonable state of balance. “Brain training” is certainly no exception. Stressors outside of competition have a profound impact on our ability to perform. Helping athletes to identify and manage these effectively is of paramount importance to their success and constitutes a key aspect of my work. This requires our developing a collaborative relationship based on open communication, trust, accessibility, and mutual respect. For this reason, the number of clients that I work with one-on-one is kept small.
If this sounds interesting, you are welcome to contact me at the email address below. We can set a time to discuss your interests and goals, and see whether I may be able to help. Also, check out the Coaching to learn more about my work with individuals and groups.
Interested in what we can add to your event, team, or training camp? Drop us a note to discuss a customized program to meet your needs and goals.
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