Training Alone, Driven Together
The Impact of Social Identity on Physical Effort in Endurance Tasks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51224/SRXIV.536Keywords:
Physical performance, Team sports, Autonomous training, Effort Sustainability, GoalsAbstract
Achieving and sustaining high performance in elite sport requires athletes to endure extreme physical and psychological demands. While collective identity is often assumed to enhance commitment to these efforts, many elite athletes must train autonomously, raising questions about the role of social identification in sustaining effort when training alone. This study investigates how social identity influences physical engagement in endurance tasks performed in isolation, examining whether identification with a team enhances perseverance or if individual goal pursuit fosters greater effort. Fifty-four elite youth athletes (36 males; age: 15.7 yr ± 1.1) from team-based sports (handball, basketball, volleyball, and rugby) performed a cycling time-to-exhaustion test at 80% of their maximal aerobic power under two conditions: one emphasizing personal achievement and another emphasizing team success. Results revealed that athletes persisted longer in the personal identity condition compared to the collective identity condition, with no significant differences in perceived exertion, muscle pain, or time perception. However, athletes in the collective condition reported higher motivation and greater expectations of team success, despite performing less. These findings challenge conventional perspectives on social identity in sport, suggesting that while identification with a team may boost resilience and motivation, it does not necessarily enhance physical endurance when training alone. Instead, individual goal framing appears to optimize sustained effort in autonomous settings. This underscores the context-dependent nature of social identity effects on performance, emphasizing the need for coaches to differentiate when reinforcing personal identity fosters greater engagement and when strengthening team identity serves to stabilize collective dynamics.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Julien Pellet, Romuald Lepers, Vitry Florian, Sofiène Harabi, Iouri Bernache-Assolant, Philippe Castel, Marie-Françoise Lacassagne, Raphaël Laurin, Alan Guyomarch, Emilie Pété, Mickaël Campo (Author)
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