Q&A With Dr. Jim Taylor: Exploring Mental Training and the Role of Firefly in Recovery

Discover how mental training impacts athletic performance, the benefits of recovery, and how Firefly has become an essential tool for athletes at every level. Dive into the insights shared by a longtime Firefly user and learn how physical recovery can supercharge mental focus.

1. What is Mental Training?

As the name suggests, mental training involves training the mind just as athletes train their bodies. Two important aspects of mental training. First, The mind is made up of muscles and, like physical muscles, mental muscles can be weak or they can be strong. Regardless, mental muscles must be exercised to get stronger. Second, all athletes do “mental stuff,” meaning they do things to try to be stronger mentally, for example, they try motivate themselves, use positive self-talk, breathe, and do mental imagery. But mental stuff isn’t mental training, any more than going into the gym every three weeks and doing arm curls isn’t physical training. What makes physical training effective is that it is comprehensive, structured, consistent, and effort is expended. The same holds true for mental training.

2. How does mental training benefit athletes?

There are many contributors to athletic performance including physical, technical, tactical, equipment, and, yes, mental. At any level of serious competition, from juniors to collegians to age groupers to professionals and Olympians, everyone is at about the same level physically, technically, tactically, and with their equipment. So, in any given competition, what separates the winners from the losers? It must be what goes on between their ears. Pretty much every athlete and coach you ask will say that it is as or more important compared to the physical and technical/tactical aspects of sport. Yet, though the mind is the final piece of the performance puzzle, inexplicably, it is neglected by most athletes, even by many of the best athletes in the world in their sport.

3. How long have you been practicing? Did something memorable happen in your life to guide you towards this field of work?

I’ve been practicing for many decades. I came to mental training as an athlete. I was a fairly good alpine ski racer in my youth, and I aspired to the best in the world. But I wasn’t very motivated, lacked confidence, got nervous before races, and couldn’t focus on what I needed to do to go fast. There weren’t many mental coaches back then, so I took a summer course at a local college that introduced me to many of the ideas and tools that now I use with athletes. I applied what I learned during the off-season and, I went on to have my breakout year in which I achieved a world ranking, was named to the U.S. Ski Team, and was consistently competitive against some of the best ski racers in the U.S. But what amazed me about that season was the change in me mentally. I was highly motivated, confident, relaxed, but excited, and laser-beam focused. I attribute my improvement entirely to mental training. When I got to college, I took a Psych 101 course and I tell people that I didn’t choose sport psychology, it chose me. And I have been living the dream, doing what I love ever since.

4. You are a long-time user of Firefly for recovery. How has Firefly helped you in your personal athletic endeavours?

Triathlon has been a passion of mine since 2002. I completed two Ironmans and a bunch of 70.3s. I then took an 11-year break to focus on my career and family, In 2019, I was bitten by the tri-bug again and got really serious about the sport. Since then, I have won two national championships and am a 3x World Championship medalist. I discovered Firefly in 2022 just before I earned my first World medal in Abu Dhabi. It has been an integral part of my training, race, and travel regimen ever since. I use Firefly after every intense bike and run workout. My recoveries have never been quicker and my training quality, even after a difficult workout the previous day, has never been higher. I also use it between races to speed up my recovery, especially when I have back-to-back races, and I’m amazed how fresh my legs feel the morning after a hard race. I have also found Firefly really valuable when I travel long distances. I wear my Fireflys during the flights and my heavy legs and swollen ankles have disappeared.

5. How does physical recovery link to mental focus and performance?

Physical recovery plays a huge role mentally. First, the mind isn’t something separate from the body; rather, the mind is the brain, and the brain is an organ of the body. So, if my body feels better, so does my mind. The judgment that we make about our physical readiness to perform also impacts our psychological and emotional readiness to perform. In fact, our assessment of our physical state influences the two most essential “mental muscles” that are necessary for maximum training efforts or “full gas” competitive performances.

First, our confidence will suffer if our body doesn’t feel good for the simple reason that if our body is off, we aren’t going to believe that it will perform at its highest level. If you are striving to give your best effort in training or execute at your highest level in competition, you have to have complete confidence that your body can perform to that high level. Without the confidence that comes from a body that feels recovered, rested, and recharged, doubt, uncertainty, and worry will slow you down. The accelerated recovery that Firefly produces enables your body to feel its best and, as a result, ensures that your confidence muscle will be strong when you train or compete next.

Second, I’ve also found that Firefly has a big impact on my motivation to train. As every athlete has experienced, it’s really difficult to get motivated for a workout when your legs are feeling heavy, sore, or just plain dead from a previous workout or competition. Since I’ve been using Firefly, my legs feel more recovered from previous days’ efforts, so I’m motivated to hit it hard in my next workout or “go all in” in my next race.