Training alone, driven together: The impact of social identity on physical effort in cycling endurance tasks

Achieving 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 ± 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 identity processes in sport, suggesting that while identification with a team might boost motivation, it does not necessarily contribute to sustaining physical effort when training alone as personal identity seems to do. Instead, individual goal framing appears to facilitate the ability to sustain physical effort in autonomous settings. This underscores the need for coaches to consider the different effects of identity processes regarding endurance and engagement. • The study isolates identity effects without direct social interaction. • Personal goal framing improves physical performance than focusing on team success. • Social identity increases motivation and expectations, despite lower performance. • Social identity alone does not enhance endurance, challenging theoretical claims. • Coaches should adjust identity cues when athletes train without teammates.