Who hasn't listened athletes or fitness freaks yell profanity (F word) like mads while frustrated on missing out a point? They are naturally aggressive breed and most of the times they escape with a warning for showing profanity.
I've also seen many athletes muttering while playing or taking God's name before entering into a match. This I believe isn't considered as profanity.
Anyways, in both the cases profanity doesn't seem to increase the performance. So this came as a surprise:
Profanity and Performance: Perfect Partners? .....swearing every three seconds while doing a Wingate anaerobic power test (a test of muscular power) can increase performance by 4.5%. Swearing for a full 10 seconds before doing a grip strength exercise can increase grip strength by 8%. And swearing every five seconds can increase pushup and plank time by 15% and 12%, respectively. That's some in-depth data, especially for a laboratory test with participants shouting "f--k" every few seconds. Source
So, it seems it’s an idea that, at least anecdotally, certainly holds up if you’ve watched any professional sporting events whatsoever. Swearing is so prevalent among athletes that Sports Illustrated posed this hypothetical question in 2022: Does the NBA Have a $@&!*% Problem?”
“Swearing is something that people do when they’re at the top of their game,” said Emma Byrne, author of Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language. “In the U.K., if you watch football, you can quite often tell on the pitch from lip reading that that frustration is voiced through profanity. We know that it happens in airline cockpits. We know it happens in operating theatres. We know that swearing is quite often the way we deal with the stresses of trying to perform at our best.”
But What’s Going on Exactly? Is it physiological? Psychological? Or something else? Stephens’s own opinion has changed in recent years, when he noticed that some test subjects demonstrated swearing benefits for pain and strength without any changes whatsoever in their heart rates or blood pressure. “That indicates autonomous nervous system activity,” he said. “So the fight-or-flight response is clearly only half of the story.”
The Future Potential of the F Word
Are we heading toward a future where doctors prescribe a daily dose of screaming obscenities along with painkillers? Will physical therapists coach patients to quicker recovery via well-timed profanity? Will personal trainers push their clients to be increasingly foul-mouthed to become their best physical selves?
First, I'd like to tell you that it's 'C Word' in Hindi, that would be translated for F word in English. It may be different in another language but thinking broadly, I don't believe that profanity in any language would be helpful to increase performance.
This is just my opinion.
I'm open to listen yours.
Thanks.
Does cursing count under profanity?