We ARE
There is more than performing on Saturday for the big game, so what else are athletes doing?
Experts in every division of team know that set-up is essential. So it would definitely be un-common if your team didn’t employ these types of people as staff.
Diet experts, nutritionists, fitness trainers, phycologists, masseuse, security and even logistics, all these people in their own right contribute to helping make better athletes and better teams.
The dedicated focus on the concept of well-being of our athletes, has been known to amplify the overall performance and talent of our favourites.
Every athlete comes in every shape and size, with an assortment of requirements and needs. Some need more fats, more carbs, more protein, while others need more sleep, more weights and more recovery time. The role of diet plays a big part also, as their consumption indirectly affects their performance. And then there’s intolerances or allergies that also may or may not affect game time. But with all of the requirements, is there something in their own personal belief system that may withhold them eating certain things or doing certain exercises? The list is endless, yet all these people are catered too.
For example, eating pasta the night before a match is an old classic, ideal for slow burning energy. However, the overeating of certain foods is not good for us and is not conducive to our over-all health. At the end of the day, we are simple beings, in need of fresh air, physical movement which can set off mental health benefits and endorphins of feeling good.
“For example, eating pasta the night before a match is an old classic, ideal for slow burning energy.”
For F1 legend Lewis Hamilton and All Black TJ Perenara, these two have both smashed all stereotypes by leaning towards the vegan lifestyle. They’re able to hold onto vital skin-folds, concentrating for longer periods and putting in performances that just seem unruly. Best of all, not only for the betterment of the world but they are consistent.
The interesting fact is, however, if we humans were to continue down the path of meat based diets and consume on the mass scale the way, shockingly the human race would be gone in 17 days. On the alternative, plant based diets will continue to provide a source that keeps giving.
I’m not advocating the lifestyle is for everyone, as it’s a personal choice and I can only speak from my own experience. However, since erasing diary, gluten and no refined sugar from my diet, I have never felt better.
Athletes these days seem to be bigger, stronger and fitter, almost super-human like. And with the exception of major injuries, they seem to recover a lot quicker. Injuries nowadays do not seem to be career-ending with the exception.
Athletes are now prepared differently, from the food they consume, to stretching and warm-up exercises, going to the gym, as well as training tactics. Athletes have never recovered better than what they do now, like ice baths for example, set-up in changing rooms to prevent inflammation and develop muscle growth.
The athletes of today appear to cross-pollinate between sports. We may see a rugby player training with a wrestler, or gymnast, all to see how they can utilise their body and skillset in different ways. In the weight room, athletes are throwing around dumb-bells Ronnie Coleman would be proud of.
However, the hardest muscle to train and by far the most important, our mind.
We as consumers have become obsessed with our daily dose of sport, that we demand more and more of it. We can train our body to deal with these stresses, but our mind needs so much more attention.
After the 2007 with the weight of the nation on Richie McCaw’s shoulders, he sought answers to find what now has become a vital part of the All Black organisation – mental toughness. The stigma has been removed that blokes simply don’t talk, but this process has been a shining light. Athletes are no longer just able to get things off their chests by speaking to professionals to relieve themselves of stress, but also learn great techniques that has since seen the All Blacks exert more dominance than ever imagined, after winning a further two Rugby World Cups along the way, with every other trophy imaginable.
Steph Curry & co swear by Cyro Therapy, an isolation tank that is set in complete silence and darkness, all to withdraw from the outside world and let our mind rest. They’re able to detach and hit the reset button, through this entering meditation.
Through rehab and recovery, we can all test the limits of our body with the technology we have at our hands enhancing their peak performance and training them in methods or movements, not often used but may be the way in which we can gain more of ourselves and talents.
Lifestyle is a mindset, and the wrong habits of thought give expression to negativity.