Think Like An Athlete, Be Like An Athlete.

Performance! It’s your capacity to get through your day-to-day tasks in everyday life. Most of us just trudge along and think improving performance is for athletes or motorcars but is it really? If it means being able to play with our kids or grandkids with more energy, cope more easily with the curveballs life throws at us or just function everyday at a higher level shouldn’t better performance be something we should all try to achieve?

Now Bill Bowerman the co-founder of Nike stated, “If you’ve got a body, you’re an athlete”. Excellent! So we should be aiming to improve our performance. In fact Associate Professor Kristen Dieffenbach reckons that calling yourself an athlete can play an important role in how you see yourself and ultimately in how you perform. Simply seeing yourself as an athlete makes a big difference to your self-perception, which will then impact your motivation, attitudes and behaviours. If you think you’re an athlete you are more likely to motivate yourself to behave like an athlete.

So what can help with this thought transition? Our environment plays a huge role in our behaviour. If you want to see yourself as an athlete you need to be where the athletes are. This might mean joining a gym, a walking/running group, or attending yoga/Pilates classes. You want to surround yourself with other athletes. The other really important thing is our social circle. Who we hang out with has an enormous impact on our health and wellbeing. If your friends are enthusiastic, motivated and think they’re athletes, you are more likely to be the same.

What else can we do? If you are already exercising vary your workout. Unfortunately doing the same thing every time can increase your risk of an overuse injury. Now you don’t need an entirely new exercise routine just subtle changes to what you’re already doing so there is some variation works wonders. If you are starting a new exercise routine, go slow & be sensible, you don’t want six weeks out because of a torn muscle!

When you are improving your performance it is important to dedicate time to recovery. This may mean some meditation, a relaxing bath or a quiet cup of tea. If you are exercising, micro tears in the muscles are what allows our bodies to get stronger, so you need the downtime to give your body a chance to heal. This is why downtime and recovery is so important in any performance plan.

We often forget our brains! The body’s ability to perform is based on the foundation of a healthy brain. So what makes our brains healthy? Cutting out or reducing alcohol, sugar and manmade facts is a good start. You should be focusing on increasing movement, sleep and interaction. Basically move more, get more sleep & hang out with your friends and your brain will be happy!

I am totally biased but seeing your Chiropractor can improve your performance by increasing your strength. The amazing neuroscientist and researcher Heidi Haavik has found that chiropractic adjustments change the way your brain processes what is going on in and around your body. In fact her research found that a single adjustment showed strength improvements equivalent to almost 3 weeks of training. Very cool!

Another really important aspect of performance is hydration! If you aren’t hydrated properly you just can’t perform at your best. You are at increased risk of fatigue, cramps and dehydration. Now you don’t need any fancy sports drinks or expensive rehydration formulas… Water is perfect!

Lastly, and this sounds like common sense but, if you’re over 40… Don’t get injured. There are so many people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are no longer enjoying their favourite activities because they injured themselves earlier in life. Obviously accidents are unavoidable but most injuries are actually from poor exercise habits, over training, not warming up, or the using the out-dated motto of no pain/no gain. As we get older it’s harder to recover & the body takes longer to heal so take it easy! Equally important if you do get injured do something about it, simply thinking it will eventually go away may rob you of your health, performance or your favourite activity.

So there you have it, some tips for improving your performance and remember… “If you’ve got a body, you’re an athlete” (Bill Bowerman).