This week’s topic is all about that mobile, supple, agile, powerful creature within you…your inner athlete. Each of us is born with a unique set of gifts, skills, abilities, and traits that enable us to excel in a particular movement or sport, and to represent ultimate human physicality.
My entire focus in this short piece is to stimulate your thinking, and to encourage you to embrace your inner athlete, move with athleticism, and celebrate this component of the human experience. Many folks will say “Oh, I’m not an athlete” but I say “Yes, you are.” Sure, each of us is different in our makeup and potential but within every one of us lies an athletic talent or two (or many more in some individuals). I want to encourage you to find those movements or sports that you can do well, or challenge yourself to learn a new one, so that you can enjoy the benefits of the athletic life.
Being athletic doesn’t have to mean that you play a sport or compete in specific events, although I’m very much in favor of such pursuits. I think they are a part of our natural human evolution and there are many positives to be had from occasionally entering the arena of contest, whatever that may be. But I’m not going to try to push that on you today. I just want you to feel good about that being inside you who is an athletic human, and to use the athletic approach to get the most out of your movement pursuits.
Athletes are different than fitness enthusiasts (not that there is anything wrong with being a fitness enthusiast, by the way). Fitness enthusiasts exercise, usually with the goal of improving health and function, but often in what is not the most productive manner. Athletes, on the other hand, train with a purpose toward a specific goal, and they use methods that generally result in greater gains in performance capacity. By employing a scientifically-based training plan that is periodized, seasonal, adapted to the individual, specific to the sport or endeavor, and designed with the optimal amount of stimulus, progression, and recovery; you can simply get better results in outcomes such as fitness, goal attainment, and health (if done correctly). Being athletic gives us better physical self-esteem, confidence, and problem-solving acumen.
You are an athlete. Make your training more effective today by keeping it athletic. And enjoy the security of knowing that you are pursuing and maintaining your best representation of the durable and capable human. If you are intrigued by this line of thinking, more perspectives and deeper dives are available on this week’s video and podcast episode. Thanks for reading. Thanks for inspiring me. And thanks for being an athlete.