Become an athlete: Induced exercise part 13.

(Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6  7  8  9  10 11 and 12)

It's time now to consider different kinds of activities you might take on.  But before we move to specific sports, I want to suggest the principle that should guide your selection, as much as you can within the constraints you have.  This is the principle:

I don't just want you to "get some exercise."  I want you to become an athlete.  Fix in your mind the intention of becoming an athlete.  Choose your activity, and design your routine, with becoming an athlete as your goal.

What makes a person an athlete?

1.  An athlete incorporates her sport into her identity.   I'm a skier.  I'm a swimmer.  I run triathlons.  There are a thousand ways to answer questions about "who you are," or "what you do;" for an athlete, the sport appears as one of the first answers, right up there with job and family.

2.  An athlete specializes.  She may take part in lots of different activities, but one or two of them become "her" sport, the one in which she measures herself as an athlete.  She has moved beyond "Oh, I try to stay active" and has claimed one or two activities as her very own, even if she has fun trying lots of different things.  The specialties may change as she moves through the seasons of life, but there is always a concentration.

3.  An athlete sets performance goals.  She goes beyond vaguely trying or hoping to see "results," and instead has specific, measurable goals in mind that she is working towards.  At any given time she can name and describe them, whether they are physical ("I'm trying to break 50 seconds in the 50-yard crawl") or mental ("I'm trying to run for 20 minutes without letting a complaining or whiny thought surface in my mind!") 

4.  An athlete masters the fundamentals before moving up to the next level.  Even if she has a long-term goal in mind, she identifies the steps along the way and focuses on one level at a time, not getting ahead of herself.  She knows that overreaching can lead to discouragement or to injury.

5.  An athlete learns from experts.  She reads books and articles written about her sport, mining them for new workouts to try, ways to correct bad form, inspirations and motivations.  She finds out what community resources, teams, classes, and competitions are available to her and uses them as she can.  She uses what she learns to set her performance goals and to design a workout plan that will help her reach them.

6.  An athlete listens to her body.  She notices when she needs more rest, or when she needs to change her workout schedule for better balance.  She observes pains and twinges and stiffness, takes them seriously, finds out if she needs to rest the muscle or make it stronger.  She modifies her routines, adds strength and balance training if necessary, remembers to stretch.  She seeks medical attention when it's warranted, and learns self-care skills to manage chronic injuries or weaknesses.  She cares for her body with the aim of preserving and extending its athletic competence.

7.  An athlete trains all the time.  Some sports never change:  swimming indoors is the same night and day, winter and summer, and running just moves to an indoor track.  Other sports have definite seasons:  skiing, mountain biking.  In the off-season, an athlete keeps moving, choosing activities that preserve fitness until the weather changes again.  A skier runs and strengthens his lower body all summer long, or maybe cruises the bike paths on skate-skis; a cyclist enrolls in spinning classes and lifts weights all through the cold winter, or maybe buys a set of studded tires and plows through the slush.

8.  An athlete looks to the future.  Imagine the life you want to be leading at age sixty, sevety, eighty.  What can you do now to fit yourself for that reality?  Should you learn a "lifelong" sport now?  Should you make the most of your young years, enjoying a sport that's mostly for the young, and save the low-impact stuff for when you can't take the impact anymore?  Some combination?  Taking the long-term view helps in another way:  we remember that we don't have to plow ahead fast, but can take the time to master the fundamentals before moving on to higher levels of the sport.  There is always something new to learn, and a single sport can hold interest for many years when new goals are set one at a time.

I urge you to take up at least one activity that will help you claim the title "athlete."

You may be able to choose a sport that easily makes you feel like one.  If so, great!  But even if you are constrained to activities that don't feel "athletic," you can approach them with an athlete's attitude.  I will write more about applying the athlete's attitude to specific kinds of physical activities in the next post.

Comments

[4ddintx]

This is so interesting to me. I've never been athletic. I had some opportunities when I was in school and for a variety of reasons (parents' schedules, my insecurity, etc) I never took advantage of them. My parents made them optional, unfortunately, and I excelled at academics and music, so my plate was full. I've always regretted that.

I've been working out consistently to a video (t-tapp) because it's a solid workout that is short, combines strength training with aerobics, and I don't have to worry about childcare cause it's in my living room. I've always given up in the past when leaving my house and childcare were issues. I'm really enjoying it and already feel stronger and more active.

I'm also starting to desire "more"--which is weird for me. I'd like to run, I think! Which I've never liked before. I'm going to continue with babysteps and making this fit in my schedule longterm--but I know that the next activity I will add will be running/walking on our treadmill or outdoors as the situation allows. You've really nailed it--I want to be an athlete for the first time in my life! But, I'm going to hold the course and not bite off more than I can chew, get discouraged and sink back into inactivity. I'm going to continue my DVD, continue getting stronger and more fit, and the athlete part will come--cause this is a longterm endeavor and I have the rest of my life to achieve it!

Thanks for the step by steps that you've outlined in all of these posts. It's been encouraging to see where I've already taken the steps and helpful to pinpoint the next things I need to work on and think about.

Thanks, Tabitha

[CJ]

"I'm trying to run for 20 minutes without letting a complaining or whiny thought surface in my mind!"

In getting more comfortable with running, it was key for me to accept the whiny thoughts. Running almost always makes my joints complain for the first quarter-mile, and then it gets more comfortable. I never want to run the last quarter-mile, but I can do it. I am not getting any younger and so I expect that my ankles will continue to complain about getting warmed up, but I can run through the complaints now, knowing more about my capabilities.

Enjoying the series!

[Kim (in IA)]

I remember a while back when you referred to me in a post as your "friend who is a triathlete." I was shocked because I didn't think of myself as such and surprised that you identified me that way. Now, here I am almost 8 months pregnant and wondering if I can be in shape to do a local triathlon by September. The idea of training to get in on a race this year (and the hope that physical fitness will help my L&D) is what keeps me going to the gym these days.

As a former high school klutz who had to walk the required one-mile-run and didn't think there was anything I could do to prevent that "B" in gym class that ruined my GPA, I am appreciating this series on activity as well. My first one-mile run was just before my 30th birthday! I can definitely identify with a lot of the recommendations you are making and I hope that they are helpful to others.

[mary]

love this idea and totally agree. in the fall, i began the couch potato to 5k running program and saw myself as a runner. i loved the sport, the goal setting, the reading up on it. in the middle, i developed bronchitis and it led to having lungs that look 5 months to heal. i can no longer run outside and i don't have a treadmill. if i just (see my sad thinking?) do exercise videos, what kind of athlete would that be?

[bearing]

Mary, my next post in the series is for you then :-)

[mrsdarwin]

This is the kind of post I love, because I have positive answers to all the questions. :) Very encouraging! Thanks!