Secrets of Superathletes

 

The Olympic games have come and gone once more, some countries left loaded with medals, while others like my beloved Nigeria, left empty handed.

 

The Olympics celebrate the athlete, the individual who dedicates his life to training and honing his physical abilities beyond normal human limits. From Usain Bolt to Rafael nadal, top athletes are getting fitter, faster and stronger than ever.All sports, particularly professional sports, are constantly on the lookout for superhuman performers who can transcend what people thought was possible and the paying public demands as much.

 

Steroids, suits, and Technological advances aside, How do athletes get fitter, faster and stronger within the relatively short periods between competitions? I did some research on the question and here are my results

 

 

 

Mental Tenacity

 

Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals. Tom Fleming, a two-time winner of the New York marathon and a distance runner who was ranked fourth in the world, says there’s a reason he was so fast.“I was given a body that could train every single day - and a mind, a mentality, that believed that if I trained every day — and I could train every day — I’ll beat you".  The hypothesis is that elite athletes are able to motivate themselves continuously and are able to run the gantlet between pushing too hard — and failing to finish — and underperforming. To find this motivation, the athletes must resist the feeling that they are too tired and have to slow down. Instead, they have to concentrate on increasing the intensity of their effort; that takes mental strength, but allows them to perform close to their maximal ability.

 

Mental Rehearsal

This is a time-tested practice used by successful athletes and even non-athletes in all assets of life. Mental rehearsal is repeating in your mind over and over the actions and techniques required to achieve success. If you are a basketball player, you rehearse each individual phase of the jump shot over and over in your head. The goal with mental rehearsal is to create automation. When you watch incredible athletes like Lebron James you think that the game just comes naturally to him. Well it does now, but that wasn’t always the case. He trained his mind for years and years on every little detail in every step, dribble, and shot he takes. Break down the skills of your sport and repeat them over and over in your mind, visualizing yourself performing them with perfection. With time, the skills will become second nature and you won’t even have to think before executing them.

 

Support Team

Mental toughness can come from within but it can also come from outside. Having the right individuals around you is critical to achieving success. Always surround yourself with like-minded people who are as driven as you are to push hard, be the best, and achieve success. Negative people, or the “haters” as they are sometimes referred to serve no purpose in your life. Eliminate them and there’s nothing holding you back. Having a strong support team such as your family and friends is also great for defining purpose. Not only will you want to succeed for yourself, you will also want to succeed for them and that is a remarkably powerful motivator.

Arianny Celeste- UFC fighter