Mind, body and spirit. Those are what we believe to be the three pillars of our life.
In world history, there were some times where civilizations really focused on developing the 3 in harmony, like the Ancient Greeks for example.
Ancient Greece, was a time where having a healthy body was a must in order to have also a healthy mind.
That body should be developed mainly trough sports and fitness activities: "Mens sana in corpore sano" (healthy mind in healthy body).
That body should be developed mainly trough sports and fitness activities: "Mens sana in corpore sano" (healthy mind in healthy body).
In our time, sports have played a role in our lives, mainly when we were kids learning them as part of an academic curriculum, or by practice some favorite sport in a local team.
But today, what role do sports have in your life? Entertainment it's an obvious answer. But also for fit and health reasons.
We have stated that a healthy body is a must to be a successful person, but there's more to it, than just doing physical activity for healthy purposes.
Do you view sports as a tool?Yes a tool! Sports can be a teaching tool for us to learn how to face other things in our life.
In fact, athletes are in constant challenge to improve so they can win that game, or, win that championship competing with themselves and against others. Like we all do in our own lives!
Athletes are constantly goal seeking, goal driven, and goal achievers per excellence. So, sports training can teach us a lesson, about how to achieve goals.
Sports methodology experts advocate that training for sports has principles, they call it the "Training Principles".
We will point out 7 sports Training Principles and bridge the gap between them and things you need to do in order to be successful in any field you desire:
7 Sports Training Principles That Can Make You Successful
1. Individuality
Genetics, gender, sex, age, habits, training age are evident differences between athletes.
Each athlete will respond differently to training stimulation.
Training programs should be custom made to fit athletes individual characteristics.
Success Principle:
Like athletes we all are different also. If it works for you it doesn't mean it will work for me and vice-versa. We must respect our own individual characteristics and develop ourselves from that point forward. You have your beliefs and values, you have your own dreams and goals, that aren't similar point by point to anyone else. So if you want to succeed you must know yourself really well, being truly honest about it. Because that's the path YOU want, so you have to envision it really well first so you'll know where you should go to second. By knowing yourself you can build a costume made success plan for you.
"It is important to foster individuality for only individual can produce the new ideas" - Albert Einstein
2. Overload
If athletes want to become better they have to do more than what their bodies are used to do.
This principle says physical demands must be continually increased in order for fitness levels to improve. Also related to the progression, if demands are to high the body will be able to adapt, if demands are too low gains will perish.
So there has to be an optimal increase of demands.
Success Principle:
If you want to become someone better and get those results you want, you need to be willing to work more than what you are used to.
You have to increase your work ethic on quantity but also on quality, making a good mixture of the two.
It's very important that you acknowledge the word increase, if you are already doing what you're supposed to do but seeing few results, just multiply what you are doing by the necessary number you need to get to success. It doesn't have to be a complicated execution plan, maybe what you need to do it's just a little more than the average guy does.
Also like the "overload" principle says, you can't demand too much or demand too little. For your business/career to grow you need an increase on the exact things that need that grow, that's why you need to know yourself really well like stated in the "individuality" principle so you can be very accurate about it.
3. Specificity
Athletes should train for their specific sport. Meaning that exercises used for improvement in their sport should mimic the skills required for that specific sport also. The best way to train for swimming is to swim, for running is to run. Depending on what kind of movements and intensity our body uses different energy systems, so from a physiologic standpoint athletes should train energy systems that are mainly required in their sport also.
Success Principle:
You must become an expert in your area/business/company so that you can grow and reach your goals and dreams. The best way to do so is to practice on the things that will develop your expertise. You want to become an accomplished writer you need to practice writing, you want to become a singer you need to sing, you want to be a marketing strategist you need to study marketing plans and companies. Anything that fits your goals, is what you should do and practice, practice, practice and practice!
This is very important, because not only it will make you a person reliable for some kind of expertise, but also it will make you better: Like the energy system, when really competitive situations come, you will be able to compete better and perform better because you trained yourself for that the demands of that profession or particular situation.
"It's better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared." Les Brown
4. Adaptation
Whatever athletes bodies go trough they have the capability to adapt. So any new exercise can stimulate growth, but if its done a lot of times the body will get used to it, it will adapt, and the growth suddenly stops. Athletes and trainers know this, so what they do is either overload their system or change the training program on a regular basis. They can't do the same old stuff and expect for better results to come or even for results to stay the same.
You have found something that works and you're getting the results you want. But suddenly results stop! What's wrong? You have stopped the growth. You didn't stop but, the growing did stopped! You have to make a continuous effort to become better and better as time progresses. The same old thing won't do the trick now. Like your body, your mind while adapt quickly to the positive changes you have made, but now its stuck. You need to change that, by trying new and challenging things, that will push you to become better. Push your limits so you can grow outside them!
"The road to success is always under construction." Lily Tomlin
5. Reversibility
What they have gained they can lose. Athletes train to improve their conditioning and to gain better skills, but if the stimulation stops for a while, they can lose what they have gained. It takes a lot more time to make gains than to lose them. They can workout for 8 straight months but if they stop for 2 months they can reverse their fitness levels back to the state they where at the beginning stages.
What you have worked so hard for years and years, can be gone in a matter of months, poor decision making, external troubles, or even if father time tell us so - everything perishes sometime. Be prepared for it and of course you need to be wise with decision making.
Sometimes, losing something is necessary in order to get something that's better: Example: When people quit a good job, that gives them financial comfort, for a new job that has the potential to be an amazing job. But in the present it's just another "start up act", with all the rookie mistakes and learning challenges. In this case, you have to acknowledge that reversibility exists and it's a good thing, like natural law of things. You lose something to gain something, that with time, and, the necessary effort, it will be much better.
6. Multi-Lateral Development
Sports must be viewed as a long terrm activity where athletes first must go trough an enlarged preparation phase where basic skills are developed, so that afterward, their bodies are prepared for higher and more specific demands. So athletes should not leave out any area of sports training in their preparation, an unilateral development should be avoid. This is a major principle to be applied with any athlete but specially with young athletes that are in an early learning phase. Learn the basics first the complex latter.
Success Principle:
You cannot call yourself a successful person if you are very good in one area of your life, but you're sloppy in several others.
For instance people who only think about their job and have a terrible relation with their family and don't take care of their body, because work consumes them. On the other hand we can have people that only cares about their body, having fitness and nutrition has a priority, but they have part time jobs and have really difficulties in keeping up with their finances.
Like the multilateral principle, success as to be well structured, not leaving any area of your life out. Work it from all sides.When you set your goals, make sure you pinpoint goals to all areas of your life: health, family relationships, work, hobbies, finances, etc. Also, developing yourself in several areas its crucial to be successful, because when you are struggling in some particular area the others will make up for the struggling one in any given time. But it's major that you develop them in harmony so that all can grow and contribute.
7. Periodization and Planning
Trainers divide the athletes season into training phases (periods or cycles) each one with different goals or with a progressive cycling approach of all aspects in order to reach a main goal by the end of the process. Basically, with all the training principles we talked about in mind, coaches make a plan for the athletes season that will be the guideline of all process. During the season the planning should be revised and sharped depending on the results athletes are getting.
Success Principle:
You got to have a plan. You need to have a strategy that understands where you need to go right now, but also, where are you going tomorrow and in the future. Short term, medium term and long term goals, that's what you need to elaborate on. Goals are concurrent, first list the long term goals and then think about how you are going to get to them, by setting medium and small term goals. This will be your guideline in your journey to success. Like sports "periodization" you can point out goals by dates. Also, you can rearrange them as you progress and see the results you're getting. Review it and adjust what needs to be corrected.So there you have it: 7 Sports Training Principles that correspond to 7 Success Principles for you to achieve success in your own life.
We hope it was useful, share it with someone you know that needs to be stimulated by this principles. continue to be...
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