Without having to worry about basic survival, food, and shelter, the modern human being has the luxury of being able to focus on fitness and self-improvement. Throughout the years, humanity has strove to improve itself in both mind and body. It has tried to push itself to the peak of performance and to maximize the innate human potential. At the vanguard of this push, is the modern athlete.
The modern athlete recognizes that to improve both mind and body, you need to use the mind and body together. The mind controls the body. By mastering the mind, you can master the body. Our minds, are our most powerful tools. Thankfully, we can manipulate our minds to push us further and to make us do better.
- Dress Well, Perform Well
What good is high end gear if you do not have the confidence to perform? Strideline understands that the modern athlete, needs both the gear and the mentality to do well. When you are confident, you perform better. You have less doubt, you’re more likely to take the shot, you’re more likely to take the risk and you are more likely to step up. And confidence is rooted in how you view yourself. So dress well.
When you come onto the court or field, impeccably dressed, you create a positive self image and feel good about yourself. At the same time, your mind associates this good feeling with the training and exercise that led up to this moment. A lot of athletic wear, allows for great performance but only a few, like Strideline customized socks, allow you to look good, while you play good. You can try on a pair, and enjoy high quality gear that’ll enhance your natural abilities.
- You are What You Eat
The greatest obstacle to achieving a well toned or athletic body is the lack of control over the most basic human need, the need to eat. After a long and hard work out, people feel the need to eat a lot. They feel the need to reward themselves with food, they think that the main benefit of working out is that they can eat more. The modern athlete, knows better. Eating shouldn’t be a reward in itself, eating should be part of training.
Once you understand that eating directly affects the outcome of your training, the way you eat changes. You are better able to control how much you eat, how often you eat and what you eat. If you are not disciplined in the diet, you are not disciplined in training. If you eat a lot in the diet, you gain a lot of weight. If you mess up your eating schedule, you hamper your muscle growth. So change the way you see food and eating, and it will better the outcome of your training.
- Commitment is Key
The path of the modern athlete is hard. The modern athlete’s days are different from the average person’s. There is more lifting, running, sweating and hurting in the day of an athlete in comparison to the days of anyone else. There is also less time, relaxation, free eating and a lot of other things. The path to the top, is a path traveled every single day. It is a never ending road built on mastered habits. What then pushed an individual to continue down this path, to stick to the good habits and to not quit? It is commitment to a goal.
In life, many things will not work out without commitment. It is hard to stay in a relationship if you are not committed. It is hard to get promoted if you are not committed to work. Commitment brings power to continue. All climbs to the top, are fundamentally rooted in commitment. The road of a banker aiming to make millions is rooted in commitment, the road of a politician to be president is rooted in commitment, the road of an athlete seeking peak performance is the same. The life of an athlete may be different, but the key to living that life is the same as the keys that many other individuals use to push themselves further – commitment.
- See the Glory in the Struggle
Anyone that has ever competed before understands the pain that comes with competition. There is pain in training, in losing, in being criticized and in failure. All of these things can take a toll on an athlete.
The best of the best, however, understand that there is still potential beauty in this pain. And that beauty lies in their ability to rise above it. To add to a great narrative that not only did you do well, but you did well against all adversity.
An athlete faces many challenges in the way of maximizing their potential, but what separates the all time greats from everyone else is their ability to deal with these challenges and push through.
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