Before I get into what to do as an athlete, I would like to highlight the areas of an athlete; target sport, ideal body composition, optimal health, focused mindset, and proper recovery.
Body composition is the percentage of muscle, fat, water, bone in the body and it should be in such a way that it helps you perform better in sports. A body with a high-fat percentage and low muscle mass would not be favorable for most of the sports out there.
So here are my 5 tips to all Athletes out there:
- Train specific to the Sport: As an athlete, one needs to focus on performance and the skill associated with the athlete’s sport. For example- a Soccer player needs to be extremely agile, quick, have strong lower body strength, and muscular endurance. Along with that, the player needs to keep practicing passing, dribbling, shooting, etc
Training at home, even though it is limited, can be very handy wherein one can focus on improving skills by adding 20 mins of skill practice 4-5 times a week. The goal is not to reach an absolute failure but to get better at skills.
The major part of training should focus on improving underlying blocks to improve sports performance like strength, endurance, mobility and for that bodyweight training like Calisthenics with plyometrics (jump or explosive) and circuit-based approach could be very beneficial to the sport.
Exercises like Squat, Push-Ups, Pull-Ups are great for strength. Adding explosiveness to the mentioned exercises will lead to an improvement in power and adding a timeline to complete the exercise can help increase speed and endurance.
- Diet for Optimal health: It is very important to maintain a nutritious diet preferably quantified /calories calculated for the specific goal of maintaining the right proportion of protein, carbohydrates, and Fat. Before focusing on the distribution of protein, carbs, and fat, it is important to set Calories to maintain body composition or achieve a specific goal of fat loss or muscle growth. One would want to create a deficit of Calories from nutrition if the individual is planning to lose some fat before your event.
Now, coming to macronutrient distribution; Protein plays an important role in providing structure (1.3-2 grams per kg of Bodyweight), timely Carbohydrates (pre and post-training for better performance), and enough Fat (not less than 15 percent of total Caloric intake to ensure efficient hormone regulation).
- Stay hydrated: As an athlete, it is important to focus on staying hydrated at all times to maximize performance and avoid salt loss due to extensive training. ****
- Sleep like a Baby : It is recommended to sleep for at least 7-8 hours for optimal recovery. An improper sleep cycle could have a huge impact on the performance of the individual. ****
- Take care of Stress : Due to the pandemic, it is very important that one meditates and includes some activity that keeps themselves calm and composed. A stressed you will not be able to focus nor perform better in any physical activity.
