Fit for Life: Lessons from the Olympics
Matt Espeut, GoLocal Contributor
Fit for Life: Lessons from the Olympics
These past two weeks, I couldn't wait to get home, put the TV on, and watch these athletes compete at the highest level. Heck, I even turned the TV on during the day when I went home for lunch, something I NEVER do.
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Why do I like it so much? Except for basketball, many of these athletes are unknown to most of the world, and they finally get their chance to shine.
Most of them are the polar opposite of the cocky, arrogant, spoiled, overpaid professional athletes that we see on tv.
Now, I completely respect and admire the work and effort EVERY athlete has done to reach the pinnacle of their career. I do like watching professional sports, but I enjoy watching the ones who have something to prove in order to make a name for themselves. They are still climbing and hungry because they don't yet have the big contracts and endorsements that the pros do, and I like the fact that they are trying to earn their spot in history.
Now, I know that many of you reading this, like myself, are NOT world-class athletes competing for a gold medal, but we regular people can still learn from the grit and determination of these athletes.
Here are some of my takeaways from the past couple of weeks.
To be great, you must do the things only a few are willing to do. You need to practice and prepare to another level and do the hard stuff when no one is watching. The work in the trenches creates the champion, NOT the few minutes of competition that the spectators see. The more you prepare for anything, the better you will perform.
They can block out the noise and stay focused on the task. During some of the gymnastics performances, I noticed people on the other side of the room practicing their routines. This distracted me from home, on my sofa, but the person performing stayed laser-focused.
With so many distractions in our everyday lives, it's hard to just sit and get your work done, let alone perform a routine in front of an audience. When we learn to focus, we can accomplish 10x the productivity as opposed to trying to multitask and dilute our main focus on several tasks at once.
Redemption is possible. I wasn't a big fan of Simone after the Tokyo Olympics. I know she had things going on, but I felt that to be the greatest at that level, you should be able to perform no matter what trauma you have or have had in your life. I felt she let her team and country down because of the expectations we all had of her.
This year, however, she showed up and dominated, and I am a fan again. I greatly respect someone who can overcome a bad situation and return with a vengeance. She showed the world that she is one of the greatest of all time, and I admire her more than ever for making that comeback.
Get the facts before forming an opinion. This was a big lesson I learned, and it will stay with me forever.
I pulled up to the gym and scrolled social media for a few minutes before walking in. I read about the female boxing situation, went in, and started talking with my staff about how unfair this was. We all agreed because we didn't have all the facts, just opinions.
The next day, after hearing the facts, I felt like a real A-hole for forming an opinion based on hateful gossip. I never posted my opinion publicly (thank god), but I still talked about it and realized I was completely wrong and out of bounds.
This is a lesson we should all learn from, especially given the political climate and all the nonsense and banter in the media. We hear many opinions based on emotions and feelings but not many facts, and now I am determined to find the truth before forming an opinion based on how I feel.
Win and lose with dignity was another lesson learned after watching the camaraderie and sportsmanship at the highest level. When these athletes finished their event, they would always go over and acknowledge the other competitors.
They would hug and congratulate each other because they knew that in a second, or should I say a fraction of a second, the outcome could have been different. With the exception of a few blowouts, every competition was so close that we would need to watch the replay in slow motion to see who won.
These athletes recognized that the person next to them worked just as hard and was just as determined as they were, as after each event, they showed the utmost respect for each other.
In conclusion, watching these Olympic Games also puts things in perspective.
It tells us that if someone can train the way they do, for that long and hard, that we should be able to accomplish the bare minimum it takes to be fit and healthy on an average level.
If they train for hours daily, work through pain and adversity, and overcome any obstacle that gets in their way so they can be the best at what they do, why can't we perform the necessary actions it takes to improve our lives daily?
Eating clean food, getting 30 minutes of exercise daily, getting to bed on time, and staying hydrated by drinking 1/2 your bodyweight in oz. of water a day shouldn't be that difficult.
You don't need to endure the pain and suffering it takes to be an Olympic athlete, but you do need to block out the noise around you and focus on what's important to you if you want success on any level.
Just like the Olympians do!!
Coach Matt