Sport starts HERE!

Author: Jeff Fisher

February 3, 2010

Jeff Fisher's E-Take is sponsored by Elite Performance Centres, the inventor and leader in High Performance Training in Winnipeg, with over 12,000 athletes trained to date. www.elitewinnipeg.com

We often underestimate the impact that sport has on our lives.  Watching sport has become as American as baseball or as Canadian as hockey.  Participating in sport often takes a back seat to watching it in color HD, surround sound, picture in picture on your 42 inch flat screen… and that is too bad.

Valuable as a metaphor of life, sport can connect you with your primal self, competition, physical exertion and even the more gentile side of life, communication skills, teamwork and trust.  Often these qualities can carry an athlete through life quite easily after being honed in the sporting arena.  But what happens when your body or your schedule don’t lend themselves to a pro-sport or even a beer-league career?  Well that is your decision.  Sport or a physical activity begins with the decision to make a change.

To try something new, challenge your body and often your mind and soul as well, is easier said than done.  Our daily media servings have been “super-sized” with every reason in the world to get you moving.  Here is the catch…You have to do it, and it almost doesn’t even matter what activity it is: biking, skating, skiing, lifting, walking or yoga.  All of these are the first step to moving and challenging yourself in a new way.  Isn’t challenge the cornerstone of sport?

It seems as though in sport now a days, especially in pro-sport, a prerequisite to compete is a police record, when in fact, to compete in the purest form, takes only your effort.  Competition doesn’t have to be against your rival team or in the community center.  It can be as simple as competing against your past, previous best or previous worst!  Worst is what you are doing if you are not doing any sort of physical activity.  If you are not, it is probably because you think you are too busy to join a gym or start a regimented program.  That may be true but it doesn’t have to be a limiting factor when it comes to your fitness.

Your first match can be against that sugar-filled breakfast that you pick up at the drive-thru or WORSE the breakfast that you aren’t eating because of the rush you think you are in every morning.   Once you are 1-0, your next match can be as simple as 20 minutes of walking per day, add in a couple core movements by month’s end and soon you are on a winning streak.  Just like anything, your success is up to you.  Almost no one starts anything new without growing pains. In fact, I would discourage anyone to make an investment in a gym membership or a personal trainer until they have already won a couple of fights.  Stepping into the ring with a membership, you are most likely to get knocked out in the early rounds…and often that defeat causes an early retirement.

If you are lucky to go on an extended winning streak and your personal issues have been defeated, I would encourage you to start sniffing around the amateur sport scene.   There are a myriad of choices in this city of ours to challenge you in any way you can imagine.  Step outside of your comfort zone, join a club, start an activity and, with your winning streak backing you, not only will you be able to enjoy the activity more but your success might even make you want to take the next shot at the champ.

Sport starts HERE!

jeff@elitewinnipeg.com  

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