Life Lessons from sports 3 - Discipline (part 1)
Wow this is one thing that really sets a high level athlete apart from a weekend "wannabe". There is one saying I like very much. "Hard work beats talent, if talent doesn't work hard" Unless we are in the top top level (Olympics/world championships) of a sport where genetics is of utmost importance (weightlifting, strongman, sprinting) hard work can compensate for any lack of physical gifting.
I am not very gifted physically. I'm not exceptionally tall, and I get fat VERY easily. I love to eat... You know how babies cry when they are not fed (duh), when I was a baby, I cried when I was not fed FAST ENOUGH. I still like food but at least now I'm eating the right kind(yay). I was in the "fat people club" all through school till I was about 14.
where I did have an advantage was that when I was young (6-11 yrs, the perfect age for motor skills development) I went to schools in countries where they took Physical education very seriously. We did all kinds of games and things like gymnastics and roller-skating. That made me quite gifted at learning physical skills. This meant I was interested in sports but still all that fat-boy food meant I was still tubby.
One area where I have to be disciplined is in diet. For us natural fatties its not impossible to get lean and stay lean for maximum health and physical performance (not to mention appearance). But I do have to watch what I eat closely. There are people who can eat whatever they like and not get fat. They are just different, and they need slight modifications in diet. But for me, if I start to eat bad food on more than about 10% of my meals (6 a day, 42 a week) I start to get fatter. Its as simple as that. Sad but true, too much bad stuff - i.e. not following those principals I outlined in my training post in this blog and I'm tubby in no time! Everybody eat more protein its good in many ways. All lean meat is wonderful!
Now it comes to this. Many ppl tell me that they "can't" eat as "strict" as I do. Actually that's a wrong mindset, they just need to build it in as a habit. Eating preferences are not genetic, gender biased or race biased, they are learned. And if they can be learned... UN-learned... can they be (sounds a bit jedish).
This is true with all habits, we need the ability and the strength in the will to say "I wont do (insert bad habit here), its not something I want to be doing cos the benefits are negligible compared to the costs!" Hey if we learn to resist late nights, tasty (but destructive) food, and to welcome discomfort during exertion and even physical intimidation from opponents, resisting unhealthy influences in real life becomes part of our character because deep down inside, we know we can do it.
posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 4/04/2006 09:36:00 PM
Comments: 1
