Who is an athlete? How to be a professional athlete? Majority of the people wants to be either a professional athlete or a normal athlete. What is the difference between the two; former is a person who takes part in athletics competitions and a latter is person who wants to be healthy and fit. But many of the people can't be an athlete because they don't know what to do. Don't worry, I am going to help you out and assure you that you will improve a lot in your athletic event. There are certain steps that you should follow to be an athlete:
Age and appropriate athletic event
Age is a very important factor when it comes to choosing an athletic event. China was 2nd in London Olympics 2012 and how did they achieve it. They train children from the age of 6 and do these children choose their own events. Whether they choose their events or not they become great athletes because they started practicing from the age of six. If you thought of being an athlete at the age of 18 and you have some real good physical power, then it is better to choose shot put, discus throw or weight lifting as your event rather than choosing 100 meters event. I am not saying you can't be a fast runner but you have a better chance in power events. Every student who wants to be an athlete takes part in all the athletics events when they are in school. Few students understand their taste but others might be still confused with 2 or 3 events. Well then timing in your events or results can help you out in choosing your events. Events are divided into track events such as 100m, 200m etc, field events such as long jump, high jump, etc and cross-country. Choose the best event that suits you and more over you should have interest in the chosen event.
Proper training program
Once when I was jogging I met a boy who was 14 and he was sad. He told me that he couldn't finish the school level 3000m event despite following a daily routine of jogging 3 km for over an year. One may wonder whether his jogging was useless, answer is no. He can now easily jog for 3 km but can he run 3 km. You need capabilities like speed, stamina, striding rhythm, breathing technique, etc to run 3000m with ease. Through jogging he won't get all these abilities. I gave him a training program for 3000m and after six months he contacted me to inform that he finished 4th in the school level 3000m event and he told me that he is planning for 5000m and cross-country. He was really happy and more over I was so happy and I wanted to help him more. He got all the necessary capabilities from a proper training program. As such every event need a proper training program to improve the respective capabilities. Start your training now to be a professional.
Practice
Practice is the key to success. When that boy came to me telling his story, I saw the fire in him. He practiced so hard for six months and therefore he reached fourth in the competition. He became the individual championship for track events (400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m) in his school athletic meet when he was in his 11th grade. During my school days I used to practice so hard that I even vomited twice. Hence i got a good result in competitions. Consistent practice and following the training program sincerely is going to benefit you a lot. Trust me, it is boring to practice alone and you may even quit or your effort reduces due to laziness. So i suggest you to practice in groups with your friends or other athletes. Advantage of practicing in group with athletes better than you will somehow increase your effort and you tend to move with them improving in a tremendous rate.
Gym
An athlete should go to a gym as per the training program. He should go to a gym to tone certain muscles and not to work out so that he can participate in a body show competition. As per the training program every event involve the use of particular equipments to tone the respective muscles. Toning muscles helps to improve performance. Gym exercises helps in producing new muscle tissues which produce force necessary for the respective events.
Healthy diet
Healthy rich diet is very important for an athlete because he needs extra carbohydrates, fats, proteins, etc than a non-athlete. Training programs makes your body ask for more energy and if your body can't produce the required energy you either faint or stop practicing. If you don't have enough energy, pushing hard on work outs is not going to help you. Eating healthy food makes your body work like a machine and you become fresh, lively, strong, etc. Healthy food helps in toning your muscles and therefore improvement in training and good results.
Good mindset
"Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it" was quoted by Steve Maraboli. An athlete needs a good mindset during training and competitions. During competition you experience a lot of pressure. Your mind should be happy, fresh and prepared to handle the pressure. Your mind plays tricks with you during competitions. So you should me strong physically and mentally. There is a lot of training to control your mind.
Goal
As an athlete you should have a goal. Goals differ from athlete to athlete. But it will be every athletes dream to represent their country in the Olympics. But understand that Olympics is not the only achievement in life for an athlete. You achieve something when you get a prize in a school level competition. But achievements increase your goal levels. Its always good to aim for Olympics, it helps you in growing in your respective fields.
Support from parents and friends
Last but not the least is the support from one's parents and friends which is really important and crucial. It helps you in nourishing your confidence. You might need money for sports shoes, protein drinks, etc and If you don't have enough financial support you will lack all the sports stuffs and will have to waste your precious time in making money. This eventually affects your studies and finally your mindset. Talk to them and convince them your interest and pursue their permission to the world of athletics.
Thank you.
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