4 min read
Are you a performance specialist? Maybe you are and you didn’t even know it….
What is a performance specialist?
A performance specialist is someone who follows a plan that is created to achieve maximum results in a specific field. Why is this problematic for sport or fitness people? Because focusing on sport or fitness alone makes you a performance specialist, and being a performance specialist negatively affects your health and vitality.
If you think of your body as a race-car it is easy to understand how the faster you drive the more the machine breaks down. It is also easy to understand that the point of having a race car is to win in the sport of racing.
So the point of this analogy is that if you participate competitively in a sport and if you specialize your training, nutrition, recovery and mindset to maximize your performance you are breaking down your body faster than what is necessary for normal life’s demands.
Being all in for too long….
It is important to understand that when you spend years specializing in one sport or way of training you are putting yourself at risk of becoming a ship at sea without a sail. This is because if one day you can no longer participate in your sport or way of training you will be left without knowledge of how to train, eat, recover, etc. outside of your specialized way of thinking and behaving.
Marathon running is a great example of focusing on a single sport and specializing your life to maximize running performance.
Many marathon runners spend their time, money, and energy learning ways to adapt to marathon running. This means eating specifically to fuel running workouts, strength training specifically to supplement and improve running efficiency, resting and recovering to ensure following a training calendar, etc. All of the experience is from the perspective of improving and maintaining the highest possible running capacity.
So what happens when something takes away your ability to marathon run indefinitely?
What do you do when everything you have learned and practiced no longer has value? Most people are left without any idea of how to maintain their physical health and life balance. This is because focusing on a single sport is unnatural. We are human beings first, not performance specialists.
Every single person who is not a paid professional should not focus on a single sport or look to professional sports for ideas on how to care for the human body for a lifetime. Sport means competition, whether against others or against yourself. Everything is done for the one goal of winning. Injury and sacrifice are encouraged in order to win.
The goal of your approach to health, vitality and performance should be holistic self-development. It should never be competition or winning. You only have one body, one life, so you must make decisions that will promote a long and productive life.
Ask yourself this question. Why did you start the sport or fitness-focused exercise program in the first place? Was it weight loss? Was it to become more athletic? Was it because it is what you did growing up? Is it because your friends or family do it?
Watch out for training programs and classes that mimic sport.
It is important to be able to recognize training programs that are treated like sports.
Have you ever gone to a group exercise class in a typical globo gym or xfit gym? The strength/cardio classes with teachers at the front motivating people to exert %100 intensity and effort. The nature of these classes are competitive, which means they are not something people who are concerned with self-development and longevity should attend. These classes lack the balance necessary to holistically affect your health in a positive way.
Focus on life balance and always think long term.
Always remember that performance matters, but should never be the first priority of why you do what you do. The first priority should be the health and longevity of your own personal physical, mental and emotional needs. Making training and winning the most important thing in your life will cause burn out every single time.
All The Very Best,
Dan Baruch
BARUCHealth: Founder
info@baruchealth.com
BARUCHealth Programs For Health Vitality & Performance
Step By Step Programs:
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Movement (Exercise/Training Program)
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