ARE YOU TRAINING FOR YOUR HEALTH, OR FOR SPORT? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AND HOW DOES IT APPLY TO YOU?
Aug 6, 2022
ARE YOU TRAINING FOR YOUR HEALTH, OR FOR SPORT? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AND HOW DOES IT APPLY TO YOU?
There is a major difference between training for your health, and training for sport. In this article, you are going to get a double whammy. We are going to discuss this topic as it relates to both exercise, and nutrition! So what exactly is the difference, and why should you care?
I have played sports, literally, all of my life. From t-ball in first grade, to starting volleyball and basketball, which I played all the way through high school, in the fourth grade, to running track, playing softball, going to college on a golf scholarship, playing golf professionally for six years, to playing ultimate frisbee and flag football recreationally, to trying to seriously compete in the sport of fitness, CrossFit, for a number of years. When it comes to practice, training, studying, applying, mental preparation, physical preparation, being coached, coaching, and anything and everything else related to sports, I have the knowledge and experience to be able to, hopefully, relay this message with some confidence.
Sport and health are on two totally opposite ends of the spectrum. You cannot really do both. “Yeah but, I love running and I enjoy signing up for races just for fun.” That’s great! At the sound of the horn, your adrenaline kicks in and it’s game on. Also, you know you have a race coming up so what do you do? You train for it. How is that not training for your health? One word, risk. You will put in extra miles to prepare for the race. You will push harder in the race than what is needed for you to be healthy on a daily basis. The same goes for biking, swimming, basketball, CrossFit, golf, tennis, pickle-ball, you name it. For example, people that play golf for fun, show up to the course a bit early, load a cooler full of beer, head to the driving range to hit a few practice shots, and off to the course they go to hack it up. When you’re playing golf as your sport, you show up to the course early in the morning, everyday, and have a morning session. This involves a couple of hours on the range, followed by short game, and skill shot, practice. Middle of the day is lunch and workout time where the athlete heads to the gym to train golf specific strength and range of motion work. Afternoon is course time. They arrive and head back to the range for pregame mobility warm up, warm up shots starting at wedges and progressing through their bag until they end with a driver. During this warm up they are working on shaping shots, practice different lies, practice different ball flights, work on different ball positions in their stance. Then, they head out to practice 9 holes. Sometimes the player will play multiple balls and work on shots from all over the course. This is also a great time for them to work on their preshot routines, mental practice of blocking out distractions and focusing on targets. See the difference?
In sport, the body is trained to perform optimally. It is hours, upon hours, of work both in the sport and outside of it. It risks injury to the body, it risks strain on relationships, it risks missing out on life events, it risks mental health, and it risks long term damage. It does all of this because in sport, in order to excel, your weaknesses still have to be stronger than your competitors strengths. In other words, the athlete that misses the least, wins the most. The more elite the competition, the less room for error. What does that mean when it comes to training? It means that there is no cherry picking.
When I played golf, my short game was my weakness. It didn’t matter how well I could hit the ball if I couldn’t get the dang thing in the hole. So I spend HOURS on the putting green. Me, a chalk line, a pile of golf balls, and Dave Matthews Band. HOURS. When I competed in the sport of fitness, shoulder to overhead, actually anything overhead, was my weakness. So I spent all of my extra time working on handstands, handstand walking, and pressing work. However, my lower body was always far more dominating. This is where I risked my shoulder health for the sake of competing. My point is, in sport, you cannot pick and choose what part of the sport you want to participate in. I didn’t get the luxury of just hitting my driver and seven iron all day, just like I also didn’t get the luxury of just squatting and deadlifting in every competitive workout. In sport, it’s the whole package.
Also, in sport, the training days are preparing you for the event. In golf, it was tournaments, in the sport of fitness, it was The Open, in basketball, it was the games. I didn’t show up every single day and play like I was there to win. Why? Because that doesn’t work on weaknesses. Game day is where you learn how to win. How many times have you watched a major golf tournament and the leader suddenly look like they have never played before on a Sunday afternoon? It’s because the mental and physical pressure is nothing like what you can put yourself into on a Tuesday. The only way to learn how to win is to continuously put yourself into a situation to be able to win. What will make you learn really quick? Failing.
When it comes to sport, the nutrition for it is drastically different than health. And here is where people are blurring the lines. The average, even slightly above average, person sees what the top level athletes are doing and think, “if I do this, I can be that good too.” So when the professional athlete says, “I spend x number of hours practicing, x number of hours training, x number of hours sleeping, and I consume x amount of calories” we all think that this is what we need to also be healthy. Let’s pump the brakes and talk reality.
If you go to work everyday, have kids, have a significant other, and feel that you want to start competing in a sport, go for it! It’s going to require a great deal of sacrifice from you, and everyone around you. Also, you need to have a goal. Maybe it’s the U.S. Open, maybe it’s The CrossFit Open and Games, maybe it’s an Ironman, maybe it’s the pickle-ball championship, whatever serious thing it is, be prepared. This endeavor is a lot of work, it’s a lot of nutrition fueling, it’s a lot of hydration, it’s very little socializing, and it’s a TON of recovery. In sport, you are always training for a thing.
In health, you are training to feel your best. You are working on being able to live your best life with your family and friends. You are not looking to risk torn hamstrings and strained rotator cuffs to be able to play with your kids. You’re not looking to alienate yourself from everyone around you in order to win your Saturday morning match at the country club. In health, you are looking to prioritize quality of movement, recruit proper muscle groups, optimize your joint health, and fuel yourself with clean nutrition to prevent disease, optimize blood work, and increase energy. You are looking to lower your stress level in order to drop body fat, increase muscle mass, decrease inflammation, and improve mental health.
When focusing on health, you are improving your quality of life and increasing your longevity. You are focused on how you want to feel now AND in the future. When training, and playing, for health, the quality is far more important than the quantity. The quality outweighs the winning. Let me be the first one to say, I’m insanely competitive. When I’m playing a sport, I’m there to win. Period. I’m going to give my all. I don’t play for fun, I never have. Maybe that is a negative quality for me, but I do not know any other way. However, I understand that that is not what is best for my health. For me to be able to do everything that I want to do in my sixties and over, I needed to start prioritizing my health. The fittest people on earth are not always the healthiest people on earth.
In the words of our client, Ricky, “stay in your lane”. Optimize your health to increase your quality of life tomorrow, and everyday into the future.
