What one can learn from the process of building Olympians
Hello, everybody! This is a guest article written by Jay Futalan, CSCS, head strength and conditioning coach of the Philippine Sports Commission and a colleague of mine. Read away!
When we look at Olympians, we are quick to conclude that they are the healthiest and fittest individuals in the world. But are they really? Fitness is a very broad term. Some elite athletes actually look to be on the heavy side but are considered fit, a case that challenges our perception of what healthy and fit should be.
As a strength and conditioning specialist working with elite athletes, I always put a premium on my athletes being humans first than them being athletes. In order for us to maximize our full potential, we must master the basics. Ideally before embarking on a more rigorous training regimen targeting specific skills for a particular sport, athletes must first improve their general level of fitness or the health components of fitness which can be summed up into having adequate cardiovascular endurance for good blood circulation and stamina, strong muscles to perform tasks requiring strength, mobility to move covering the full range of motion of the joints and lean body mass to be able to move effortlessly without carrying extra weight and at the same time avoid heart-related diseases.
Leading up to the Olympics, our athletes have worked meticulously hard to qualify and reach where they are now. To be honest, the being healthy part was more of a challenge than honing and mastering their skills and technique. They trained six days a week, at a minimum of two times and maximum of three times each day. They do not rest like a normal exercising person would. Actually they only have roughly eight hours in between workouts to rest.
From being part of the team that prepared our athletes for the Olympics, there are plenty of things I observed that a lot of us can definitely learn from.
Setting goals. Athletes wait and train for four years for the Olympics and trust me, it can be very dragging. But it helps when you have a goal. Each step taken must count toward that goal.
You need a team. There is strength in numbers for an Olympian—technique coach, tactical coach, strength and conditioning specialist, psychologist, exercise physiologist, physical therapist, nutritionist, masseur, and the list goes on. Let’s be honest. No matter how smart we think we are, there is just no way we would know everything, so it is better to seek help from other people. Ditch sugar; eat greens. Sugar makes athletes fat when consumed excessively. Athletes need lots of vegetables to help with their immune function and recovery. Rest, recovery as important as training. Yes, these athletes are more of an exemption to the rule but although they have very limited time to rest and recover they maximize whatever time they have for that. Mobility is underrated. This has an immense impact to training and being healthy as a whole. As for cross training, this does not mean you veering away from your training or your goals but it is just a way to break routine. Enjoy what you do. Do not treat the things that you do as work. Learning to enjoy exercise and healthy eating is a challenge at first but you will grow into it and besides working out produces happy hormones.
Although we are far from making it to the Olympics, we still have our own goals we can strive to achieve and accomplish. I hope that with the help of these tips we all turn out to be healthy and fit Filipinos.