Doa proper
warm-up■Athleteshavelearnt
throughouttheircareers
thattoperformattheir
best,theyneedtogettheir
bodiesreadytoperform.
Mostpeople’sideaofa
warm-upisa coupleof
staticstretches,a small
amountofcardioand
maybea bitoffoam
rolling,butif musclesand
tendonsarenotprepared
forthemovementsthat
arecoming,theywillnot
beabletoperformtotheir
maximum,whichwill
limittheefficiencyofthe
movementandtheeffect
gainedfromit.Essentially,
if youfailtoprepare,you
preparetofail.Master your
movements■Athletes are great
attheir chosen sport
because they’ve spent
thousands of hours
learning and honing
their skills. When the
average person chooses
totrain, they often
disregard the need
tolearn or perfect
a movement before
increasing the resistance
or difficulty. If you’re
unable to move correctly,
then as the movement
gets harder your training
efficiency drops and
your performance
level will also decrease.Trainmorethan
onceortwicea week■Ofcourseit’seasierfor
athletestotraineveryday
becauseit’stheirjob,but
whatwecanlearnfrom
themisthatfrequencyof
trainingnotonlycreates
goodhabitsforcontinued
training,butwillallow
youtochallengevarious
bodypartsandgive
themadequaterestand
recoverytime.Training
justonceortwicea week
makesit difficulttomake
adaptationsinthebody,
whetheryouraims
areforaestheticor
performancereasons.Focuson
recovery■ Ever seen a video of some
athlete jumping in an ice
bath? It looks horrible, but
they do it because they
know it will aid their
recovery, and allow them
to train harder and faster
sooner. Ice baths are a
little outdated now – the
latest thing is cryotherapy,
and you may have noticed
cryo clinics popping up
around the place. The
extremely low temps
cause the brain to divert
blood flow to your core to
keep vitals like the heart,
brain and lungs working.
This triggers a release
of hormones and anti-
inflammatories into the
blood. When you leave the
pod, blood – enriched with
oxygen and hormones –
heads back to all parts
of the body, helping
muscles recover faster.Don’tgotoo
hardtoooften■Modernfitnesshas
a loveofallthingsHIIT.
Whileit hasa placein
a trainingplan,it cannot
betheonlypart.Athletes
willusehigh-intensity
trainingperiodicallyto
improvecardiovascular
function,butnottoooften
becauseit canincrease
injuryriskandspike
stresshormones.Makeyourtrainingaseffectiveaspossiblebyfollowingtheleadsetbytheelites.● Game Changers Protips
52 MEN’S FITNESS OCTOBER 2019
Train like an athlete
1 2 3 4 5Athleteshaveanabilitytodigdeep,
allowingthemtopushthroughthemental
barriersthatholdbackperformancewhen
trainingorcompeting.Youcanreadstories
ofplentyofeliteathletesusinga mental
coachtohelpthemfindouthowtocontrol
this,andthesemethodsareavailableto
everyone.Hypnosis,NLP[neuro-linguistic
programming]andCBT[cognitive
behaviouraltherapy]haveallbeen
showntohelpincrease
performance.Work on
your mentality