Wellness Wednesday – You’re an Everyday Athlete, So Train Like It

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By Ed Lippie, founder and CEO, Momentum Wellness

I get frustrated when I hear people say, “I’m not an athlete, so I don’t need to train like one.”

After watching recent Olympic action, I can understand why many people don’t identify as an athlete. Olympic athletes possess seemingly superhuman abilities to perform incredible feats of strength, speed and agility. These require years of hard work and, in most cases, a combination of advantageous genetics. But I have news for you: to a lesser degree, life is a sport, so you better train for it.

Let’s break it down. Our typical days contain a variety of mini events that require a combination of athletic attributes. Watch out! You didn’t see that biker coming towards you at 18 mph as you stepped off the curb into that newly painted bike lane? I hope you have the eccentric strength to stop in your tracks and move out of the way! That is a movement pattern you see in virtually every field or court sport, and requires an everyday degree of athleticism.

You need to sprint 30 yards with your work bag to catch that bus? That requires everyday athleticism.

You need to stuff that 25-pound carry-on bag in the overhead bin without knocking out the passenger in the aisle seat? That requires everyday athleticism.

You need to hold back your 60-pound dog because he wants to chase a squirrel – while you’re trying to pick up after him on an icy sidewalk? You got it: more everyday athleticism.

Training Areas

You could be rolling your eyes at these examples of everyday athleticism. Yet, each of these “mini life events” call on degrees of strength, stability, functional mobility, and brief bouts of explosiveness. They happen at a moment’s notice – you’re not given an event schedule in advance. With that in mind, your training needs to cover areas that will help you perform mini life events injury-free. As a reminder, these areas are: