Hello Excel Athletes!
I hope everyone has been able to stay healthy, happy and sane during this very interesting time of our lives. I am writing this blog today to remind you all to take advantage of this opportunity laid out in front of you.
This quarantine and social distancing could last a few weeks before we are able to get back into the normalcy we are used to. While change can be scary and unknown, it often leads to enormous opportunity. But those opportunities aren’t always obvious or easy to take advantage of. If you haven’t been able to figure it out yet, let me explain what this opportunity is: You are stuck at home with much more free time than you are used to.
How are you going to use this free time? There’s one of two ways: the lazy way, or the productive way.
The lazy way consists of staying up late and sleeping in later. The day is full of doing the bare minimum of schoolwork, or career work, and spending the rest of the time binge watching Netflix or Tik Tok. People, there are SO MANY THINGS you could be doing to better yours, and other peoples, lives!
Here is the productive way:
· Wake up at your normal time
· Get active! - Fit in some kind of workout at home or outside
· Shower – Don’t gas bomb yourself out of your own quarantine zone
· Still get dressed for the day like it’s any other day
· Designate a spot in the house that is for work (do not make it your bed! Separate the day from sleeping)
· Stay motivated – if you have trouble staying motivated try a “reward system” where after completing X, you get to do X (for instance, after finishing one subject of classes I get to go on social media for 15 minutes)
· Make sure you eat – get creative with your food and try some new things while you’re at it
· Reach out to family – call your grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.
· Check in on friends and teammates – hold each other accountable
· Get to bed at a normal time
These are just some ideas of things that are way more worth your time than video games and snapchat.
Here at Excel Swim Performance I always preach on things we all can do to enhance our athletic performance. We can now finally take the time to work on shoulder mobility and strength, a better streamline position, a stronger core, looser hamstrings and hip flexors, better goal setting, conquering mindset techniques, etc.
But I am also encouraging people to seek some new adventures and challenges. For example, pick up a new skill like learning a new language, picking up an old instrument (or starting a new one), learn a new board game or card game your parents like to play, start reading or writing again, do something, ANYTHING, new!
Personally, I have always said I wanted to get into a consistent schedule of doing yoga, but I always said, “I just don’t have the time.” Well guess what I have now?! That’s right, time. Flexibility has always been a weak point of mine, so this is my athletic enhancement I’ll be working on.
How about away from athletics you ask? Well I have a small piano keyboard that I bought not too long ago. I never played an instrument when I was young and never learned how to read sheet music. So, I am rewarding myself with allotted time to play the piano and learn a brand-new skill (if you’re lucky I might even post a video someday).
I know some people may think this social distancing time is the worst time of their lives. Well, flip that thought and understand the enormous opportunities laid out before you. I’ll tell you one thing, the people that really care for their sport, hobby, or job, will not let a home quarantine stop them from getting better, so why should you?
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