Strength Is More Important Than Strength

Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing through the water or striding gracefully down the track making it look effortless. Some people assume they are “naturals,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what has brought them to this level. Others argue that hard work and drive is what has made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are the ones that give rise to the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. Countless hours of studies and research has concluded: it’s both. High performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way, “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, perhaps hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship of such factors, including genetics, types and lengths of

“By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied.” (PH.Ds, Clifton, O., Anderson, E., Schreiner, L., Pg 26) When I read this quote in our StrengthsQuest text I felt as if I was describing my own personality while starring at myself in the mirror. If there was a sentence to explain “Chrissy” this would be it, or at least a very good candidate when summarizing my number one strength. After completing my StrengthQuest survey online and analyzing my results with the three people who

Authors, Sanneh and Heinrich describe in “Why We Run” and “What Could Be Better Than a Touchdown”, that mental agility is just as important as physical prowess in sports. They use many examples with how football and running needs both of these elements to perform their best while the sports they do.

The sport of wrestling became my entire life when I was eight years old and it is the reason I am the man you see today. Wrestling helped me discover who I am as a person, and it is also a big factor in the career path that I am on today. There are countless times during my wrestling career that have been life lessons and eye openers to me, one incident that stands out from the rest was the first wrestling tournament of the season.

There is an ever-increasing amount of athletes in track and field who use performance-enhancing drugs, so many athletes feel compelled to taking them. They probably feel as though if they are working and training as hard as they can, and there are other athletes out there who are also working just as intensely, plus taking chemicals to give them added strength and endurance, then those athletes will have the competitive edge. It reminds me of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. Those who are the most fit, or in other words, those who are stronger,

No matter the sport, most athletes seek every competitive advantage to make it to the top. One of the main advantages is the performance athletes gain through drug use, and a big question today is the real purpose behind the drugs. Is an athlete truly just trying to enhance his or her performance to make it to the next level, or is there a deeper meaning, a problem with body image and how the public views these athletes, or a combination of both? According to an article on the Dilemmas of Doping, the rules in sports have two effects, “One is private: rules produce an entertaining game that generates private benefits for players, owners, and especially spectators. The other is social: rules tend to reward play that exhibits self-discipline, sacrifice for the good of the whole, and fair play.” ( qtd in Bird, Edward J and Gert G. Wagner). An athlete not only is rewarded by fair play, but winning without cheating, using drugs, etc. is the ultimate feeling of accomplishment. These athletes may have a sense that without stimulants they will never reach the top and feel like they have no other choice.

Your brain is what powers your arms, legs, and your entire body and allows you to run as fast and as far as you can. Physical strength is just as important too, you need to have strong legs to run long distances. We also run to survive, as the author quoted, “Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest antelope or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or the antelope- when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” (67) What the author means is that you have to keep running, and you have to have a strong mind when doing so because it is your own mind that will allow you to give up, and if you were an antelope or even a lion, that would be bad news to you. Your brain, and your thoughts are what cause you to stop running or give up. That’s why mental agility is so important in sports, you need to think in order to know what to do. Not only that, but Heinrich also states, “I get choked up when I see a kid, or anyone else, fighting hopeless odds- someone who goes out there to run the lonely roads with a dream in the heart, a gleam in the eye, and a goal in mind. I admire those who have the courage to step up to the line of a great race to run their heart out for a dream.” (71)This quote proves that it takes hard work and lots of willpower to get to where you’d like to be in sports, and your mental strength is just as important as your physical strength. You need to think positive thoughts to gain courage to move on too, even if it means you have to run alone. You just need to follow your own path, and run as fast and as hard as you

Lastly, all of the body has to be working properly in order to have an efficient and accurate athlete. Our mind, muscles, and lungs all work together to make the perfect balance between mental and physical talent. “And our minds, as much as our lungs and muscles, are a vital force that empowers our running.” (Heinrich 68). This quote clearly demonstrates to the reader how to think of mental strength as your drive to do something, but physical power to be the thing that will execute your plan and finish

Personality has been of interest to sport physiologists and researchers for a very long time, dating back to around the 1800s, the reason why it is of such is interest is because they want to find out how personality affects someone when they are doing sport as to what personality makes them better at specific sports compared to other people. But as it is hard to find a direct link from someone’s personality to the specific set of skills they have, there is very little evidence which shows what personality helps someone become good at a specific sport.

Few within the realm of competitive athletics would argue with the importance of being mentally prepared prior to an athletic competition as well as the need to maintain that particular mindset during a competitive contest. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that many athletes, coaches, and sporting administrators are still quite reluctant to seek out the services of a qualified sport psychologist, even if they believe it could help. One of the primary reasons for this hesitation appears to be a lack of understanding about the process and the mechanisms by which these mental skills affect performance. Unlike the “harder sciences” of sport physiology and biochemistry where athletes can see the tangible results in themselves or other athletes (e.g., he or she lifted weights, developed larger muscles, and is now stronger/faster as a result) (Gee, Chris J (2010): 386-402.) Using sports phycology has been found to give athletes multiple benefits, such as improvement, and that athlete being able to understand how to develop a growth and or positive mindset. Lastly another way that has been found to improve athletes is taking mental repetitions for their sport. One of the keys to Jeff’s improvement over the years, and certainly a key to him making a roster in the NFL, is his ability to take mental reps. The champion mindset recognizes

For example, in football, I have to drive down the field in late game situations. I also have to focus on making key free throws in tough situations in basketball. Another situation was in baseball when I hit a walk off base hit to beat Dekalb. In order to execute, I have to be mentally and physically prepared. Some of the mental aspects are being mentally tough and gaining perseverance through the good and the bad times. A few of the physical points are having stamina and endurance throughout every game. Every sport uses different mental and physical attributes that lead to being a successful athlete. I have been greatly satisfied in having some of these

2. Farrey discusses the major debate between nature versus nurture and how it plays a role in athlete’s performances. People are born with specific traits that can help their performance in specific sports. Farrey explains the importance of genetics’ in sports. One example of where nature surpasses nurture is athletes like Michael Phelps because he has optimal genetic features for swimming with “an extralong torso, extralong

As humans, and particularly individuals, we all have personal strengths that we bring to our interactions with others as well as areas that perhaps need some more time and attention in order to improve upon them. In this journal, I’ll be focusing on four areas of strength I believe I have, as well as four areas the require further growth and personal change.

In earlier days sports psychology was mostly concerned with developing assessment methods that would identify those people with the potential to become serious superior athletes. Today the focus is on psychological training, exercises that strengthen the mental skills that will help athletic performances on the path to excellence. These skills include mental imagery and focus training. If an athlete is serious about becoming the best he or she can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is commitment to practice the right things. It takes incredible commitment to reach the top: a commitment to rest and train the body so it can perform under the most demanding conditions and a commitment to train the mind to

Mental toughness is not a new concept in sport, but is generally misunderstood. Coaches design programmes to develop mentally tough athletes, predominately in professional sport, to separate elite performers from good performers (Gould, Jackson, & Finch, 1993) as physical talent itself is not the only component that can lead an athlete to success (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008).