To say an athlete only does for sport is an understatement. The road he or she goes through is full of thorns and difficult steps.
Australian boxer Harry Garside who claimed bronze medal in the men’s lightweight cateogry (57-63kg) over the champion Cuban boxer Andy Cruz in 2021 Tokyo Olympics
Every athlete or who has been one knows, how extreme their life is.
The efforts and dedication we have to put into something we love so much that many believe it’s a waste of time and not living up with the reality are unbelievably extraordinary.
Some did it. Some live with it. Some have lived past it.
Sport in Chinese means something runs and moves at each meaning of their separated character( 運動 ). Similar to the definition of Sport in English that usually it involved any physical activity. Though I believe sports is more than just physical activity, it’s always a combination of our whole body alignment at work. Looking at our daily life, we’re all doing sport in a sense because we’re constantly traveling, mentally and physically. Finding the balance in between is a lifetime worth of habit we can have.
All in all, it always comes down to how much we love that sport or interest, like those sports athletes in Olympics.
We might not be in their insane amounts of physical training as a sports athlete since we aren’t the representatives of the national team (maybe for now), but we must adapt their mentality and the fit, ready-to-go body undoubtedly.
By trying to be the best version our body is capable of through the sport we enthuse about, we start to learn from others. We start to appreciate the physical knowledge that has been passing down from our ancestors as basic as how to hunt.
To share a better way to hunt for food, it’s probably one of the best blessings our forefathers can have in terms of wildlife survival back in the caveman time. Tips on traps and tactics, also the telling and showing of using their powerful weapon, the body, for the efficiency and longevity, such simple sharings had not only helped to sustain their lives, as well as the generations came after. Through their evolutionary traits, we continue to infuse our potentialities with their genes for an interesting future to come.
For me, dancing has me reclaim my body, and music is a necessary element for its sport. Can you believe that? Two dream elements in the same category!? You can listen to music every time you dance. As long as you’re a dancer, you’re entitled to listen to music while feeling and moving your body however and whenever you want!
What I realised the most is that the definition of music and dancing has been refining with every new wave of generations. For example when you see 80’s people dance style to today the after-transformation dance style in Hiphop battle, body control has been transformed to a whole new level.
The same with music when the samples of jazz were influentially used in the 50s songs with strong trumpet or saxophone as lead till now songs that can combine jazz-funk-trap together.
The changes in music and dancing, which are arts, are shaping by the outcry from the extremists and passionated to detail engineering enthusiasts.
To not stray too far away from our sporty body topic today, we are back to living an athlete’s life for the strengths they honed, in which we can pick up on.
The old thinking about athletic life in general goes the older you get, the more injuries you are likely to bear with. This prevents many to continue to pursue what truly makes them happy in the first place.
To change its fixated, inflexible thinking, here is where sports science comes in.
Sports science is a large subject that subsets with many smaller categories. These categories are what life excitements lie in terms of knowledge-wise. Human anatomy, biology, physiology, psychology, biomechanics, and kinesiology, for example, they’re demonstrations of what a human body can do, and what cannot, through any form of 2D plane. Soon when we advance our VR technology, 3D interaction on human body study will change us tremendously, whether it’s for the educator or student.
(Whoever has this idea to reality please contact me. investment should be in the discussion! This is a quick door to open many possible doors like robotic developments and medical treatments, by the large amounts of students who can access this technology when they grow up for instance, due to the instant, visual, and interactable contents live in hologram mode.)
Sports science and subcategories set up the principles and instructions for every athlete in their field regarding how ruthless they can be out of the limitless spirit they have but under the limitation of physicality.
Sports science is significant and a game-changer for all of the top athletes in the world. They spend large amounts of time healing and resting so their mind and body are at the optimal levels and ready to practice and perform across the race with time.
So what’s it for you?
Your studies will trade off with abundant health first and foremost.
For example:
What defines a warm-up?
This sounds silly and simple at first, but thinking it deeper, if we know the defined line in the warm-up, then we can access that point every time so we don’t hurt our body accidentally. Many people are afraid of getting injured. I get it, me too!
Some say it’s the warmth of the body, while others think light stretching is the definition.
Therefore, knowing the details in biomechanics will equip us with safety and reinforcement in knowledge.
Okay, the answer to the question is very universal.
Raising our heart rate to 90~110 or above. So an easy slow run is good before stretching.
Then the question is, how long for a warm-up?
I’ll leave that for you to find out.
These definitions and conditions around humans and nature itself will help our thinking and strategise our moves in the sport we’re participating.
Weather, gear, emotion, and body changes are all important factors to determine if the training session is successfully maximised the most satisfaction.
Many of us work very hard indeed. Living an athlete lifestyle isn’t easy. First, you’ll be cutting off many bad habits, like playing video games. Secondly, you’ll be very focusing on your body development, like what to eat, as well as the energy you have during the day and night.
Then it comes to third, you need to maintain social relationships, like your loved ones, friends, and communities. And then there is your job and payment. Many challenges occur just like a normal person would have. What about keeping your skill sharpen like a sword? You’ll need practicing and resting times throughout the weeks equally in energetic level to maximise the improvement. And study?
So, not knowing there are better ways and easier routes to pass challenges with shorter amounts of time is a shame. Talking about sport, we know the time frame is limited. For a diver in Olympics, passing 36 is an older age to compete with the opponents who are younger than him, in which they are in the prime of their young body to execute the most gracious postures they can do. And of course, there are exceptions, and the variables depend on the type of sports.
As I have mentioned in my “A Better View On Aging” that the functional cells decrease in different parts of the body is noticeable with age. The recovery rate also declines, comparing to a 14-year-old body for instance.
The question is, how can we outrun people who have better physical conditions beating with age? Well, experience is the most valuable thing there is. And by having the right knowledge and training strategically, keeping our bodies in good conditions while overcoming the psychological obstacles with good faith and attitude, then the favors will be on our side.
Studying sports science is not only limited to those who are older, a four years old kid learns faster than adults when the right knowledge is being passed down.
Deciding to study the body is a really fantastic way to start with. By knowing the limitation in physicality we can then measure our strength and accuracy in action towards the potentials. For example, we just cannot turn our heads 360 degrees. (At least the human evolution hasn’t caught up that talent yet. For now, it’s still pretty useless for our survival.)
But the point is, within the range that our head can turn, how much effort we can put in to reach the limit of our potential? And is it worth it? Learning the subjects that are deeply related to our body will only help us to improve many aspects of our lives altogether. We protect ourselves while aiming for the furthest range of motion.
By the way, for those who have a fire but are afraid of getting injured again, possibly the old pain hasn’t gone away, and for those who deeply think they aren’t the sporty material for their whole life, I can tell you that studying human body will be the best rewarding thing you can bestow yourself to.
It’s because you’re studying yourself through the process essentially. You’ll examine yourself why works and why doesn’t work for you. Why you didn’t do and why you did do. What changes you can make and then you’ll open a world that is full of wonders and potentials.
The future is merely potentials, which means it’s the unknown. Who knows, you can turn yourself into a sports enthusiast if you dare to take up what health means to you.
No one borns with athlete’s mentality or having its title to hang around their necks. All athletes develop their mental and physical strength and endurance through years of difficulties, sacrifices, and choices they made.
But having athletes’ mental thinking, and their dedication in attaining the fiddled level of their body, these concepts will help every single person to achieve whatever they want in life. Because these advantages a sporty person has is what every society desires; passion, motivation, knowledge, discipline, mental and physical strength, flexibility, creativity, and many more. They are self-evident through every athlete you see in the present and the history book. They might not be wearing the title of an athlete when they get older, but they surely live an athlete lifestyle for all their lives and they love it.
I suggest everyone should study sports science or any sub-category as they help you understand yourself. It doesn’t have to start with sports science first. If biology is more interesting then go for that. Anything that is in your interest.
Sports science is a big name for other fields of studies gathering for sports basically. And dare to step into the unknown and you’ll find the abundance within. You’re naturally smart.
Thanks for reading this article. I hope it helps you grow your interest in human body study. I love learning these, and I realise people around me don’t know what these cool subjects can do to them upset me. The safety and stability a society provides does wear our guards down and allows pleasure and entertainment to overtake our lives. We sometimes pay too much attention to the outside and forget to look and feel our inside. These phenomena are unacceptable for me so I write this article and hope that people can find ways to discover their physical potentials.
The benefits last for a lifetime and knowing how to use their body helps them gear self-defense too.
It’s not about age. It’s about having the willingness to do sports and find aims that can propel you for the significant achievements that fulfill you as a result. Sports science helps preserve, improve, develop, and enhance biologically. So regardless of age, the benefits are always there like fluids inside our veins. We breathe with them.
The joy is being able to exercise our body in the sport that we do in the comfortable pace against the uncomfortable nature of reality at the same time.
Pictures by 9news, Drew Graham, Jeffrey F Lin, John Jackson, Arun Sharma, Chuttersnap, Carl Barcelo from Unsplash
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