What do you have in common with Olympians?

The Olympics have come and gone…

For the past 2 weeks the Olympics have been all over the place. They have been pretty tiring for me… With the events being on so late I have lost some precious hours of sleep.

But they sure were great Huh?

A couple of outstanding feats I noticed most were …

Phelps – enough said – he eats 10,000 plus calories a day and I think he is part fish – either way an incredible accomplishment (he’s gonna need a neck brace with all those medals. )

Usain Bolt who broke the world record in both the 100m & 200m sprints – He broke both records with a headwind and one record with an untied shoe lace . This guy is truly amazing. How anyone that tall can run like that amazes me.

Another group of Olympians that truly amazed me were the Light weight Olympic weightlifters. In my opinion they are incredible. Their overall power and their strength to body weight ratio’s are through the roof. It’s almost humbling to me. I have been dabbling in the Olympic weightlifting game a bit this past year, and here I am in some cases 30 pounds heavier and lifting at most - the same amount of weight they are. Crazy!

All in all, I think all of the Olympic athletes did an outstanding job. As I watched parts of the closing ceremonies I began to think about the dedication, hard work, and time it took for them to get to where they are today…

Then I realized, they are where they are for a reason– They made a commitment!!!

Of course they are gifted and talented athletes... but they committed to achieving excellence.

Then I started to think about the simularities elite athletes have. In this case we are talking about the Olympians. When you think about it Olympic athletes all have similar attributes –

1.) Olympians are willing to do the work.
2.) Olympians actually love what they do.
3.) Olympians have a team of family, friends, and especially coaches that support, teach, and ensure they give it their best

You don't reach the top of your sport, be it baseball, basketball, swimming, football, sprinting or performing in any other sport without being willing to work harder than your competition.

If you want to climb to the top of your sport - you need to be willing to invest the time and effort to get there. You also need to absolutely love what you do. I seriously doubt that Michael Phelps hates swimming.

As far as coaching and support - All Olympic athletes have coaches, do you know why? It's one of the key's to their success and should be one of the keys to yours as well. They all realize that they can’t do it alone and get the coaching they need in order to succeed.

All the olympians had skill coaches, therapists, doctors, strength and conditioning coaches, as well as family and friends with them at all times providing great support.

So if you haven't already, make sure you take a little time to appreciate the athletes in Beijing and what they've invested to get there.

Then model that sort of commitment in your own training. Trust me it will pay off!!!

JZ

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