WAIT TRAINING: THE DIFFICULT ART OF BEING PATIENT

The following information is presented here to help you to experience an immediate boost in your performance. It will give you a sense about how I may be of help to you.

In sport, there is an expression that refers to the importance of patience in learning a new skill or accomplishing a goal: "It's all possible - you just need time in the saddle." Becoming proficient at anything requires hours of practice. Hitting a good serve in tennis or shooting a basketball well is simply a matter of putting in hours of practice, persisting through any and all setbacks.

I can't help but think of those old steam engines that will not budge when their boilers are 211 degrees Fahrenheit. Add one more degree of heat, and they race to their destination, lugging a hundred cars behind them. Many a great tennis star has been behind two sets and 5 - love in the third. By persisting patiently, they wore away their opponent to win the match.

Now to help yourself to be more patient, visualize the following in a relaxed state:

• Think of an event or a task that causes you to be impatient.

• Feel yourself performing in a hurried-up manner, making mistakes and getting upset.

• Relax, be at peace and begin to take your time without limiting yourself.

• Feel yourself flow with the task as you perform excellently and more efficiently.

Use the following affirmations (or create your own) as touchstones to help you remember to slow down, be patient and arrive sooner:

• My patience is the virtue of my success.

• When I slow down, I get into the flow and get there in the perfect time.

Finally, Chinese wisdom reminds us that:

"Deliberate and slow cultivation...is the path to success and good fortune. Only by gradually developing your relationship with sport and exercise can you make the progress you desire. Calmness and adaptability along with good-natured patience will see you thorough."

Fueling Your Motivation for Sports

As an athlete, you may wonder how you can remain motivated and excited for your workouts on a daily basis. There is no magic involved. When I work with athletes and fitness enthusiasts, I help them to remember the intrinsic physiological benefits that transpire from the very moment they begin to move their bodies. Simply being aware of these occurrences taking place in-the-moment motivates them to continue and feel good about the process itself. The following physiological benefits can be posted in a visible place to help you keep perspective on your true motive (taken from the word MOTIVATION) of overall fitness and wellness: Working out

• Lowers your blood pressure. It increases vessel size and elasticity.

• Raises the quality of blood by increasing the number of blood cells, hemoglobin and plasma

• Raises the high-density lipoproteins (HDL's), which clear the arteries of unhealthy cholesterol deposits.

• Strengthens the heart muscle. Like all muscles, the heart grows larger and stronger if it's worked.

• Makes the lungs more efficient.

• Controls Osteoporosis by reversing or delaying the opportunity.

• Controls weight and metabolism and burns fat.

• Enhances thought processes.

• Controls stress and degenerative diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, cancer and heart failure.

To increase motivation during the workout "BLAH's", read the list once a day to create movement out of the front door rather than into the refrigerator door.

You can also maintain higher levels of motivation and prevent the "BLAH's" from even taking place throughout the year by simply remembering on word - PLEASURE. The absence of pleasure is like a cancer to the soul of motivation. To increase your pleasure factor, consider the following seven guides.

BECOME AFFILIATED: A group of similar interested athletes will encourage each other to show up and complete a workout.

COMPETE: Competing creates environments where athletes are encouraged to use their abilities and improve as well as offering extrinsic, tangible rewards for motivation such as medals, ribbons, certificates and prizes.

VARIATION: Pleasure factors rise when changes in the routine and environment take place. Seek opportunities to alter where and how you train. This will increase excitement, enthusiasm and joy.

CROSS TRAIN: If you run, ride a bike or swim once a week to balance out the system and give certain muscle groups a rest.

SET GOALS: Goals are natural motivators, especially those that bring pleasure. For example, make your next competition a family vacation in a beautiful location.

GO SLOWER- ARRIVE SOONER: This paradox helps you to see how pleasure is lost when you rush the process. By "hurrying-up", you risk injury, delay and sickness.

KEEP PERSPECTIVE: Lighten up when you begin to take yourself too seriously. Your basic purpose is to have fun and enjoy the process otherwise it becomes a burden.

THE COMPETITION ON THE EDGE: THE ART OF BEING COURAGEOUS

In the play "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre, some people are trapped in a metaphysical, self-imposed hell - one room, no windows, crowded together and not able to leave. After they had spent much time here, a door opened and they were free to go. However, they remained because the unknown was too risky and filled with perceived danger. They had become comfortable with the status quo (horrendous lives) and lacked the courage to experience something much better.

This story is a perfect metaphor for many of us who have become comfortable with the status quo of our competitive efforts. Frequent encounters with danger and taking risks are presented to you in sport and other arenas of life. As an athlete, you should know that taking on such encounters makes you inwardly strong...instilling in you a profound awareness of life...bringing new meaning and richness to your experience. In a word, taking risks makes you feel ALIVE as they invariably lead to significant breakthroughs in your sport as well as all of life.

Let this paragraph set the tone for a new attitude toward how you compete and why. Your greatest "highs" in athletics have usually been the by-product of the courage you exhibit when you take the calculated risks to improve. Naturally, there are the failures and setbacks experienced when taking risks yet even they become your teachers as you learn from them, how to become more proficient at what you do.

There are many types of risks as there are people. For some, cutting back on professional work to train more diligently is a big risk yet necessary if you're to be a serious contender. Taking tactical chances during an event is a risk that could effect you physically and emotionally; for example, in cycling you could crash or go into oxygen debt when you scream to the front on that first climb. And, consider the more subtle risk of refusing to take the risk to improve and always wonder "What if I competed on the edge?"

If and when you are so inclined to demonstrate courage, let the following exercise help you to create the courage to take risks and to feel successful, regardless of the outcome.

Follow the steps in order

1. Will taking this risk (you define it) possibly improve my performance? If you answer YES, go forward.

2. What is your worst-case scenario for taking the risk? If you can accept this outcome, go for it. If not, put it on hold...stay within your comfort zone and wait until your confidence improves.

3. If you decide to take the risk, be sure to plan...and plan some more, obtaining information and instruction that will facilitate your performance. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Regardless of the outcome, be sure to congratulate yourself for having the courage to take the risk. Know that, in time, taking repeated risks will ultimately lead to success; without risking your will not succeed. Remember that what's lost by not trying and what's lost by not succeeding are very different. In the latter case, you can learn from the setback and eventually get there.

4. Regardless of the outcome, be sure to congratulate yourself for having the courage to take the risk. Know that, in time, taking repeated risks will ultimately lead to success; without risking your will not succeed. Remember that what's lost by not trying and what's lost by not succeeding are very different. In the latter case, you can learn from the setback and eventually get there.

5. If you suffer a setback, use a clear head to go beyond...seeing failure as the dues you pay to be vibrantly alive and as a gift (even if you don't ask for it) to help you become a great cyclist.

Know that a full, enjoyable, exciting life, one where you push the limits of your personal, physical and inner potential will always include opportunities for thousands of risks which require you to be courageous. Great performers have the fear of failing like everyone else yet go ahead anyway because they have the courage to follow their heart...what they instinctively know is right. (The word courage is taken from the French word coeur, meaning heart.) They also exhibit a high tolerance for setback and failure because they know that not taking a risk could lead to a life of regret: the pain of taking a risk and failing must always be weighed against the pain of not taking the risk. There are many boats in the water but few have the willingness to lose sight of the shore.