{"id":1242,"date":"2011-03-30T06:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T06:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2012-04-05T13:53:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T13:53:43","slug":"the-short-life-of-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/?p=1242","title":{"rendered":"The Short Life of Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1256 alignleft\" title=\"Vintage Awesomeness\" src=\"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Complete-Awesomeness.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Complete-Awesomeness.jpg 425w, https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Complete-Awesomeness-e1301462234806-99x150.jpg 99w, https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Complete-Awesomeness-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The world is full of \u201c<em>has been\u2019s!<\/em>\u201d  Washed-up out of shape former athletes many of which accomplished  something remarkable years ago but have never done anything significant  since. The majority of great high school, college and even professional  level athletes fall out of shape shortly after their career ends. Many  of them will try to relive their past glory through their own children  and memories. Some will join recreational sports teams or leagues in an  effort to relive lost days. Unfortunately most of these athletes find  themselves slower, weaker and fatter. Rather than having the admiration  and respect of their piers these people are often disliked seen more as  over confident, hyper-competitive, ego maniac, &#8220;<em>has been<\/em>&#8221; than anything else.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Most of the popular sports taught and played in high school such as football, basketball and so forth are <strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">NOT<\/span><\/strong> lifetime sports and will not be participated in after graduation. A few  athletes will continue to play sports in college athletic programs.  After college the majority of athletes will <strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">NEVER<\/span><\/strong> return to their sport again.<\/p>\n<p>The  world of competitive sport is very seductive; promises of potential  scholarship, popularity and recognition drive most of those who play  them. After graduation, after hopes of scholarship are gone and the  short lived popularity and fame has been replaced with the next up and  coming star participation in these sports ends.<\/p>\n<p>Most  sports are too hard on the body to be played in a recreational or  competitive setting into the later years of a persons life. American  football, basketball and more rely too much on speed, power, quick stops  and starts ect. to be realistically practiced and participated in  competitively by someone of an older age demographic.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately  the benefit and great experience of being actively involved in a sport  for the rest of ones lifetime is never known by most people. Lifetime  sports are rarely taught and most athletes never learn how to actively  participate in a sport throughout the span of their life.<\/p>\n<p>Lifetime  sports require more technical skill and less physical strength, power  and force. This allows the sport to be practiced throughout a person\u2019s  life span despite the aging of the human body. Lifetime sports generally  require more physical precision and control of movement than sports  that are not lifetime activities. Examples of some lifetime sports are  golf, surfing and martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>Golf  requires precise technique. The precision and accuracy of the golf  swing is far more detrimental in determining the outcome than physical  strength. The concentration and focus of an athlete participating in  martial arts should result in leverage and control over physical  strength. Surfing to most represents a lifestyle more than a means of  competition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1251 aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Vintage Awesomeness\" src=\"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Awesomeness.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"425\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Awesomeness.jpg 425w, https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Vintage-Awesomeness-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In  lifetime sports the focus is tipped more towards both physical and  mental effort with an emphasis on self improvement than it is on a  competition. Technique and skill are always valued more than brute  physical strength and domination. If any sport is approached from this  frame work over the competitive model it can very easily become a life  time endeavor. It is this characteristic of lifetime sport that enables  prolonged participation in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>A  fundamental key to maintaining a good level of strength and  conditioning throughout a lifetime is to actively participate in a  lifetime sport. This makes going to the gym to train easier. When you  can take the things you do in your training and immediately get positive  results in other environments; on the golf course, in your martial arts  practice out in the water, at work and at home, exercise becomes more  fun, rewarding and a lot easier to do.<\/p>\n<p>As  we age and grow older the importance of remaining physically active  increases. Yet the ability of a person to remain immersed in sport  diminishes. Engagement in a lifetime sport makes it much easier to  maintain a physically active lifestyle well into the later years of  life.<\/p>\n<p>Good Luck and Good Training,<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Signature\" src=\"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Signature.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"40\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">P.S.<\/span><\/strong> If you want to be able to train and condition yourself for a  lifetime. I highly recommend considering my <a href=\"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/martialarts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Martial Arts Life<\/a> program.  Here I only work with a limited number of clients in a small private  studio setting. This is a complete program that can be participated in as a true lifetime sports activity. To get started <a href=\"http:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">contact me here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world is full of \u201chas been\u2019s!\u201d Washed-up out of shape former athletes many of which accomplished something remarkable years ago but have never done anything significant since. The majority of great high school, college and even professional level athletes fall out of shape shortly after their career ends. Many of them will try to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[262,108,260,107],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conditioning","tag-conditioning","tag-life-time-sports","tag-mental-game","tag-sports-injuries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2238,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions\/2238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embodiedstrength.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}