Whether you are a rugby league or rugby union player, coach or physiotherapist, work and sport demand a lifestyle balance, as does any performance-enhanced athlete.
Many high performance athletes engage in behaviors such as listening to music, using nutrition supplements, and sticking to set behavioral rituals to get into the right mental state. However, this state is made up of more than just one element, it is the combination of several strategies resulting in peak performance.
In order to improve performance, athletes are encouraged to follow the ‘7 switches’ of performance:
- Psychology: learning to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
- Environment: learning to use the senses from the environment in order to switch on or off.
- Recharge: having regular breaks, and periods of slow time built into each day.
- Fuel: consuming foods that both help you think and boost concentration, and also ones that help you relax and calm down. Use ‘mood food’ to increase alertness and performance. Drink water regularly throughout the day and evening.
- Organization: learning how to manage time appropriately.
- Responsibility: knowing that you are responsible for your own success.
- Movement: realizing that if you don’t ‘use’ something you will most likely ‘loose’ it.
You should aim to get as much incidental exercise as you can throughout the day. Also try and include 2 ‘huff and puff’ sessions per week. Practice perfect posture in sitting and standing. Get up and have a break from writing every hour. Learn different skills, i.e. surfing. Make it fun- you should stick to activities you enjoy and start listening to your inner voice. One of the hardest lessons for the elite sports person is to learn how to do your best every day. Sustained performance is not just about one off effort, but rather it requires you to consistently do the right things.
The aim for our practice is to reduce health issues and health risks. We aim to reach people in rural and remote areas using the Internet as a communication platform. We have been looking at the role of Ultrasound in re-learning movement patterns. We have also been looking at the role of hip strength and stability within dance.
