How can I improve my sports performance when I feel like I’ve hit a wall?
Whether you’re establishing a new jogging routine, or aiming for a personal best in your next Iron Man, it’s incredibly frustrating to feel like you’re not making progress.
The best way to enhance your sports performance is to understand what your body needs from you. Exciting new analyses - such as the sports performance profile and DNA test offered at Orchard - give you professional-level insights into how your body functions.
With this understanding, you can develop your optimal tailor-made training programme, and meet your targets in no time. Follow these three steps to lay a strong foundation for your personal training plan.
Avoid pushing yourself too hard, too fast
When we’re training for a new goal, it’s tempting to literally hit the ground running. Our enthusiasm pushes us to train significantly harder and more often than we have previously.
Whilst this feels satisfying, it’s also the perfect recipe for an injury. Avoid sports injuries by starting slow and steady, varying your workouts, and allowing for plenty of recovery time. There are plans you can download to make sure you’re working at a sustainable pace:
the Couch to 5K app from the App Store
the Couch to 5K app from Google Play
your Beginner’s, Improver’s, or Advanced marathon training plan
Fuel yourself with the right nutrients
In order to accomplish any physical challenge, we need to fuel our body with a balanced, nutritional diet. This means ensuring that we eat enough of each of the key food groups:
Fruit and vegetables
Starchy carbohydrates
Dairy (and alternatives)
Protein
Fats
Take a look at the Eatwell Guide to get an idea of what a healthy, balanced diet might look like for you.
If you’re energising yourself before a workout, opt for complex carbohydrates. Your body takes longer to break down these molecules, meaning you experience a steady release of energy throughout your training session.
Get to know your body better
You can take all the athletic performance supplements and buy all the equipment in the world, but their usefulness will be limited if you don’t understand how to use the most important tool of all: your body.
With Orchard’s tests, you can get to know precisely what your body needs to perform at its best. A simple sports performance profile provides insights into the organs and systems that control your physical performance. A DNA test complements this by delving into the genetic factors which influence how your body responds to exercise.
Together, these two tests help you to understand how to train in the most effective way, and why you might be struggling with your current exercise programme. They’ll give you an awareness of what your body needs from you with regards to:
Diet and nutrition
Rest and recovery
Strength training
Aerobic exercise
Athletic supplements
Equipped with this knowledge, you can tweak your training regime to prevent sports injuries, hit a personal best, or simply get moving more, in a safe, sustainable manner.
Enhance your athletic performance at Orchard
At Orchard, we offer both a sports performance profile and a DNA test. Both are quick, easy procedures, and will help you to unlock your peak athletic performance.