Your Next Performance Is Dictated by Your Last: Athlete Performance Training

Athlete performance training is not solely a standard used only in their sport. They understand and seek self-actualization, the process of developing skills and attributes, similar to reaching their mental, emotional, and physical strength, their potential. 

High performers seek self-actualization through their athletic performance and are curious about their potential.

For this reason alone, Karma is a word that pertains to the energy systems of the mind, body and soul that best describes the well-rounded high performer. Athletes who set their sights and have the mental commitment, emotional resilience, heart-felt desire and disciplined behaviours can curate the future they envision.

Athlete performance training is a method of examining the past to predict the future.

The so-called negative experiences that elicit strong emotions in our performance history are often filed away and given little attention. However, the failures we encounter in our sports performance training hold a profound truth that can be easily converted to the energy of meaning when dissected and the “golden nuggets” are revealed. 

For every action, there is a reaction, and repetitive actions over time create the experiences of today.

In sports, we call this progression training. We aim to build momentum with consistent work, as we know it will have a specific result when building skills or fitness. Karma in sports is simply the law of cause and effect applied in athlete development. This work is the foundation of athlete performance training.

What Does Karma Have To Do With Sport?

Any lesson learned in one area of life can be applied to other areas. Therefore, knowing how one copes under pressure in sports can indicate how we manage stress in relationships, money, or health.

For example, if we tend to back away from a competitive race, we may be backing away from facing a partner in confrontation. The platform of sport makes it easy to witness our coping strategies.

How we deal with a stressor in sports can often be the same across all facets of our daily lives.

The law of Karma, or cause and effect in sport, is non-negotiable. In life, we can make many excuses or reasons why something did not go as we intended. But in baseball, for example, if you miss a field catch, you might try to blame the sun in your eyes, your lack of sleep, or your stance. But these are all things you can control, so ultimately, you missed the catch. 

Sport offers us the acceptable analysis of controlling what you can and making changes to get different outcomes and tangible results. But if personal accountability is not considered, you can bet your next game will be much like your last. 

If you work to make changes, you will be altering your performance trajectory.

Our actions and behaviour in any area of life are our Karmic trajectory. Karma does not trick us into thinking we are one way in sport and another in our relationships. Who we are and how we behave are seen in our actions and non-actions in every area of our lives. 

Lessons in sports are instantaneous and in real-time.

Any aspect of our sport we want to change can be made with an immediate shift and get a split-second result. It’s easy to see and understand. It is not so easy in our lives; it takes time for results and sometimes depends on another person, circumstance, or event. The athlete performance training in sport offers the platform to check in with ourselves frequently to see where we are at. 

If we use our conditioning in sports as an indicator to determine how we respond to challenges, we can understand ourselves better in relating outside the game. 

Ultimately, karma in sports is the work we do that undoes the past while projecting the results we want to achieve in the future. It is a training program of progression and deliberate actions or causes that will give us the desired effect.

Working in this manner can help many athletes be strategic and thoughtful while training, understanding that sowing and reaping are made in the small choices that add up.

For more exciting information on the laws of cause and effect, click here.

Three facts about cause and effect in sport that can help move us forward

1. Looking into our past is insightful by seeing how we got to where we are
2. Being afraid to confront past behaviors keeps us stuck in today’s reality
3. We have the power of choice to direct our future trajectory

If this topic is of interest, I suggest reading the following articles of mine:

1. High-Performance Mental Programming
2. How Goals Nurture and Balance Our Energy
3. You Race Like You Train – Race Prep