« Ramp up Your Resistance Training | Main | Visualization Makes Exercise More Successful »
Even Champions Have Bad Days
By Christina | August 18, 2009
Tiger Woods is arguably one of the greatest athletes of all times, but even he is not immune to having a bad day. Unfortunately for him, his bad day golfing and our bad day exercising do not carry the same level of import. Sunday at the PGA Championship, he was leading by two strokes entering the final round. He ended the tournament congratulating fellow golfer Y.E. Lang instead of being congratulated himself as the winner.
Y.E. Lang is ranked 110th in the world. To say that he was an underdog would be an understatement. The fact that Tiger lost when he was in the lead up until the end is unusual in the best of times. But, the fact that he lost to a golfer that was ranked 110th is especially unusual for him. As the commentators and golf experts analyze the particulars of why Tiger lost or Y.E. Lang won, perhaps the answer is very simple. Y.E. Lang was having a really good day and Tiger was having a lousy one.
I empathize with Tiger. I am always baffled as to why I can run effortlessly one day for 12 miles and then the next time I run I want to die after the first mile. Some days when I teach spinning, the class flies by and some days I feel the clock is moving backwards and my body is made of lead. I am sure Tiger is scratching his head wondering how he ended up losing Sunday. I would be happy to offer some friendly advice to Tiger and all of his coaches. Don’t sweat it. For me, there are days I should have just rolled over in bed.
Like golf, exercise for us lay people is a game of mental and physical challenges. When the mental and the physical parts of our body are not in alignment, it makes for an excruciating workout of mind over matter. When your mind would rather get a root canal than exercise, you have to try every trick in the book to make your body perform. The truth is that sometimes no matter what you do, your mind just wins and refuses to cooperate no matter what you do.
The reason why Tiger is a champion in spite of choking in the final round on Sunday is because he knows that you can’t be a winner all the time. Some days are just not your day. The difference between Tiger and regular exercisers that use mental defeat as an excuse to abandon their exercise program is that Tiger gets up the next day and moves on. He knows that golf, just like workouts, show no mercy. Be a winner like Tiger and let a bad workout day inspire you for your next workout instead of sideline you with defeat.
Topics: Sports Motivation |
