Fitness Tips – An Olympian’s Perspective
Fitness enthusiast, coach, and athlete, Kevin McMahon is a 2x Olympian and an 11x USA Track & Field Championship medalist in the hammer throw. He has coached at Georgetown and Stanford University, lived at the Olympic Training Center, and served as a keynote speaker at numerous training camps. As a part of his pursuit for all-around fitness, Kevin has immersed himself in everything from martial arts to CrossFit to mountain biking. Kevin offers these 5 tips for improving overall fitness:
1. Know thyself.
To know how to accomplish your new fitness goals take a fitness-personality quiz. Your individual personality and fitness goal should determine your approach to fitness. What am I really after? Where am I most comfortable? Who motivates me? How would I quantify my success? In the end, this short quiz can save you a lot of time and money – and make your fitness experience more enjoyable and more successful.
2. “Milo” your way to your fitness goal.
In ancient Greece, the six-time Olympic Wrestling Champion, Milo of Croton, was considered the strongest man in the world. His fitness secret: As a young man, he carried a baby bull around with him every day. As the calf’s weight increased imperceptible from one day to the next, Milo gradually grew stronger – eventually becoming powerful enough to carry a fully grown bull on his shoulders. While this may seem the stuff of myth, there are three incredibly valuable fitness lessons to learn from Milo’s story.
3. Mind your mentality.
If there is one universal personality trait that I have noticed among Olympians, it is a confidence that has developed from positive self-talk. Whatever the athletic task, successful athletes believe they can with every fiber of their being – and so they do.
4. Eat with uncommon discipline.
A healthy diet is just as important as exercise to establishing fitness. Yet, for the vast majority of people, eating right is not about getting more information or even the right information. Healthy food and junk food is common knowledge. Yet, obesity and preventable, diet-based illnesses persist. Like smokers who know and ignore the fact about smoking, most people who eat poorly don’t suffer from a lack of good nutritional information. I offer some simple advice on how to discipline your eating more easily.
5. Believe in balance.
The passion of the human heart can easily outrace the nervous and muscular systems. By trying to go all out (high intensity) for long periods of time (high volume) without days off (low recovery), many well-intended athletes often burn out or get hurt. Gains require rest and fitness should not be about continually finding your physical breaking point.
These concepts took me years to learn (and more to put into real practice), but I know they can help you achieve your fitness goals.
Best of luck,
Kevin McMahon
