- The repetitiveness of gestures in some sports may seem boring, but it helps develop mental strength and discipline.
- Every training session is unique because our emotional state and environment are constantly changing.
- Overcoming monotony requires a change in perspective, focusing on sensations and thoughts rather than the single gesture.
Ipaused to reflect on the repetitiveness of the athletic gesture after listening to the words of Veronica Yoko Plebani, a triathlete who won a silver medal at the Paris Paralympics.
During the interview (which you can listen to in the latest episode of The Long, titled Athletes) Veronica called triathlon “a circus” compared to the sport she had previously practiced: rowing.
Moving the rowing machine left and right as if in an endless loop hardened her mentally.
The repetitiveness of that gesture made her a stronger girl, able to face challenges with the right mental disposition.
There is the mere gesture
Many times I have heard people say that running is monotonous.
You lace up your shoes, leave the house, and you already know what’s coming: you’re going to lurch forward, putting one foot in front of the other.
You will break your breath and continue this way as long as you feel like it or finish the workout you had planned.
This will happen every time you decide to go for a run.
You will repeat the same sequence of actions because that is what running is: an activity that relies on repetitive motion.
There is no different way to run, but there is a different way to experience running.
She never changes, but you are always different.
And then there’s you
Every morning when you get up, you are never the same person as the day before and you will never be the same person as the day to come.
Change is inherent in the human being as such.
We are born, we grow, we evolve, as individuals and as a species.
Our history teaches this.
We live in a world that is constantly and constantly changing.
For these reasons, no two races can ever be the same because we will experience them with different emotional and sensory baggage.
Today’s you will feel one way, experience certain sensations and emotions along the way, noticing details and details you may not have paid attention to yesterday, even though you ran the same route. Even the environment in which we run is never the same.
From one day to the next, a tree may lose much of its foliage, creating a carpet of leaves at its feet.
Walking past it, running over the wet leaves, noticing its change can trigger a whole series of thoughts and reflections that will make your run unique.
Become aware of the gesture
It may be a somewhat romantic and romanticized view of the facts, but the substance remains.
Ultimately to overcome the obstacle of repetitiveness you have to tell yourself a little bit about it.
You have to learn to go beyond the mere athletic gesture and put it in context.
In biking it is easier to get distracted with the landscape changing faster around us, being able to go, in the same amount of time, further than in running.
In running it is your inner perception that changes with time.
What about with swimming?
With swimming the challenge shifts entirely to mind management.
Pacing back and forth in a 25m lane (50 if you are lucky enough to have an Olympic lane at your disposal) staring at the tiles on the pool floor might make you feel like an automaton.
What you should try to do is focus more on you and less on what you are doing: how do you feel?
How do you feel?
You need to guide your thinking in another direction without completely alienating yourself from the here and now. Focusing on how you feel and your physical sensations can help you keep your mind alive, but without distracting you from the technique.
It is important to maintain full control of the movement; however, with repetition of the gesture, it will be automated and come to you spontaneously.
At that point it will only be the mind that needs to be kept at bay.
And once you succeed in this, too, you can count on one more ally: you will have not only physical strength and preparation on your side, but also mental strength and preparation.
Remember that you are not a prisoner of the gesture and that it is precisely that gesture that has the power to free you, if you live it with awareness.