For many of us we spent the better part of our childhood and young adulthood playing a game that fueled us. Not only mentally but physically.
Competing gave us a reason for those endless hours of sweating, practicing, lifting, running and pushing our bodies to the limit. It forced us to develop mental toughness and resiliency. It was a driving force for many of us. A force that pushed us beyond our perceived limits.
But then it stopped.
Our days of competing and playing a game that gave us so much purpose was now gone. Many athletes struggled with this void, both mentally and physically. I’ve been guilty as charged and through the years, since my college football playing days, I’ve noticed common trends among “retired” athletes. Trends that have resulted in less than desirable results.
I’ve narrowed this down to 3 common mistakes that athletes make when the game stops, and what they can do to correct course and stop the down-slope.
Mistake #1 - They keep the same eating habits as when they were competing.
This is probably the most prevalent mistake among athletes when the game ends. As a competitive athlete, many of us spent our entire childhood and the better part of our early adulthood playing sports. This meant 5-7 days of each week were spent in the weight room, on the practice field or competing on game day.
We were constantly active and our bodies were constantly being stress and pushed to it’s limits. As a result, our bodies required a LARGE amount of fuel – nutrients – to keep up with our demands. The demands of energy, performance, strength, muscle development and repair. Many of us were used to eating whatever we wanted, because our bodies would simply soak it up. However, for football players, things were even more extreme.
As a football player our objective was to physically be as big, dominant, strong and forceful as our genetic potential would allow. The number that we’d tip the scale at was our “toughness status.” When you come into college as a Freshman inside linebacker tipping the scale at 190 lbs, you’re essentially wearing a big red tag on your helmet that says, “Pussy.” This was universal across all positions. Every position in football has there “Minimum Standard” for what represents a good playing weight. So weight equaled toughness, strength and whether or not you were even equipped to play a particular position.
So what happens when you come into college and you’re well below the “standard playing weight” of your position, like almost every single 17 or 18-year-old football player is?
They tell us to EAT. Just keep eating and then eat some more. They didn’t give a shit what it was, just eat and PUT ON SOME WEIGHT.
So we would.
I remember countless times at the “café” (our buffet during summer camp practices) where I would literally stuff myself until I was physically sick. Going for 2nds, 3rd and 4ths was standard. And in reality it gave you a sense of pride and status – I’m a big, badass and trying to put on some weight for football.
I remember walking back up for more food with those exact thoughts in my mind. “Ahhhhh,” chest all puffed out, as I walk backed in line to grab some more meat, pizza, pasta, ice cream.
All I could think about was getting to 220 lbs. To me that sounded and looked like a badass and if I could hit 225 lb, hell I’m a dominant force then!
And let me say this right now, this was even worse for the Lineman positions. The offensive and defensive lineman felt even more pressure to keep tipping those scales. A 240, 250 even 260 lb offensive lineman? Shit, they didn’t even have a chance and they knew it. So what could they do to be considered for some playing time?
Yep, put on some weight. Again, it didn’t matter what kind of weight, all that mattered is what that number on the scale said.
Not only is it hard to maintain your current body weight when you’re training for hours each day and following an intense strength and conditioning program, it’s a JOB to try and put body weight on. When your 250, 260 and you’re trying to get to 270, 290, 300+ lbs…..man, you have to EAT and EAT A LOT and ALL THE TIME.
So we did.
To think this does not negatively affect us after the game stops, is naïve thinking. It’s been engrained into our psychology and creates some unhealthy habits and relationships with food and with the number on the scale.
It affected me for years after I was no longer playing the game. I correlated body weight and my overall mass to toughness. I kept tipping the scales at 220, 225, and even 230 lbs long after my playing days! I was a human bowling ball – strong yes, but I had no need to carry around that kind of weight anymore.
Brian during 2011, 4 years after my college football playing days. Weighing aprx 230 lbs! I took this picture because it was the "biggest" I had been and I was proud of it. I was stuck in denial and a terrible relationship with a number on the scale. Badass = body weight to me.
Brian 2016. Changed relationship with food, transformed his psychology and correlation between body weight and identity. Eats for nourishment and health. Found a competitive outlet for training again = total body transformation. You CAN get better with age. He's about 40 lbs lighter in this picture.
It wasn’t until I change my psychology and how I perceived “weight” did anything change. Once I started to view food as a health source to nourish my body versus “how big will this make me” my physique started to transform. Not only did I have a dramatic physical transformation but I felt 1000x better. More energy, focus and clarity. My major concern about being “lighter” was that I’d be weak and the last thing I wanted to be was a weak man.
Ironically, as I made the transition from eating to get big , to eating for nourishment and asking myself, “how will this make me feel” I continued to set PR’s in the gym. That’s the power of proper nutrition and eating for health and nutrients.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I still care about having a good amount of muscle and physical size, that will never change. I just don’t obsess over that number on the scale anymore or feel that it’s ESSENTIAL for me to weigh in at 215, 220 lbs to be “badass” or strong.
Takeaway Tip:
- Be very objective with yourself. Have you been keeping the same eating habits as your playing days? More importantly, do you still carry around the relationship of body weight = toughness like we were conditioned to in football? Then ask, “Do you really need to be this big? Do you have 10,15,20+ lbs of body fat that would do you good to burn?
- Therefore, step one is to change your psychology and relationship with the # on the scale, your body mass (which means overall size) and your relationship with food. Change to viewing food as a source of high-octane FUEL that will nourish your body and make you feel energized, focused and clear. This alone will change everything for you! I’ve been there.
- Second, we must become clear on how much we should REALLY be eating. What does an ideal day look like for us, based off the health, physique and fitness goals that we currently have?
- To do this you can and should Use an app to calculate your daily calories and macros base on your personal goals. Then for one week, log everything you eat to get a feel for what you really should be eating to hit your physique goals. Whenever I have a client do this, they are shocked at what they were eating and how much they really should be eating. Try it. Download an app, start tomorrow and give it ONE WEEK.
Mistake #2 - They Stop training explosively and training for power/force production.
Immediately get back into training to be explosive. Add two days where you emphasize power movements such as: cleans, box jumps (NOT Crossfit style or endurance style). You don’t even have to do the traditional Olympic movements – you can do common strength movements such as: Squats, bench and Deadlifts but you use a lower weight and move the bar with the intention of trying to produce as much force as humanly possible. Dominate that damn bar!
Football (and many other sports) was a game that required us to be powerful and explosive, so our training emphasized this. The foundation for most of our strength and conditioning programs were strength and power. If we had a qualified strength coach, they would design a comprehensive training program that would improve our ability to produce high levels of force for an extended period of time to emulate the demands of a game – power and strength endurance.
Our performance on the football field (other fields as well) was not the only thing that this training philosophy improved. It improved our health, our physique, our metabolism/metabolic efficiency, and our ability to efficiently activate our high motor neurons (which activate our large muscle fibers and have the greatest capacity for growth = muscle mass and definition), increased our Growth Hormone and Testosterone secretion.
To give you a better visual representation of the difference between an athlete that requires explosive training versus an athlete that does not gain a competitive edge from such training, is the difference between a 100-meter sprinter and that of a marathon runner.
Here you can see the direct affect of a high intensity - explosive based training program and that of an endurance, low intensity based training program.
But then the game stops and suddenly we no longer feel the need to train like we once did.
It’s all too common for former players to quit training explosively all together or greatly diminish their emphasis on strength training and training for power. So they quit lifting heavy, they quit doing all of the Olympic lifts, they quit doing box jumps, broad jumps, sprints and quit emphasizing moving the bar with ferocity.
Naturally there are consequences to such change.
And what do you think they are? Well, they are the deterioration of all the improvements that strength training and training for power once had.
Such as:
- Less muscle mass
- Lowered metabolism and less efficient metabolic system
- Less of an ability to active high motor neurons – large muscle fibers
- Lowered Growth Hormone
- Lowered Testosterone
Our physiques become a direct representation of eliminating high-intensity, heavy lifting and explosive training – less than ideal.
Takeaways:
- Simple, start incorporating heavy lifting and explosive training back into your routine. Now, do you need to do 700lb 1 rep back squats 3x per week? No. But you shouldn’t completely eliminate loading up the bar 1x per week or a minimum of every other week.
- Implement a well thought out plan that includes some Olympic lifting, plyometrics, sprints, sled work, and performing a particular movement with an intent to dominate the damn bar!
- It’s time to jack back up your Testosterone and Growth Hormone levels, improve your metabolic markers, boost your metabolism, and build some solid and lean muscle to your athletic frame. Not only will you be thrilled, but I doubt that your wife/girlfriend/or single ladies will be disappointed that make the transition back to your roots of football training – they will take notice! Females – this kind of training will definitely give you that lean, tight and firm look and feeling again.
By the way, that’s our major emphasis at FootballFit Online Training and we take care of all the programing for you. You can learn more HERE.
Females, you may want to check out our challenge, HERE.
Mistake #3 - They Stop competing.
You’re an athlete, which means that you thrive in competition. You were born to compete. It’s what makes your blood course. It’s the very thing that has the power to push you beyond your comfort zone and ascend to new heights.
Competition and the drive to win is what gave you purpose to your training. It’s what gave you the motivation to show up at the gym each day, even when that’s the last thing you wanted to do. It’s why you pushed for that last rep. It’s why you tested the physical and mental capacities of your body and mind. It’s why you’d show up with intention and determination each day to better yourself and take another step towards your goals.
And then the game stopped and we lost all of that.
Most of us felt a void. We lost the sense of purpose and intention for training. We no longer had a reason for pushing and testing our limits. Many of us lost the desire to train at all and as a result our health, bodies and psyche suffered.
The one thing that made us thrive for the better part of our entire lives – competition – was now gone.
Much of our society will have you feel as if competition is a bad thing. They like to paint this picture of it begin an inhumane thing. Something that only the greedy, bullies and assholes focus on or care about. Well, our society also covets and loves mediocrity and the status quo.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with competition. In fact, if you know that you thrive in competition you should intentionally seek it out or CREATE it. Healthy competition is a great thing. It can bring out the best in a person. Again, assuming you can handle it in an ethical way, which I know that you can.
There’s a reason that in “real-life” the ones that seem to rise to the top are ones that have competitive blood within them. Although, many of them are reluctant to credit this factor due to the influence of our society and its’ negative perception and stigma towards competition. We live the day and age where everyone expects a participation badge and everyone’s a winner. Unfortunately, the reality is that the real world does not agree.
It doesn’t give a shit if you “tried your best” or if you “gave everyone a pat on the back” it only cares about RESULTS. Did you produce? Did you WIN?
And competition can be that driving force that you need to produce at the level that you’re capable of. It’s what will push you to a new level and step into your TRUE potential.
Takeaways:
- Find your competitive outlet again. Intentionally seek it our or create healthy competition within your world again. The easiest and quickest way to do this is with your training. Find an environment that harnesses competition, welcomes it and celebrates it. Use leaderboards, records, and/or leagues that foster competition. Or you could publicly declare some of your major health, performance and/or life goals as if there’s NO DOUBT you’re going to achieve them. That’s placing healthy pressure on yourself and forces you to compete with yourself.
- Surround yourself in a competitive environment once again and you’ll immediately feel what’s been missing since your playing days. You’ll feel that adrenaline once again. You’ll feel a sense of purpose for training with such intensity, once again. You’ll find yourself pushing the limits again. You’ll feel this new sense of motivation and determination to be the best and WIN.
That’s what competition does and provides for a football player and athlete. That’s the power of a competitive environment. Find yours, create yours. It’s time to compete once again.
That was the entire basis for the creation of The FootballFit League. I encourage you to check it out, it could be just what you need at this time in your life. To get that FIRE back once again. You can learn more HERE.
Females – The 90-day Fit Chick Challenge fosters healthy competition. Learn more HERE.
RECAP:
Change your eating habits. Focus on eating for fuel, nutrients and performance. When you do this a byproduct is a strong, athletic and healthy physique.
Start training explosively again.
Start competing again. Harness its power to positively impact your health, performance and life. You’re a competitor, stop suppressing this in favor of societies perception of competition. Society loves mediocrity – stop conforming. Competitors love results and winning, embrace this part of you! Stop apologizing for wanting to win and being competitive.
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Think Different - Live Different
Brian Larson