Body Mind Mastery

This post will be a review of the book Body Mind Mastery by Dan Millman.  Within the pages of this book Millman discusses the importance of a strong mind to a sound body, the benefit of maintaining a balance between your sport and life, and what he believes are the secrets to achieving success in your life through your sport or career. Most of the book draws connections to sports such as golf, tennis or gymnastics (The author was internationally recognized gymnast in his twenties) however his ideas are easily applicable to other areas of the reader’s life.

Body Mind Mastery is split into three parts.  In the first part Millman discusses what he believes are the natural laws that the reader needs to follow to stay balanced.  Although his writing is sometimes abstract there are a lot of good takeaways from this section.  It seems the underlying theme of part one is slow and steady progress, or, progressive overload.  He discusses how events in your life are influenced through mental, physical and emotional pathways and each of these three must be understood and mastered to achieve long term success.  In the second part, Millman’s writing is less abstract and probably most useful as is the first chapter of the third part where he goes into depth on methods of practice to help develop the mental, physical, and emotional skills discussed earlier in the book.

At times Millman’s writing can come off as extreme, for instance in the third section he discusses the future of sport, citing that competition is bad and future games will be void of this characteristic.  Although it is understandable in context why he would say this, competition can be a terrific part of sport and life and often brings out the best in people.  It is important when reading this book that you keep an open mind, don’t get bogged down in some of the specifics of his writing but instead to take his concepts and practices for how they can impact your own life.

From his website, peacefulwarrior.com:

 "Dan Millman, a former world champion athlete, coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor, is author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior (adapted to film in 2006), and numerous other books read by millions of people in 29 languages. Dan teaches worldwide and has influenced people from all walks of life, including leaders in the fields of health, psychology, education, business, politics, sports, entertainment and the arts. Dan and his wife, Joy, live in Northern California. His most recent book is The Four Purposes of Life.”

Recovery and Regeneration

-Strength and Conditioning makes us better... Right? 

-Right

-But I feel like I would play pretty bad if I tried to compete right after a session of lifting and conditioning. So why does strength and conditioning make us better.

-What you should be asking is WHEN does strength and conditioning make us better.

-Ok... so when does strength and conditioning make us better?

It makes us better IN BETWEEN workouts! Through REST and REGENERATION!  When you practice, lift, compete, we damage our muscles and the surrounding tissue.  This damage can be a good thing and if we deal with it properly it will help us adapt to the demands of our sport.  This repair and adaptation is really what makes us better and this happens after we train as we rest before the next workout. 

First and foremost getting a good nights sleep is a must in the reparation process.  As we sleep our body releases certain hormones, specifically growth hormone, which plays an integral role in  many bodily functions such as increasing muscle size, increasing bone density, and fat burning. 

The second component of recovery is making sure we provide our body with the right nutrition.  To start out, remember to follow the Colonials Strong Healthy Eating Guidelines.  This will get you on the right path for proper nutrition.  Remember to have a balanced intake of foods coming from a wide variety of sources.  Here are some ways food can help with recovery:

• Fats in foods such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, and fish oil help inhibit inflammation and decrease that soreness you are feeling.
• Eating a complete lean protein at each meal will provide your body with the building     blocks it needs to repair muscle.
• All of those fruits and vegetables you are eating contain vitamins and minerals that play     integral roles in metabolism, cellular health and the structural maintenance of your body.

The last but just as important portion of recovery is your active rest and regeneration program.  These exercises and routines are designed to help initiate the recovery process, bring your body back down from its stressed, active state, and most importantly help clear your head and ease your mind.  There are a lot of ways we can go about this regeneration process here are a number of examples:

• Hydrotherapy: Hydrotherapy treatments can be either hot baths, cold baths or both.  Hot baths will increase blood flow to the treated area to help clear waste materials and bring in new nutrients, however the heat can also increase inflammation in some instances.  Cold baths decrease blood flow and will inhibit inflammation.  Both are beneficial and it is important to take into consideration when your next training session will be when you are choosing to do a cold or hot bath.

• Soft Tissue Therapy: This is most commonly done with a foam roller, massage stick, or various balls used for more localized points of tension and stress.

• Lower Body Elevation and Breathing Exercises: This is usually done by resting the legs up against a wall to help flush any pooled blood and waste material out of the legs.  This can be coupled with by breathing deeply making the belly rise and fall to assist with venous return and relaxation.

• Flush Rides:  Low intensity exercise post game or practice can help steadily bring heart rate down, increase circulation and provide a time to relax and reflect on the previous competition.

• Basic Stretching: A post competition/practice stretching program can help restore length and tissue quality to the muscle as well as kickstart your body’s relaxation and regeneration processes.

Remember, strength and conditioning is vital to our success as athletes but we walk a fine line because leaving this damage untreated and unable to recover can result in poor performance and an increased risk of injury.  So remember all of the components of rest and regeneration and be consistent in treating your body and allowing for optimal recovery after every training session and competition.