How Can you Become More Athletic and Coordinated| Is Athleticism Genetic?

Is Athleticism Something You’re Born with…

or You can Become More Athletic?

An extra edge of athletic life is not too big to just stay in your dreams, rather it is a goal that you can achieve.

But the goal of becoming more athletic and being able to survive all kinds of sports and physical activity comes with the expense of dedication.

So before you start reading ahead on whether can you become more athletic, the first thing that you must question yourself is, if yes, will you work towards it?

On the off chance, if your answer is already a maybe, then you might return, as despite finding some great answers in there, you still would have to work hard.

Because athleticism is all about hard work, passion, and dedication.

 

Can You Become More Athletic| Is Athleticism Genetic?

The straight answer to this question is yes. In fact, becoming more athletic is easier than ever before.

With innovative training programs and modern workout machines, it is easier to up your athletic performance.

However, no couch potato can turn into Usain Bolt in a day.

Your athletic status is not governed by one factor, rather it’s a system of three components.

Mastering these components can help anyone become more athletic and increase his athletic performance.

Talking about these components, your athletic status is composed of:

 

#1. Your Mental State

The first step to increasing your athletic status is being determined and focused on your goal.

You can achieve anything and everything with just a strong determination and will to achieve it.

In terms of athletic status, if you truly desire and want to work on becoming more athletic, you can achieve it.

Hence, the first answer to whether can you become more athletic comes directly from your mental aspect.

On the other hand, the second component that decides if you can achieve a better athletic profile is your physical dedication.

 

#2. Physical Component

When your mind is set to achieve a target, your body should be dedicated to choosing the path that takes you to the goal.

Hence, if you are physically ready to take up any challenge and win over all obstacles that come between you, and have a better profile, then yes, you can become more athletic.

But if your mind and body aren’t synchronized, the answer could be unfavorable.

In short, being more athletic depends on your mind-body synergy.

 

#3. Genetic Profile

There are many external and internal factors that affect athletic performance. But is athleticism genetic?

According to the study of genes involved in athletic performance, your genetic composition to has a role in determining your athletic status.

As per the results of these studies, the two genes involved in regulating your athletic profile are:

  • ACE I/D for endurance
  •  ACTN3 R577X regulates your performance and power

But these two genetic factors are not always predictive of how good your athletic status could be, rather its profiling helps to see if training works more favorably for you than others.

Other than these two genes, some other genes have been constantly observed in elite athletes.

Yet again, they don’t predict your athletic achievement, but rather show the results of training.

Hence, with the genes having favorable regulations, coupling them with the right training can take your athletic status to a higher reach.

While those with genes that aren’t as favorable might need harder efforts to gain the same status.

But in the end, everyone could be more athletic than they are just with the right guidance and right technique.

Whether you are a recreational Sportster or weekend player, the achievable level of athleticism is possible with some smart work.

For that, the exact focus should be on how to be more athletic rather than can you become more athletic.

 

How to Be More Athletic? Secrets of Athleticism

how to become more athletic

For building a greater athleticism, you should always keep three golden rules in your mind:

“Think and focus like an athlete

Train like an athlete

Diet for achieving the body of an athlete”

With these three secrets of athleticism, you can not only become more athletic but also feel great under your skin.

But these three rules too have their procedures and are not easy, so before getting started, make sure you are ready to face all the hardships on the go.

If your answer coming from within is yes, you are ready, then here are the steps that guide you through how to become more athletic and coordinated:

 

#1. Workout to Become More Athletic | Best Workouts for Athletes

The first step of becoming more athletic is making your body strong by increasing not just your absolute but even relative strength.

Since many people confuse with absolute strength being the measurement of how strong you are, for being athletic what you must focus on is relative strength.

In short, focus on increasing the amount of weight your body can lift according to your body weight.

To achieve a greater relative strength you can implement the following workout strategies in your routine:

 

#1. Strength Training 

The first step of getting your body on the right lane to building better athleticism is strengthening your base.

The best way to do so is by implementing a good strength training program that goes a long way to strengthen and nurture your fitness.

However, there isn’t any need to add up the highly specialized training plans, for beginners building a strong base, just a basic plan is what you need.

But this basic form should have you in your good form along with a progressive movement till the time you attain the basic strength.

You can try going for:

  1. Deadlifts
  2. Bench press
  3. Rows with sound technique

Once you have gathered enough strength, it’s time to rock the road.

 

#2. Explosive Movements

For building a more athletic profile, you must have the ability to generate strength at a faster pace. Hence, including explosive movements in your workout becomes a must.

When working out with such movements which could be throws or even jumps, you strengthen and prepare your central nervous system.

The activated CNS further stimulates the motor units and increases your neuromuscular communication that helps in:

  • Coordinating your muscular system
  • Muscle coordination of target areas

Together, this helps you achieve a boost in performance along with the accomplishment of a crucial step of becoming a better athlete.

Hence, before you start your workout, start with explosive movements like:

  1. Squat jumps
  2. Broad jump
  3. Medicine ball back toss
  4. Upper body horizontal push-pull

 

#3. Jump Rope

Jump rope is mainly for building coordination as it makes you stable through your training period.

Although jump rope sounds the easiest workout to anyone, here you must focus on a proper technique and not a leisure activity.

Hence for a perfectly coordinated jump rope, you need to engage your abs, leave your shoulders loose, and swing the rope only with your wrists, and not your entire arms.

While doing so, you should also focus on your posture with your knees being slightly bent and your upper body completely straight.

If you want to keep the session a low-impact session, you can take smaller jumps and gradually increase the intensity.

Along with maintaining coordination, this will help your condition and shed the excess fat to bring up your calves ultimately improving your athletism. Jumping rope is the answer to how to become more athletic and coordinated.

 

#4. Sprinting Before Lifting

Sprinting and lifting are two of the very similar workout additions that you can opt for to increase your athletics.

However, sprinting before lifting is what’s more popular with athletes, as it activates many muscle fibers to produce tension by utilizing heavy CNS output.

In fact, according to experts, sprinting before any workout can be highly beneficial as it can:

  1.  Increase your protein synthesis
  2. Boost up your HGH levels
  3. Give a testosterone surge
  4. Increases motor signals even post workouts

All of these benefits together work through your body to build muscles and shred you up while improving your athletic performance.

However, since sprinting involves the activation of many muscles, it is always safe to start slow and indulge in smart sprinting.

By smart sprinting, we mean using an incline to decrease the impact and prevent striding which is a primary cause of hamstring pulls.

You can try sprinting after your warm-ups and before the main workouts.

 

#5. Unilateral Training

Unilateral training adds safety care to your workout by preventing muscular imbalances.

This type of training is based on using a single limb to stabilize the core and the spine which helps in making you stronger and builds balance.

Though bilateral lifts and training promise extravagant results which attract people, for building athleticism, one should focus on safety along with results.

Hence, an easy answer to how to be more athletic is unilateral training and not just bilateral lifts.

Once the workout is right on track, now it’s time for adding a little polish to your body.

While these are some of the best workouts for athletes and actually do the main job, it still needs a support system which is your lifestyle post workout and your diet to carry on with the results.

 

#2. Fitness Lifestyle to Be More Athletic | Getting FIT for the Sports

Building a strong, lean, and athletic body is not just brushing it up daily but also about living a life that supports good health.

Hence, when you are planning to pack more athletic power, make sure your workout sessions are rightly backed by:

 

#1. Muscle Recovery Post Workout

Muscle soreness is common post-workouts and allows the repair and growth of muscles during the resting phase.

But people often skip the rest and recovery part, in seek of amplified and gorgeous results.

However, the secret to keeping your body athletic and fit is enough rest and sleep post your workout sessions.

Your body needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep daily at night to refresh your body for the next session of workout the other day with extra energy.

In case have problems with your sleep cycle post workouts, you can even try supplementation with magnesium-rich natural products 1 to 2 hours before your sleep schedule.

Post the physical rest, you must now switch to taking care of your mental state too, as both physical and psychological rest are essential to rejuvenate your body.

 

#2. Keeping Away the Mental Stress

A lesser-known fact about mental stress is that it takes a toll on almost all of the metabolic processes going inside your body.

From your immunity to your strength, it could affect all the aspects involved in making your body stronger.

Hence, the best way to start your journey of athleticism is to shut stress out of your life.

You can try external ways of keeping yourself free from stress like:

  •  Meditation
  • Writing journals in a place that gives you peace and calmness

But that’s not enough when you are going through toxic phases with people who are close to you. Hence, in such conditions, you need to make a strong call to achieve your goals.

Similarly, another rule of maintaining a lifestyle that supports an athletic body is never running away from your injuries.

Train your injuries for a better and stronger you!

 

#3. Train Around Injuries

Workouts are incomplete without injuries, as even if you try sticking to all the safety practices, some or the other way a workout leaves its mark.

For example, lifting is known for its injuries that cause pain, ache, or strain which doesn’t have a quick remedy.

In such cases, you don’t have to completely stop all your activities, rather you have to stick with the routine but now with the opposite side.

Training from the same side could aggravate your injuries while training on the opposite side can help with more benefits.

In short, you don’t have any rest days and you must move every day (even on days of injuries ).

 

#4. Move Everyday

Moving and training every day helps you program your muscles and your body for better performance.

The various mechanisms of the body adapt to the tensions and loads which helps them perform better even in small actions.

Taking a break can also put a halt to your smooth progress and make coming back difficult.

But if your form and training program stay right on track your mobility improves as well as your performance.

 

#5. Proper Training Technique and Position

Focusing on your joint movements and positions dictates and trains the muscles in the right way.

Hence, when you are focusing on training a certain part of the body, your position and form should involve and target the same area and not others.

For example, a squat with a low-bar position targets the glutes, lower back, and hamstrings more as compared to a squat done in a quad-dominant high-bar squat.

The correct form also helps in preventing injuries and lets you complete full training cycles.

After taking care of your workouts and post-workouts, it’s now time to not ignore the exact source of energy that’s going to drive the whole plain.

Yes, we are talking about the right nutrition that you need for building a perfect athletic body.

 

#3. Foods to Improve Athletic Performance: Make Sure You Don’t Sacrifice Your Nutrients

Nutrition is important to fuel your recovery and improve your performance gains.

They provide you with the energy to complete your workouts, proteins for building muscles, and also a faster metabolism for quick fat shed.

Related: Post-Workout Meals for Muscle-Building

Thus, all the nutrients are equally important for your workout and post-workout phase:

 

#1. Adding Nutrients

You don’t have to be in a calorie deficient stage if you are not planning to lose fat for reaching a certain weight loss goal. You should maintain a good calorie intake by adding different nutrients to your diet.

Your diet should contain 2 to 4 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight coupled with at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight to derive enough calories.

Once that’s done, you can use the calorie calculator to determine how much more calories can come from the healthy fats still left for your diet completion.

However, enough calorie intake doesn’t allow you to load up anything and everything.

Only certain foods can come to the platter owing to their nutritional values.

 

Here are a few examples of such Foods to be more athletic and healthy.

FoodsProteinsFluidsLipidsCalories
Rice (satiating and gluten-free)3.5 grams25 grams0.4 grams118 kcal
Oatmeal11 grams60 grams8 grams375 kcal
Eggs6.4 grams0.4 grams5.4 grams75 kcal
Chicken21 grams07 grams150 kcal
Fishes20 grams014 grams206kcal
Green vegetables2.2 grams3 grams0.2 grams23 kcal
Banana1.5 grams20 grams090 kcal

 

Completing the list of all the vital nutrients is water! Because yes water too has got a major role to play in your athletic body.

 

#2. Water

When practicing all your workouts and training for building a perfect body, what you must not forget about is the immense raise in your body temperature.

Your body sweats a lot to dissipate the excess heat being produced to prevent overheating of the body.

In the process, your body loses lots of water which could lead to dehydration if you don’t add enough water to your daily routine.

Hence, water should be the main part of the diet.

Becoming more athletic is possible. But you have to be ready to commit to the challenges that come with it.

 

Before You Go For A Run!

There has always been a lot of confusion on whether a person could be more athletic than he already was.

If we ask people about it, there could be various opinions, but what does science say?

According to science yes, it’s possible to make yourself more athletic with not one but three important rules.

First is the training, of course, the second is repairing, and the third is replenishing the nutrients.

With just these three rules, you cannot just improve your overall fitness but also make yourself as athletic as you always dreamt of.

But yes, consistency matters!

So make sure, if your goal is to go down the athletic performance as a hero, there won’t be any leaves.