Professional athletes tend to receive a lot of attention on social networks and on TV. Of course, there are athletes who receive way more attention than others, regardless of the fact that they are all pro.
So when young people dream about becoming a pro athlete they often overlook just how many professionals are out there that have a relatively small fan base. Still, it’s always good to have these aspirations and fame should not be your motivator. That being said you should know just how much it takes to go pro. Here we will focus on swimming and what you would need to do if you wish to become an elite swimmer.
Discipline
You might be a naturally good swimmer and have a great build for this sport, however if you wish to make it to the big leagues you need to have discipline. This means staying up early in the morning to train, having a strict diet, and powering through when you feel like skipping or having a cheat meal. Almost every new generation pushes the boundaries of what’s humanly possible because their training program gets updated.
So, you are going to need a trainer who knows what he or she is doing and you need to trust them. This will require a lot of discipline and dedication.
Training Once a Day Won’t Cut It
Michael Phelps is probably the most famous swimmer in the world, and he trains twice a day, every day, even on his birthday. You train in order to improve your endurance, perfect your technique, increase your speed, and stay in that shape. In order to compete with other professionals or the best of the best, you need to train extra harder.
Of course, if you overwork yourself your performance will also suffer, so you need to get a good sense of how your body functions and how long it takes for it to recover, and what conditions allow you to give your maximum. Luckily, you are swimming so even if you train harder the chances of getting injured are lower compared to other sports.
Drills
Progress comes in increments and with daily efforts. All you can do is learn the correct form and then do it over and over.
It might seem mind-numbing but the goal is to do it better every time. You do countless repetitions until it starts to look like it’s impossible to get any faster and then you work for days just to shave off that extra second from your personal best. You either try to push harder, do the technique better, and work on consistency.
Once you manage to improve your time by 10 seconds you can take a moment to feel proud about your accomplishment and then go back to drills.
