How to Be More Athletic and Get Fitter Faster

We’ve all watched, admired and supported our favourite athletes when watching them perform at Olympic or competitive games. These individuals are considered elite athletes. The cream of the crop when it comes to physical ability. But being athletic is not the same as being fit. Instead, athleticism depends on a few different dimensions including skill, strength, endurance and recovery.

And with most athletes requiring coordination and balance, the good news is that athleticism can be developed by just about anyone and your performance on the field or in the gym can be improved. So, if you want to find out more about how to be more athletic, this article is for you. Here, we’ll cover the best ages for peak athletic performance and provide some proven exercises that you can do to increase your athleticism. Let’s get started!

At what age are you the most athletic?

Because every individual is different in terms of genetic make up, physical structure, age, gender and other factors, it’s difficult to pinpoint with precision at what age one is the most athletic in their life. There are athletes as young as 12 who have competed in the Olympic games but there are also those who are above 60 who have also done so. However, there are studies that show that there is a mean age for peak performance.

In particular, athletes who require speed and power will generally peak by their mid-20s. Athletes in endurance sports peak by their 40s. And athletes involved in tactical, low-impact sports are able to compete well into their 50s. Whether you’re young or find yourself on the older spectrum of age, this nevertheless means that there is potential for you to develop your athletic ability. In particular though, younger people are better capable of performing athletic tasks that require raw processing power, whereas older people tend to excel at strategy.

Can you increase athletic ability?

Some research points to the fact that as we get older, our athletic performance tends to decline because of the maximum amount of oxygen that we can take in and supply to our tissues. This decline tends to happen around 40 years of age and occurs at a percentage of approximately 1% to 2% per year every year thereafter.

But that’s not to say that this process cannot be slowed down or halted. You certainly can improve your athletic performance with the right exercises and regimens. In fact, studies show that middle age is not too late to take up intense training.

A few definitive ways to become more athletic

Now that you know that you have the potential to become more athletic, it’s time to look at how to be more athletic. The “how” entails performing certain exercises that help boost your strength, balance, flexibility and coordination to help you compete more effectively. We end this section with a hidden, least-expected gem for how to be more athletic, so stick around to find out more. But first, here are a few exercises you can perform to boost your athletic performance:

1. Strength training

Yes, strength training means picking up the dumbbells and working your way up to heavier weights and irons. Bench presses and pull-ups are just some examples of exercises you can do to enhance your strength. As such, strength training is one of the best ways to improve your athletic performance as a foundational exercise but is not the only way you can or should train. This is why you also need to balance this with exercises that help improve your agility, speed, power and coordination.

2. Develop unilateral strength

These exercise types for how to be more athletic are important because they don’t rely on both limbs working at the same time but on individual limbs that are being worked out one by one. This is an excellent way for you to prevent injuries and develop power. Two examples of such exercises are the skater squat/airborne lunge and the split stance one-armed push press.

3. Jump rope, sprint, throw and punch

Excellent for developing coordination, jumping rope is a brilliant way to strengthen your calves and leg muscles, burn fat and overall improve your body’s conditioning. In addition, you want to boost your athleticism by sprinting, throwing medicine balls and putting in some punches as part of explosive movements that activate your nervous system and activate high threshold muscle fibres.

4. Do aerobic and anaerobic training

The importance of aerobic training cannot be overstated. It’s critical for targeting the cardiovascular system to improve endurance. On the other hand, we have anaerobic training that is exercise designed to improve power, speed and strength during short-term activities, which require a lot of energy in short bursts.

5. Get flexible

Another important way for how to be more athletic is by participating in exercises that increase your flexibility. Why is this important? Because these exercises increase a joint’s range of motion – both active and passive. This is an excellent way of helping to decrease the chances of injuries. Yoga is a good example of training you can do to help build your levels of flexibility.

6. Whole-body vibration training

And now for the hidden gem that we promised you earlier for how to be more athletic. Of course, doing exercises and the types of training mentioned above are great ways to improve your athletic performance. But what if there was a way in which you could speed up the results you’re seeing and get a faster, more effective workout to improve your athleticism?

Well, there is a way and it’s called whole-body vibration training that is performed on a vibration plate. Studies have shown that it is an excellent way for improving exercise capacity and physical performance as well as health-related quality of life in people with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Meanwhile, other studies have shown that whole-body vibration exercise training over a period of 12 weeks “improves systemic and leg arterial stiffness, blood pressure, and leg muscle strength in postmenopausal women with prehypertension or hypertension”.

Overall, this means that even if you’re middle-aged or older and you have certain medical conditions, working out on a vibration plate while doing whole-body vibration is a healthier, faster and much more effective way of becoming and improving your athleticism as opposed to regular exercises which can take anywhere from three to six months to see actual gains and results.

Boosting athletic performance, faster

If you are someone who is trying to improve your physical performance, whether you’re running long distances or are engaged in competitive sports, there are ways on how to be more athletic. In this article, we covered a few definitive ways and steps you can follow to boost your athletic performance, fitness levels and overall health and well-being.

However, there is a much faster way you can improve your performance and that is through whole-body vibration training. This is excellent in terms of how to be more athletic because it’s low impact and it can be done in conjunction with multiple other exercises in the comfort of your own home.

Resources:

https://thephysicalmovement.substack.com/p/can-we-teachlearn-athleticism#:~:text=By%20definition%20then%2C%20if%20athleticism,can%20improve%20in%20these%20areas.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=1&contentid=1594#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20working%20on,to%20build%20basic%20muscle%20strength
https://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/full-body-exercises/5-best-exercises-become-stronger-athlete-2/