Melissa Stockwell is aware of a factor or two concerning the worth of being well-rounded as an athlete.
A 3-time Paralympian, Stockwell competed as a swimmer within the 2008 Beijing Video games earlier than discovering the triathlon. “I fell in love with it from the start—the challenge of all three sports,” she says. She gained bronze within the paratriathlon within the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Video games, and can vie for an additional medal on September 1 in Paris.
“When I was a swimmer, we would swim 12 to 15 hours a week, and that’s a massive toll on the shoulders,” she says. “Now, it’s not just my shoulders taking the toll. I’m spreading the love to all parts of the body, which can help with injury, help with fatigue, and help your body be strong as a whole.”
In a health tradition the place daring, clickbaity statements loom giant—we have all seen the headlines {that a} sure sort of train will in some way repair all of your issues—there’s one thing refreshing about occasions just like the triathlon, the place athletes embody the very definition of well-roundedness as they swim, bike, and run.
And it’s not simply elite athletes who can profit from being a jack-of-many-trades. We spoke to Stockwell and two of her paratriathlon teammates concerning the significance of being well-rounded, and what on a regular basis health fans can be taught from how they practice.
1. Health needs to be enjoyable
Rachel Watts, who will make her Paralympic debut in Paris, says the various coaching of the triathlon helps her faucet right into a childlike sense of play.
“I feel like I’m still a kid when I do triathlon,” she says. “Our earliest playful movement was running around in the yard, or hopping on a bike, or swimming lessons. So I get to, as an adult, play in the ways that brought me the most joy as a kid.”
You don’t should be swimming, biking, and operating to channel your inside child: Perhaps you be a part of an grownup leisure crew of the game you performed in center college to steadiness out your typical health club routine, or take a category in a new-to-you type of motion like ballet, browsing, or martial arts.
“Incorporate strength training, take a yoga class, take a Pilates class. There’s no harm in trying. Just keep trying to keep your whole body pieced together and healthy, and keep things interesting at the same time.” —Melissa Stockwell, paratriathlete
2. Extra variation means fewer overuse accidents
Like Stockwell, Watts specialised in a single sport—operating—earlier than switching to the triathlon. “When I was a runner, I would have overuse injuries a lot,” she says. Now, triathlon coaching has helped her discover steadiness in her physique and keep away from the accidents that always include repeating the identical actions again and again.
Emma Meyers, additionally a Paralympic debutante, says one other perk of the triathlon—and of being a well-rounded athlete basically—is that if you do get injured, it doesn’t essentially need to cease you from coaching altogether. (For example, should you develop plantar fasciitis from operating, you may nonetheless hit the pool for some laps.)
Despite the fact that the thought of doing three distinct sports activities can really feel intimidating, Watts says she really thinks this variation makes the triathlon extra accessible than different sports activities because of the decrease harm threat. “Anybody can do it,” she says. “It’s easier to do three sports than one sport because it allows [the activities] to stay novel and not get monotonous—and you don’t get those overuse injuries.”
3. Restoration days are key
A well-rounded health routine isn’t nearly balancing power and cardio, or dabbling in a number of sports activities. It’s additionally about various depth, Stockwell says.
For her, that appears like a mixture of speed-based work (like sprints and intervals), tempo work (medium-intensity efforts for longer intervals to construct endurance), and restoration days. “If I were to go out every day and try to run the fastest 5K I can, that’s probably not going to turn out very well,” she says.
These restoration days, which regularly seem like operating or biking at a straightforward tempo, are particularly essential, she says. “That’s what sets me up for success for the rest of the week.”
Watts agrees that relaxation and restoration—for each the physique and the thoughts—are integral components of a well-rounded athlete’s routine. “I have leg compression boots that I like to use every night, I do cupping, I take ice baths, I do scraping,” she says. “And then just breathwork—taking a pause to help me stop focusing on the next thing I should do and instead just let my body rest and be.”
4. Stability in health equals steadiness in life
Don’t be mistaken: Discovering steadiness between the triathlon’s three disciplines comes with main challenges, Watts says. “It’s frustrating because I might want to spend five days just dialing in on my running form, but there’s not an opportunity to do that, because then I’m letting my swimming and cycling go on the back burner,” she says. “If I focus too hard on one aspect, what am I letting go with another? It’s about not overdoing it in any of them so I can be successful in all three.”
If that appears like a metaphor for all times, that’s as a result of it’s, Watts says. The fixed negotiations of triathlon coaching have taught her life classes, like being versatile sufficient to regulate on the fly and accepting that even should you can’t do all of it, you may nonetheless do one thing.
The excellent news for these of us who aren’t elite triathletes: There’s no have to intention for perfection in anybody self-discipline. As a substitute, maintain an open thoughts and don’t be afraid to be a newbie at one thing, Stockwell suggests.
“Incorporate strength training, take a yoga class, take a Pilates class,” she says. “There’s no harm in trying. Just keep trying to keep your whole body pieced together and healthy, and keep things interesting at the same time.”
