1 . How to Be a Good Athlete

Being a good athlete is about much more than just being great at a sport. The following will do you a favor.

Work with a coach.     1    . Besides, they can stay focused on achieving them, and find ways to help your improve if you fall short. There are a variety of coaches that can work with conditioning, technique, and skill level.

Create an individual program. In order to improve your athleticism, you should focus on improving your particular weaknesses.     2    , but you’ll also want to make sure you set aside time to improve your skills. Mixing up your routine is also a good way to improve your overall performance and decrease the risk of injury.

Show up on time.     3    , whether by yourself or with a team, your coach or trainer has a time set aside to work with you. Maximize your time by making sure you are there when it is time to begin. That usually means that if your practice starts at a certain time, say 9:00 am, you should be dressed and ready to go then, not just arriving.

    4    . It can be easy to let your mind wander when you are doing drills and exercises. It is important, though, that you stay focused on what you are doing.

Cool down after exercising. Once you have finished a workout or practice session, take some time to give your body a physical cool-down period. Some low-intensity (低强度) movements and stretches are good to help restore your muscles.     5    .

2 . Is it bad to work out in cold weather?     1    . With winter now, here is what the doctors and personal trainers want you to know about exercising in cold weather.

Burn extra calories

In cold climates, your body needs to perform extra heat to keep your body warm. Brown fat is the type of body fat that helps control body temperature. When you’re outside in the cold, brown fat burns calories in order to increase body temperature.     2    .

Help increase willpower

Working out in the heat can cause you to become tired more easily, since it increases sweating and your heart rate more rapidly.     3    . It may mean you can build willpower (毅力) more easily.

    4    

Exercising outside during the winter is thought to be one useful way to avoid a type of disorder or depression that tends to affect people during the dark winter months. Sunlight and exercise both have a positive impact on your mental (精神的) condition. They help give out more “feel good” chemicals, including serotonin and endorphins.

Help you sleep better

The combination of sunlight exposure (暴露) during the daytime, fresh air and physical activity can help you relax and sleep well at night.       5    . It is also called your “internal clock” which makes you feel sleepy enough at night and awake enough in the morning.

Exercising in cold weather isn’t for everyone, though. If you have any health problems, it is advisable to talk with your health care provider first.

3 . If you’ve heard of “pickleball,” chances are that you connect the sport with seniors. That’s not surprising, as it was the 55-plus set that began growing the sport at the end of last century. But today, pickleball is attracting players of every age as it becomes more and more popular across the U.S. and around the globe.     1    

Pickleball is a combination of badminton, ping-pong and tennis. It’s played on a badminton-sized court with a low net like that used in tennis. Players use a bat that’s smaller than a tennis racquet (球拍), but larger than a ping-pong bat.     2     Most games are played to 11 points, with a two-point spread needed to win, and each game typically lasts just 15 to 20 minutes.

In 2021, more than 4.8 million people in the U.S. were playing pickleball. That’s about four times as many people as were playing in 2010, and makes pickleball one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S. and North America. So, what’s the appeal?

    3     Also, it doesn’t take a lot of time to play and is accessible, as players just need a racquet and ball. It provides a great exercise, too. And for experienced players, pickleball can become a fast-paced, strategic game. It’s also just plain fun.

In North America, indoor and outdoor pickleball courts can be seen everywhere. About 66 new locations open every month. In addition, the game is being introduced to kids in middle school and high school PE classes.     4     Many professional players are appearing.

Pickleball may even become an Olympic sport one day, especially if the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) gets its way. Created in 2010, the IFP’s goal is to make pickleball universally present around the world.     5     IFP membership has spread fast to over 60 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines and Spain.

4 . Common Mistakes New Runners Make

Running is a great way to get in shape and just about everyone can do it. However, many make a number of common mistakes, which can interfere (妨碍) with training or lead to injury.     1     , keep these things in mind to help you increase your chances of running success.

·Doing too much too soon

One of the biggest mistakes new runners make is doing too much too soon. Slowly easing into a training program will help reduce the risk of injury, so you can continue on with your new running routine     2     .

·     3    

Beginners might think they need to run every day (or nearly every day) to meet their fitness or weight-loss goals, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Running is a high-impact activity which can be really hard on your body. So it’s important to give your body a rest between workouts.

·Not wearing the right equipment

    4    , it’s important that you wear properly for your workouts. The most important piece of equipment for running is a good pair of running shoes, so be sure to do some research before you purchase a pair. Visit a running specialty store and ask an employee to fit you for a shoe.

•Running through pain

    5     If something hurts when you run, you need to stop and treat the pain. Remember: It doesn’t make you less of a runner if you listen to your body to keep it healthy.

5 . What’ s a micro activity? I consider this question about the word “micro” whenever it appears.

    1     Quite literally, it means “extremely small”. But in this article, a micro activity will refer to something which takes up no more than five minutes of your time.

The following recommendations are micro activities you should do for your body.

Self-Massage (自我按摩)

Self-massaging should become a part of your daily musts.     2    As we get older, our muscles (肌肉) tighten. But if we self-massage, these muscles will feel cared for. According to the Mayo Clinic, massage can reduce stress and increase relaxation.

Intensive Exercise

There are many benefits of intensive exercise (高强度运动). And do you know what else it does for your body? It makes your body realize it can do so much more. In less than five minutes, the goal is to break a sweat. This can be from running or lifting weights.     3    

Let Loose

Whether it be dancing, skipping or something else, our body should do whatever it feels like doing without judgment.     4    Thus we will feel happy and relaxed.

Be Still

    5    Your body loves movement. But we must find a few moments of stillness throughout our day. By devoting ourselves to more stillness, we can find ourselves more at peace and less stressed even under hard circumstances.

7 . How to make exercise a habit that sticks

There’s a reason why so many New Year’s resolutions to get in shape crash and burn before February rolls around. And it’s not that you simply don’t have what it takes.     1     Follow these steps to make exercise one of them.

Remove obstacles.     2     Do you tend to run out of time in the morning? Get your workout clothes out the night before so you’re ready to go as soon as you get up. Do you skip your evening workout if you go home first? Keep a gym bag in the car, so you can head out straight from work.

    3     A goal of exercising for 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week may sound good. But how likely are you to follow through? The more ambitious your goal is, the more likely you are to fail, feel bad about it and give up. So, it’s better to start with easy exercise goals you know you can achieve.

Reward yourself. People who exercise regularly tend to do so because of the rewards it brings to their lives, such as more energy, better sleep, and a greater sense of well-being.     4     When you’re starting an exercise program, it’s important to give yourself immediate rewards when you successfully complete a workout or reach a new fitness goal.

Choose activities that make you feel happy and confident. If your workout is unpleasant or makes you feel clumsy or inept. you’re unlikely to stick with it. Don’t choose activities like running or lifting weights at the gym just because you think that’s what you should do.     5    

9 . When you think of how much you do with your hands all day, from making yourself fried eggs in the morning to folding laundry in the evening, it becomes clear how vital skillfulness is to daily life.     1     You need it to play sports, for example, or use a remote or a video game controller.

For some specific tips on improving skillfulness, we turned to a personal trainer Abdias Rojas. He said, “there are so many movements you can do to actually improve not just the strength of your hands but also flexibility in your hands.”     2    

Put rubber bands on your fingers, then expand and contract them. This will contribute to myofascial (肌筋膜的) release and getting your hands to feel more comfortable.

To get a better sense of how much pressure you should apply when touching things, do hand exercise in sand.     3     But when you do hand exercise inside of a sandbox, put your hands in a box of sand, you can literally learn to squeeze the sand and understand which joint or which finger is giving more giving more pressure or less pressure.

    4     Practice leaning into them with your palm down on the floor. Then, practice leaning into them with the backs of your hands on the floor, rolling on them, like putting weight on and taking weight off the wrist.

Finally, try seated eccentric (偏心的) wrist extension. Sit upright with an arm on a table, holding a dumbbell with your hand hanging off the edge and your palm facing down. Use your other hand to curl your wrist up, lower it, and repeat.     5    

Don’t overlook the value of overall body health when it comes to improving skillfulness, either. Rojas pointed out that without the optimal gross (最佳的粗肌) and fine motor skills, which make up the skillfulness of our hands, we would be unable to perform daily tasks.