A Definition & Framework for Performance (For the Evergreen Athlete)

Definition

Google “high performance” and you will come across a wide range of definitions covering both individual and team/group performance. As I build Evergreen Performance I aim to coach from a definition and framework that specifically supports the population of athletes I serve. For these athletes, athletic performance still matters, many still want to still brush up against the edges of whats athletically possible for years to come. But performance in other areas of life also take strong priority, like showing up in their professional and personal lives in the best way possible with consistency. For the Evergreen Athlete performance is the integration of psychological and physiological capabilities to support a long and well lived life. It’s up to the individual to determine what “long and well lived” means to them, but regardless of their definition its going to take a strong body and mind to support it.

Framework

There are 3 components to this framework:

1. Psychology

2. Physiology

3. Long & Well Lived Life (LWLL)

And they are all constantly influencing each other. If we are intentional about how we train our mind (psychology) and body (physiology) then we have a better shot at living a long and well lived life. The more aligned our actions are with our definition of a long and well lived life, the better our body and mind will perform day to day. All 3 of these components work in reciprocity. Here is how I look at them individually:

Psychology

In order to have intentional influence over our outer experience (a long and well lived life) we must have command of our inner experience. In order to do that we need two skills:

1. Awareness

   Awareness of thoughts, of emotions, of sensations, and of the moment we’re presently in.

2. Agility

   The ability to change course when awareness informs us our thoughts and/or actions are not currently alined with long & well lived life we are pursuing.

Note I labeled both awareness and agility as skills. Which means I believe they are trainable and must be trained to meet both our athletic and life objectives. When it comes to awareness there are 3 categories of practice: mindfulness & meditation, writing & journaling, and conversations with professionals or people of wisdom. Within each of these categories is a long list of methods to experiment with (which I will explore in many future posts). As for agility it really takes one thing: courage (action in the face of discomfort). Once we’ve gained the awareness our thoughts or actions are out of alignment, it takes courage to course correct. And we prepare for using courage in the big moments of life by choosing courage in a thousand small ways every day and week.

Physiology

The physiological attributes that lead to great athletic performance and a long & well lived life are the same. Moving well and aging well go hand in hand. There are 3 categories of physiology that should take center stage for both these purposes:

1. Mobility

   Do you have access to the ranges of motion necessary to move through your daily life? And do you have coordination, stability, and control through those ranges of motion? We don’t stop moving because we get old, we get old because we stop moving. Training to increase or maintain our range of motion with coordination, stability, and control is a requirement of a well lived life.

2. Power

   You may be have glanced down this list and thought “what about strength?” It falls under the physical quality of power for me. Power = force x velocity. Strength (force) is an important part of that equation, its an important part of athletic performance, and its an important part of longevity. And so is speed (velocity), so they must be trained and maintained.

3. Conditioning

   The ability to express power for longer. The marathon runner needs to do it for 26.2 miles. The over 40 soccer player needs to do for 2 halves. The aging adult needs it for cardiovascular, cognitive, and metabolic health.

Long & Well Lived Life

“At X years old, how will I know I’ve had a well lived life?” Take some time to write out the answers. They become your compass in which you can orient the other two components of performance. And I believe its a question we should revisit often, because as we change so may some of our answers.

Summary

For the Evergreen Athlete “performance is the integration of psychological and physiological capabilities to support a long and well lived life.”

When I coached college soccer I asked incoming freshman “at the end of your senior year, what do you want to look back and say you accomplished?” The next question I asked was “what actions can you take today to move the needle in that direction?” And the follow up to that was “And how consistently do you think you can do that for the next 4 years?” It should come as no surprise that the athletes who maintained consistent action in alignment with their desired accomplishments came closest to meeting and exceeding them. Those who had a clear vision (long and well lived life) and consistently took action (psychology and physiology) performed better academically, athletically, and socially over that time.

So even though your college playing days are behind you, and the game you are playing most often is life…the same principles still apply. Have a clear picture of what a long and well lived life means to you, train your body and mind to support your pursuit of that, and surround yourself with the people who will support you in that pursuit.

Cheers - Al