Are you an athlete or an exerciser?

Do you think of yourself as an athlete or an exerciser? According to a recent Washington Post article by certified athletic trainer Ian McMahan, your answer makes a difference in how you perform.
 
You may be closer to “athlete” than you think. In fact, you needn’t be unusually strong, fast, limber or coordinated. You might not even want to compete at any particular level.
 
Sports scientist Ross Tucker told reporter McMahan that our definitions of “athlete” and “competition” are too narrow. If you have performance aspirations, Tucker says, consider yourself an athlete. If you don’t, you’re an exerciser. For example, a person who routinely goes to the gym simply to lift weights is an exerciser. Someone training for specific conditioning would be an athlete.
 
Thoughts and actions are intrinsically linked. According to sports psychologist Jim Afremow, “Embracing an athletic identity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Our beliefs about ourselves affect our athletic practices. In turn, acting like an athlete bolsters our sense of being an athlete.
 
Research backs up this prediction. One study of 400 participants found that the more the subjects identified as athletes, the greater their exercise level. But there’s a twist: another study suggests that to embody that identity, an athlete must train at an intensity consistent with improving performance.
 
“There is an athlete in all of us,” Afremow says. Your background or current situation isn’t as important as “thinking of yourself as an athlete, having athletic goals, and reaping the rewards of being more active.”
 
Here’s a final point that members of our club already know. Identifying as a member of a team or a community correlates strongly with athleticism. Being among like-minded athletes reinforces your resolve to improve your performance. 

~~ Leah Rewolinski