What is an athlete? The question is a surprisingly difficult one to answer. After watching the Olympics, the image that might come to mind is of a person launching off a 60-metre ramp, flipping and twisting in the air a few times, and landing on their skis – and many definitions do focus on competition and excellence. But some sports experts think it is important to expand the definition of athlete, because the more a person identifies as an athlete, rather than simply as an exerciser, the more likely they are to physically push themselves.

The American Heart Association defines an athlete as “one who participates in an organised team or individual sport that requires regular competition against others as a central component, places a high premium on excellence and achievement, and requires some form of systematic (and usually intense) training.” A 2019 article in the American Journal of Cardiology defines athletes as those who strive for external, performance-related goals, such as to make teams, win games or beat opponents.

Strive to improve your performance in your exercise routine? Consider yourself an athlete.Credit:iStock

Another definition, this one from researchers in Brazil and Germany, adds the requirement that an athlete should have sport training and competition as their way of living, devoting, at minimum, several hours a day to the pursuit of that sport.

But these definitions fail to account for the athleticism required to compete in other ways, perhaps without a scoreboard or clock. To capture these feats, experts such as sports scientist Ross Tucker say that the definitions of athlete and of competition are too narrow.

“You have to expand the definition of ‘competition’ to be broader than just competing against other athletes in that specific moment,” says Tucker, a sports science researcher for World Rugby. “For instance, is a person who climbs Mount Everest an athlete? I’d say so, because they’re pushing boundaries, which I think meets a definition of competition where ‘competitive’ means challenging oneself to perform better.”

Tucker says he believes that if you have performance aspirations, then you can consider yourself an athlete. If you don’t, then it’s exercise. For instance, a person who goes to the gym three times a week and lifts weights in a routine program is an exerciser. Someone who is training for specific conditioning could be considered an athlete.

Tucker and others think the term “athlete” should bring in individuals who exercise in ways equally strenuous as traditional athletic competition. That includes on platforms such as Strava, a fitness tracking app that allows users to compare their performance against others, and on smart exercise equipment, such as Peloton and Zwift, which connects users all over the world, allowing for the virtual comparison of performance metrics such as power and speed.

Peloton rider? You can consider yourself an athlete.

“Competition has definitely changed,” says Ryan Hall, a two-time Olympian in the marathon. “Before, you had to show up at a race or at a competition to share this thing with the world, to have a common experience with people.” Now, he says, social media has created ways for people to challenge themselves. “I might want to do some crazy challenge, and there might not be any spectators, or might not really be an actual event, but it’ll be shared with the world,” he said.

But does it really matter if someone considers herself an exerciser or an athlete? Jim Afremow, a sports psychologist and author of The Champion’s Mind, believes it does. “The reason why I think embracing an athletic identity is important for us is it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he says. “Our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves lead to expectations about our actions. And then those lead to those behaviours and actions, and that reinforces itself where it bolsters our sense of being an athlete.”

This is backed by research. In one study, 400 participants completed measures of exercise motivation, athletic identity, exercise frequency and wellbeing. The results suggested that intrinsic exercise motivation and greater frequency of exercise was associated with athletic identity. The more the subjects identified as athletes, the greater their exercise level. But, another study suggests, to embody that identity, an athlete has to exercise and train at an intensity consistent with improving performance.

The converse might be true as well, that when you start to behave like an athlete, you will begin to identify as an athlete. After all, Afremow says, no one was born to be sedentary. “There is an athlete in all of us,” he says. “It doesn’t matter where you come from or what your particular situation is. What matters is thinking of yourself as an athlete, having athletic goals and reaping the rewards of being more active.”

Tucker hypothesises that the rewards will come from more training. “I think every metric we have for measuring athletic ability – VO2max, speed, strength – is generally (though not always) going to increase in proportion to the training done, and athletes will also generally train more than exercisers.”

That is because forming or maintaining an identity as an athlete might also improve motivation to exercise, primarily because having an athletic goal increases the drive to train. An article in the Journal of Sport Behavior found that “both higher external and intrinsic exercise motivation were associated with a higher level of total athletic identity and greater frequency of exercise.”

Perhaps equally as powerful as identifying as an athlete is identifying as a member of a team or community – thinking of yourself as a Peloton-er, perhaps, or as a running club member – says sports psychologist Matt Cuccaro. That’s because the community or social aspect of sports or exercise can be an important motivating factor.

While the experts duke it out over the correct definition of athlete, the easiest way to think of yourself as one is to accept the definition from Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike. Nike’s mission statement is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.” The asterisk leads to a phrase added by Bowerman: “If you have a body, you’re an athlete.”

Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.

Most Viewed in Lifestyle

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article