Being able to make a judgement call with your “intuition muscle” (is what I like to call it) is an essential skill for any trainee
If you are an athlete on a program it is essential that you can communicate how you’re feeling with your navigator aka...coach. If you're solo on a joy ride you may need this skill even more.
When you’re feeling RED
Too much traffic- STOP or you may get hurt
What you feel: fatigued, sore, unfocused
What you do: Take an active rest day, restore, take advantage of visualization methods to enhance your skills, literally do nothing and just rest, hydrate and take care of yourself
When you’re feeling YELLOW
Traffic is easing up- CAUTION it’s still not safe to accelerate
What you feel: slow reaction speed, lack of focus, the idea of doing a new skill makes you feel anxious, easily frustrated
What you do: movements but be patient with yourself and understand that you may not feel strongest on this day but- that’s okay
When you’re feeling GREEN
Traffic is clear- GOOO
What you feel: fresh, focused, strong, high attention span, you feel in control
What you do: challenge yourself, get stronger, have fun
Remember it’s rare to catch all green lights every ride. When working on getting to your destination red and yellow lights are important too
At one of the KB for athletic performance seminars Master RKC, Coach Darius brought up this way of communicating rest vs action and my pediatric OT brain lit up with excitement. (Darius- you would have been an amazing OT). Many times, we teach kids to colors and traffic lights such as this to communicate mood, energy and focus… any peds OTs or teachers out there use the Zones of Regulation? Even as an adult it’s helpful to think and be able to express how you’re feeling in this tangible way. We’re all just big kids anyways. Hope it helps
Comments