Who is the greatest athlete of all-time?
This living question recently found its way among Karen and I.
Specificity would no doubt make this a brief debate, e.g., Q: Who is the greatest NBA player of all-time? A: Michael Jordan
We chose to leave it expansive and let our imaginations run wild. After some twists and turns through various sporting events, our discussion mostly gravitated around several olympians: Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis, Katie Ledecky, and Michael Phelps. How can there be just one answer? Agreeing that this question has no clear finish line, we’ve tabled our talk until it arises again.
The very next day, due to a confluence of synchronicity and smartphone eavesdropping, highlights from the 2022 World Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon began popping up on my YouTube feed. There were many exceptional individual performances, but one in particular stood out from the crowd; Sydney McLaughlin in the 400 meter hurdles:
At only 22 years old, this marked the fourth time she’s broken the world record in this event in 13 months. The broadcasters showered her with praise for this accomplishment. They also couldn’t resist looking ahead while Sydney was still catching her breath. ‘Will she break the record again in Budapest 2023?’ ‘Will she run the 400 meter flat?’ Sports live by the mantra ‘records were made to be broken’ (DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak excluded).
Competition is a story about the pursuit of progress. The chapters dedicated to achieving personal records seem to garner the most reward and recognition from the outside. If we’re unable to drop in—and get behind the ‘what’s next?’ whispers—we can remain unsatiated, even when reaching new heights. This notion is captured well by Oliver Burkeman in his latest book ‘Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals’ when he writes, ‘how normal it has become to feel as though you absolutely must do more than you can do.’ Has the story of competition been overemphasized?
Our bodies seek to be in a state of homeostasis. How do we find our way to this balanced state? For this writing, the right side of the scale will represent the competitive nature and its associated aspects: activity, doing, forcing, moving through. The left side represents the restorative nature: recovery, being, allowing, unblocking. If one side is continuously nourished and their counter is neglected, we’re pulled out of alignment. Excess to the right could result in injury. Excess to the left and we may become slothful. Many of the athletic performances which etch their way into memory are equal parts power and grace. Does Sidney McLaughlin look like she’s straining when she blows away from the field or does she appear at ease?
The fulcrum at the center represents the cooperative nature of the whole. When we return to center, we tap into the bodies intelligence. We already know how to do this intuitively. Sensing these shifts on a subtle level, the bodies intelligence adjusts the appropriate variables to remain congruent. This mirroring cycle of cooperation always occurs on both the micro and macro levels: to extend my knee while I sit here typing the quadricep contracts and the hamstring relaxes to allow this to happen. Before we can inhale we must first exhale. Have our collective tendencies for overextraction been balanced by our habits of overconsumption (two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or have obesity)?
Pop quiz:
Would you rather?
Run a marathon (or compete in the event(s) of your choosing)
Walk pain free for the rest of your life
Both 1 & 2
We’re miraculously adaptive organisms and all have the opportunity to reach the summit of our physical potential. That altitude is unique to each one of us and dependent on the choices we make (80% of your health is determined by lifestyle choices) and the cards we’re dealt from the deck of nature and nurture. We adapt to the environment we experience most often. The more gradually we tip the scales the less likely we’ll be to burnout. Exercise is the story of an incremental process. Peak performances may grab the headlines but it's our consistency and the steady climb that gets us there. Yet how long are we able to stay at the top, even under optimal conditions? Athletes such as Dara Torres, Serena Williams, and Tom Brady (not playing in LT’s era of the NFL doesn’t hurt) are continuously pushing these boundaries. But at a certain phase of life, even for those considered to be elite, preservation becomes progress.
A priest walks into a bar, takes a seat and says to the bartender “my son I’d like a drink that makes me look and feel like I did 5 years ago”. The agnostic bartender replies “father that drink does not exist but why don’t you stop drinking and start exercising and maybe 5 years from now you’ll look and feel like you do today?” The priest lets out a sigh, gets up from his stool and goes to another bar. Reality can be a tough sell. Perhaps even harder to swallow, at yet another phase, is the acceptance that slowing down degeneration becomes progress.
“Hold on tightly, let go lightly.”
— Ram Dass
The weighing scale (abstract or concrete) is useless if the base itself isn’t held in a state of balance by the ground. We’re miraculously adaptive organisms that have been grown out of a miraculously adaptive super organism, a mother. Each moment is born into existence, and just like that, it’s gone. The bodies impermanence is what makes it sacred. Be kind to it, explore the edges, and don’t cling.
Returning to the question; who is the GOAT? The answer is in the name; All and Time. To give it some character the partnership of Mother Nature and Father Time: a team undefeated for at least 13.5 billion years and they’re not separate from us.
Recommendation: practice down regulation breathing immediately following a training session. Exercise can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (fight & flight) and induce a heightened state of arousal. Prolonged exhalation will reduce this state and assist transitioning to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest). Sit down with a straight spine and breathe through the nose; 4 second inhalation, 8 second exhalation. Doing this for 5 minutes will shift gears to the recovery process.
How relevant this is to my recent injury was an eye opener. What a gift this article was for me to read as I can now see a path of progress through actions I would have considered a regression prior to reading it! My takeaway: to let go lightly of my one way competitive nature so I can progress in this recovery specific to my recently injured knee. More importantly, I feel reassured that this “setback” is a golden opportunity to develop a set of skills toward a nature of recovery. It seems so obvious, but it can be hard to see you’re burning when you’ve always lived so close to the sun. This was nothing short of enlightening! Thank you Joe!