It's no secret athletes use their bodies in demanding ways physically, but we sometimes forget how much of a mental game our profession or our hobby is in the game of sports. If the athlete is in school, balancing all of these demands becomes a new challenge.

Athletes can reach their highest potential with the proper support for physical, mental, and emotional well-being. 

As an athlete of many years, a track and field assistant coach, and a massage therapist of professional athletes, including Super Bowl Champions, I understand your desire to be the best athlete you can be -- pushing yourself to be better than you were yesterday. 

So if the workouts are solid, and the practice time is in, what are the missing pieces to breaking through to the next level?

Here's where the Natural Health coaching comes in that I wish I would have keyed into more years ago... nutrition, physical recovery, mental rest, and environmental factors.

Nutrition

We've been told we need protein, carbs, water, electrolytes, etc. Okay, super -- our body gets the nutrients from our food, but what if the food that's being marketed and sold to us isn't carrying as many nutrients as we think it is? Or, what if our bodies aren't completely absorbing the nutrients that are present in the food we eat?

Your body is rebuilding new cells every day, which means you have a whole new body over a few months. When our body is not getting the nutrients it needs to rebuild strong, healthy cells, we're bound to fall through the cracks in our health at some point in time. 

One simple way to increase your nutrient intake and help the body rebuild effectively is to drink 2 to 4 ounces of Ningxia Red every day. Adding this to your daily routine alone can make all the difference in your physical performance. 

Besides my daily intake of Ningxia Red, my nutrition routine also consists of Pure Protein Complete, MultiGreens, Sulfurzyme, AgilEase, PowerGize, Master Formula, and CardioGize. 

Physical Recovery

The effectiveness and speed of recovery will have a lot to do with the quality of your nutrition, but that aside, let's talk more about bodywork.

An athlete's training is the cycle of constantly tearing down the muscles to rebuild stronger ones, which can be exhausting. If you're allowing about 8 hours a day to sleep, you are not doing yourself or your body any favors.

As an athlete, it's not uncommon to experience muscles and bones getting sore, tight, and maybe even discolored. If you're not taking care of your body in recovery as much as you're putting it through the wringer with working out, eventually your body will tell you enough is enough!

Aside from the list of products I mentioned above that are all great for supporting recovery, I think it's important to mention AminoWise and YL Vitality Drops for aminos and electrolytes. I am not a fan of the sports drinks on the market because they are full of ingredients that I got to researching and I decided NO MORE. I am so glad that Young Living offers these healthy replacements, including protein shakes. Be sure to check them out!

How can we help to keep our recovery in check? 

Routine bodywork. This includes massage, yoga, chiropractics, and acupuncture. Especially massage to allow the muscles to rest, while increasing blood circulation to areas needing extra recovery support.

Essential oils for physical discomforts. Our skin is the largest organ of our body, and it absorbs what we're applying to it -- let's make sure what we're putting on our skin doesn't have ingredients that could cause health problems immediately or down the road, sound good?

Here are a few suggestions of essential oils from Young Living for topical relief:

• Panaway

• Deep Relief

• Aroma Siez

• Peppermint

• Copaiba

• Lemongrass

• Muscle Rub CBD

• OrthoEase Massage Oil

• OrthoSport Massage Oil