The Importance of Discipline in Sports

Sports require you to train frequently and to follow an exact schedule in order to be able to progress and to keep yourself safe from injuries. But why is that? Why do sports require so much discipline, much more so than other fields of work? Let us try to answer that.

The Human Body Thrives on Patterns

The human body responds best to workouts when it is met with a pattern. That pattern is then used to build muscle, whether size or muscle memory. The body progresses the fastest when you train and eat according to a schedule. That is why discipline is important, at least when it comes to building muscles and working out, which is only a part of sports.

Discipline Keeps You on the Right Path

Your body requires some things to progress, things you might not really like, such as food which is rather tasteless or exercises which cause you to feel like you are completely weak and unstable.

The things you dislike are often good indicators of the things you need to work on, especially if you have an imbalance of muscle size or strength, or flexibility. Depending on the sport, you can lack some things which can cause you to underperform or lead to serious, chronic injuries if they persist.

That is where discipline comes in, to keep you on the right path, one which you may not like, but which should help you in the long run.

Discipline Can Help You Stay Mentally Focused

Some sports require you to be focused, like climbing or tennis. However unrelated, each of the two requires the practitioner to be focused, have their head in the game all the time. The more focused you are, the easier it will be for you to shrug off emotions which are bound to happen when you miss a shot or fail that route for the tenth time that day.

Discipline helps you in this regard, just like with the exercises you dislike or which end up boring you. You can rely on it to point you toward what matters, the game, the climb, the results, keeping a straight face throughout the difficult moments, letting the difficulties go.

Discipline Teaches You Patience

With discipline on your side, you will know patience. You will know that your efforts might not lead to the results you seek that day, or the day after, or even a year after. With that, you can work out, prepare and be ready to fail. Failure is also a teacher, one that you will gladly accept already armed with discipline.

 

These are but some of the reasons as to why discipline is important in sports.