Fueling and Maintaining Your “Machine”

Take care of the external “machine”, and work to take care of your “internals” as well.

In order to maintain peak performance you must: properly fuel the machine and properly maintain the machine. What and when you eat, missing nutrients, or lack of rest all affect performance and recovery.

You would never miss an oil change on your car, would you? You need to think of your body as the same way. Think of your dream car, the new Corvette for me, Ferrari, Lamborghini. For you, how you drive it is important. Avoiding part holes, hard breaking, red lining.

But what about how you take care of it? The type of fuel you put into it. Keeping eye on the tires. Getting it services regularly. And you are that machine.

And it’s critical for you to know what type of machine you are to help you know what to eat, how to sleep, even how much therapeutic massage and chiropractic care you need.

The baseball season is 162 games, and that’s not including if you make the playoffs off season training. And in season training beats up the body. How you fuel and take care of the machine is vital to have a successful career.

So you must A, work with a nutritionist. B, get regular therapeutic massages and chiropractic care. C,
have a proper sleep schedule D have a proper rest schedule. Doing these along with proper sports, specific training and mental health exercises would ensure a properly well retained machine. All of the smartest players know this and live by this.

And if you didn’t know before, now you’re in on it.

Fuel Your Body with Proper Nutrition – When you have blood work done, and meet with your dietician, you will discover what supplements you will need (if any) and an eating plan.

Maintaining Your Body with Rest and Sleep – Maintenance is part of the fueling process but also consists of Proper sleep which helps with recovery, Proper rest and mediation which helps the the mental state and controlling and recognizing stress which when negative can effect training which will effect performance.

To improve your score on this factor, here are some key steps you can take to make progress in this area:

1. Proper sleep is a vital factor in the maintenance of you the machine. Try these:
   a) Going to bed at a ideal time to get the proper sleep you need.
   b) Avoid caffeine before bed time cause it may interfere with proper sleep.
   c) Avoid negative stress before bedtime: this can also interfere with proper sleep.
   d) Learn meditation techniques to slow down a racing mind can also help you to get proper sleep.
2. Sitting down with a nutritionist or registered dietician can help you create a suitable diet that addresses your specific needs. Good nutrition helps you get proper sleep and proper recovery from exercise and playing.
3. When you do an initial physical exam you should have sports panel blood work done. That blood work will show if you have and mineral deficiency that needs to be addressed with MLB approved supplementation.
4. Getting proper rest is different from getting proper sleep. Getting proper rest is taking the time when possible to do nothing. Relax and clear your mind; get a massage read and study your body; get in tune with yourself.