The brilliance and determination of Olympians can inspire us to participate in more sporting activities and stay in the moment without feeling bored with our workout. Instead of sitting on the couch and watching them excel on television, get them to spur you on in your own personal fitness goals.

Sophia Warner

For many individuals, developing a career and raising a family often stands in the way of managing a healthy lifestyle and fitness level. If we were to take that same commitment and apply it our exercise routine, we would be singing a different tune. Start by getting motivated with this spectacular group of athletes who sets the example for the rest of us with their sheer bravado and eye on the prize. Here are some of their Olympic health tips.

Paralympic athlete Sophia Warner reached the peak of her career at the mature age of 37. The lighting fast sprinter won silver in her class at the 2011 World Championships thanks to a rigorous training schedule. In between caring for her two children, Warner trains for six hours a day, five times a week. For her brilliant balancing act, she wins gold. Her Olympic health tip is: be determined, not matter what obstacles and you too can achieve your goal.

Debbie Flood

Not everyone can manage such heavy training, but rowing Olympian Debbie Flood offers her Olympic health tip quote; “Not everybody wants to do as much training as an Olympian but everyone is capable of getting fitter and achieving in sport!" Flood advises that there are a variety of ways to keep fit, such as joining clubs or the gym, doing exercises at home or doing recreational walks in the countryside.

Always set yourself a goal, no matter how big or small, to be your primary source of motivation. When things start to get tough, think back to that goal in order to push yourself forward. Another top Olympic health tip is to respect your body and get excellence out of yourself. According to Flood, sports and exercise is good for body, mind and spirit.

Jessica Ennis

World heptathlon championship and Olympic poster girl Jessica Ennis also gave her Olympic health tip. According to her, to be truly fit training must be progressive.

Doing the same training everyday will not help you achieve your goal. Therefore training must be regular, yet different. In order for it to become a habit, training must also be fun otherwise motivation will soon decrease. Whether your sport is on the field or in the pool, these Olympic health tips will get you right on track.







Penny Munroe is an avid writer in heath related news and tips. Articles include sourcing the best clinical job to summer fitness tips.

How do recreational drugs play a part in athletes’ downfall in the same way as performance enhancing drugs and how can harm reduction be achieved?

Constantly Striving For More

If you’re a professional sportsman or woman you live your life almost in a constant bubble. There is the constant pressure to perform at your best day in and day out. As well as the pressures of remaining top of your game when you’re “at work” so to speak, there are also the added pressures of living your life in the public eye. One can only imagine the mental strain applied when you’re giving interviews and have to give the corporate, conditioned answer that will give a great soundbite and look wonderful in print. Although he has never been linked with substance misuse, an athlete such as Tiger Woods would be a perfect example of this.

Breaking It All Down

If the man on the street has a bad day at work, he may go for a drink afterwards. He may even indulge in recreational drugs from time to time. In this respect, many athletes are no different, and can also fall into this trap. Where athletes differ however, is that most of the time the common man isn’t subjected to random drug testing and are therefore unlikely to be discovered to have taken the drug.

Thus the problem becomes two-fold. Not only is there the significant risk of the athlete becoming addicted to harmful substances, there is also the likelihood that sooner or later, they will get caught by a drugs test, labelled a drug user and be stigmatised for the rest of their career. In recent years the careers of footballers such as Adrian Mutu and Mark Bosnich never really recovered from testing positive for cocaine.

On a positive note however, other notable footballers, such as Tony Adams and Paul Merson, underwent harm reduction programs and were able to come out with a better outcome. Adams even opened his own clinic, “Sporting Chance”, to help other professional sportsmen and women cope with their addictions.

Sports Taking Positive Action

These examples aside there have been many examples of professional sportsmen and women from around the world who have ruined their careers and indeed their lives through drug use. Most sports now have harm reduction programs in place in order to identify those who are potentially misusing substances so help can be given at an early stage. This applies to both recreational as well as performance enhancing drugs. Even WWE, derided by many for being “fake”, has a wellness policy in place in order to protect its performers from the effects of drug use.

Whatever your opinion on what WWE does, they must be given huge credit for taking action following tragic events and deaths in the industry linked to substance misuse.

For helpful resources about harm reduction, visist Innovation with Substance.