Fitness At 40

In this “Fitness At 40” article I discuss my struggles with accepting that fitness is a crucial part of a prolonged, healthy life. Thank you, dad, for introducing me to the game of tennis at the age of 5. His reasoning behind the introduction was simply to build self-esteem, resilience, and a fighting spirit for life. Oh and of course to stay fit and healthy. All these benefits helped me immensely up until today. I began to understand from age 10, when I was starting to compete in tournaments, how important the fitness aspect to tennis was.
Being faster, having better footwork than your opponent and being conditioned well is particularly important. Being conditioned well means being able to fight through a 2-to-3-hour match without any physical issues. And doing this for 4 to 5 matches in a single tournament.
“ Word to the wise, train hard and maximize your performance whenever you can. Your reasoning behind staying fit might change, that doesn’t mean your performance should have to suffer. And develop the mindset that fitness is a life’s mission.”
OLIVER PETRI
Why regular exercise is so important, a list of great home workouts – Check Them Out Here!
I understood early on that the results were majorly influenced by this physical aspect and it became a passion of mine to stay fit for this reason. I loved pushups, sit-ups, sprints, running and training hard for hours daily on and off the court and my results in tournaments reflected this.
It was a simple equation in my head, I train hard, I will do well in tournaments and climb the rankings, respectively.
The Turning Point
Now to the essence of this “Fitness at 40” article. The turning point came during the end of my 20’s, beginning 30’s after suffering shoulder issues during my travels to Mexico to play some tournaments and transitioning to more coaching after that. With later life impacting my tennis career…
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