Wimbledon season tends to take me back to my early 90s childhood.

We’d run our garden-fence version of the tournament.

Agassi, Sampras, Becker, Edberg, Ivanisevic, Stich.

We each had our favourites – my pal’s older brother always got really into being John McEnroe! (You CANNOT be serious!)

If you’ve ever played tennis against a better player, you may have noticed two things:

1. They’re more pro-active than reactive.That is, they quickly take charge. They put themselves in the positions they want to be in. And they send you scampering all over the court while doing minimal work themselves.
2. They make fewer unforced errors.It’s not so much that they keep playing amazing shots. It’s that they just keep landing the ball in the court. They do the basics really well while you keep finding the net!

 

These two things aren’t just good for tennis, though.

They’re good for many aspects of life, including your health and fitness.

Those who stay on track with their fitness and nutrition tend to be more pro-active than reactive. And they tend to do the basics well.

 

Consider nutrition: you know yourself that it’s easier to stay on track when you’ve done the food shop and have a rough plan what you’ll eat and when. Like in tennis, being well positioned means you can be more calm.

Eating haphazardly – being unprepared then grabbing whatever is available – is like being sent chasing the ball all over the court. Your diet can become a mess pretty quickly. Especially if you’re eating in response to a hunger emergency!

It’s the same with exercise. The pro-active person schedules it in. They take charge. And they put themselves in the right position to succeed.

 

As for doing the basics well…

Over and over again people get drawn into looking for that special something – fasting, keto, supplements or whatever this week’s trend is (ice baths?).

When really, they’d be better off simply aiming to be a bit more organised.

Chances are, you already know a few ways you could improve your diet. And chances are, you already know how to do some simple exercise.

You don’t need to overcomplicate things by trying sliced backhands and fancy drop shots.

You just need to be organised enough to practice the basics well.