Have you ever felt like you’re on the brink of burnout? The corporate world has become like a battlefield with most people struggling with stress, anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue which in itself tells us something’s got to give.
Alexandra Laws, peak performance coach to elite athletes of the caliber of Rob Dyrdek among many others, is on a mission to educate corporate leaders about how to increase neural reserve so that they have energy left over after meeting your mental, physical and emotional demands of the day, event or competition.
Alex has a track record of keeping her athlete’s injury-free throughout their career which allowed them to achieve world championship status by implementing a few simple yet profoundly powerful peak performance strategies.
Alex’s point of difference is she coaches and trains leaders by working on the parasympathetic nervous system. As stressed-out busy people, your sympathetic nervous system becomes dominate – it’s like being stuck in a constant state of stress with the phantom lion chasing you all day long.
There is no lion!
So here are 7 things Alex says Leaders can learn from Elite Athletes
1. Sleep hygiene is critical
Most leaders do not wake up feeling refreshed and recovered, they go to bed late, toss and turn with so much on their minds and then think they can get through a workday on 5 hours sleep.
Athletes make it a habit of getting to bed early, every athlete I worked with simply knew that if they didn’t get a good night’s sleep they could not perform at their peak. Make sure you get adequate sleep and you can monitor your sleep with the Oura Ring. This self quantification device will show you where you need to pay attention to, to get a good night’s sleep. Alex suggests turning all wifi off before bed, using blue light filters on screens at night, a cool room, earplugs to block out noise and blackout curtains.
2. Hydration
Most of us are severely dehydrated. To be adequately hydrated you need 0.0333 times your weight in kilos for the liters to be drunk in a day. As little as being 1% dehydrated can shift cognitive function. So drink up and make sure its good quality water that is mineralized.
3. Breathe work
Science has now shown us what the yogi’s and monks have known for thousands of years. You can shift brain function with your breath. It’s the only bodily action that we can do consciously and unconsciously. There are so many types of breathing that can alter brain function. A few that Alex likes are Kundalini Yoga’s Breathe of Fire, Alternating Nostril breathe, Box breathing or 4,7,8 breathing.
4. Meditation- getting control of your mind
As Alex says control your mind so it doesn’t control you. Just like athletes training their physical bodies everyday so are they now training their minds and so should any corporate executive who deals with the pressures of today’s world. Alex’s favorite 3 min meditation is Kundalini yoga’s Habitual Thoughts meditation. A daily meditation practice will train you to be in control of your mind.
Rob Dyrdek: “Alex was essential in my journey to fully re-engineer my body. Her knowledge laid the foundation for my quest for optimal health and function.”
5. Laser focus on winning and what needs to be done.
There’s no fear about what could go wrong. Athletes stay focused on the task at hand to achieve the end result. Their productively is efficient for gaining the results needed and required for success. They are always looking for cutting edge techniques on human performance and how to improve themselves. Corporate leaders need to engage in this mindset like pro athletes so they can lead their teams efficiently.
6. Cold showers
An easy way to get some cold therapy into your system. Cold showers aid in flushing the lymphatic system out, ridding toxins, increasing blood flow, activating the Vegus nerve, reducing inflammation and the list goes on. Most athletes plunge into ice baths post workout of the game which is the next level. You can still benefit greatly from a morning cold shower….even in winter!
7. Epson salt baths
Epsom salts baths have been around for donkeys’ years and the benefits are still used by athletes for recovery. The skin is our biggest organ and an alternate delivery system to get magnesium into our bodies. Our soil is magnesium depleted and our stomachs have a tough time digesting decent amounts of magnesium, so Epsom salt baths are a great way to nurture the parasympathetic nervous system, relax your muscles and mind. Magnesium is responsible for over 300 actions in the body.
At the end of the day, the biggest thing elite athletes do differently is they do whatever it takes!
They have a very disciplined mindset on what they need to do mentally physically and emotionally to win.
Test your neural reserve tomorrow morning when you have a cold shower, how long can you handle? Alex says if you can last two minutes you’re doing well.
Alex works with corporate organizations all over the world to help them embed the learnings from elite athletes and create peak performance cultures, and viable corporate ecosystems.
You can contact Alex at [email protected]
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Alexandra Laws Bio
As a world-class peak performance coach, exercise kinesiologist and strength conditioning specialist Alexandra has over 20 years of experience coaching and training some of the best performers on the planet. Working with clients who are world title champions, world record holders, Wimbledon, and French Open Champions, and Olympic Games medalists have allowed Alexandra to unlock the
code to achieving and sustaining peak performance, on and off the field.
Alex now also translates this expertise to the demanding high-stakes corporate sector where she builds optimal performance in executives and their teams so they attain their corporate and personal goals.
A former professional Triathlete who represented Australia 4 times, competed in the Commonwealth Games and won 4 World Championship medals. Alexandra is passionate about the human body and its proper function who possesses the expertise to identify dysfunctional gaps within training and performance regimes.
Through her peak performance programs, she successfully delivers fast and effective results.