5 Habits of

Elite Athletes
5 HABITS OF ELITE ATHLETES
Table of Contents
Lifestyle 03

Mental 05

Physical 06

Goals 07

The ‘Right’ Coach 08

Join The Pack 10

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LIFESTYLE
Everything outside of the gym must support what you are doing in the gym. This
means that your relationships, sleep, extracurriculars, nutrition, and recovery
must support and align with your end goals and priorities.

Why? Training like an athlete and recovering like an amateur will set you up for
failure long term. Only a finite number of results come from your training in the
gym. While much of your physical progress comes from aligning your entire life
to that competitive goal. At Big Dawgs we believe that several things should
happen in your daily life in order to enhance your training session.

We call them the Athlete Lifestyle Guidelines.

Your lifestyle can positively or negatively impact your performance and your
results. It’s the raw dedication to your goals inside and out of the gym that will
bring the greatest success.

BD COACHING TIP
Not every athlete needs the same nutrition,
supplements, or specific recovery protocol,
so having this lifestyle piece individualized
to you is a necessity. so having this lifestyle
piece individualized to you is a necessity.

When you are a part of The Pack your

coach will help you effectively put each
Athlete Lifestyle Guideline into place in a
way that is personalized to you and your
goals.

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ATHLETE LIFESTYLE GUIDELINES
Have a consistent daily rhythm; waking, sleeping, training, and
eating at the same times everyday. Ideally, aligning your daily
rhythm with the sun and the moon.

Sleep in a dark, cool room for a minimum of 8.5

uninterrupted hours per night.

Upon waking, drink 16 fl. oz. of room temperature water with

lemon and sea salt. And drink 60% of bodyweight in fl. oz. of
water per day (can fluctuate based on activity
and environment).

Prepare your system for digestion by taking 5 deep breaths

prior to eating and chew your food 40x per bite. What you eat
is about a 50 hour investment.

Get your blood flowing, preferably outside in the sun without

any electronics to allow your body to get into a
parasympathetic state (necessary for recovery).

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MENTAL
Having the mentality for success is very important. Personal belief is the most
potent and powerful energy source a competitive athlete can draw from. Without
a belief that you will reach your goals, self-doubt may hamper your pursuit.

The best athletes think less and do more. They are able to enter a state of low
perception, which allows them to let their body work in its natural state. This
“state” may come naturally to some, but to others it’s a habit that may take years
to cultivate with the help of a professional coach.

Top tier athletes recognize that failure is inevitable as they pursue their goals.
Rather than be unnerved at the concept of failure and loss, these concepts drive
the true athlete to even greater accomplishments. Failure helps the athlete focus
their training around their weakness to allow them to rebound stronger.

Elite Athletes also have a different perception of pain and suffering than your
average gym goer. This doesn’t mean that they feel pain differently, they’ve mere-
ly trained with a different view of pain during training or competition. This allows
them to go deeper into painful training scenarios without batting an eye.

BD COACHING TIP
Your coach will help you to identify
mental weakness and give you tools and
strategies to overcome them, whether
that’s inside the gym or not.

Our mindset outside of the gym can

significantly impact our mindset inside the
gym.

When you join The Pack, you will have

monthly consultations 1:1 with your Big
Dawgs Coach, they will help you develop
your mental game.

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PHYSICAL
It goes without saying that developing physical skills and abilities are crucial to
being a competitive athlete.

What is most often overlooked is the development of a strong and resilient

aerobic system. Strength is nice, but a sturdy aerobic system allows athletes to
attack more mixed modal (“WOD”) training, more weight training, and still
recover quickly.

CrossFit competitions are as much about recovery as they are about how much
weight you can toss around. Pacing is key when it comes to any athletic
competition. You need to know when to push the envelope and when to
conserve your energy.

Look at the best in CrossFit; they’ve gotten where they are because they have
learned how to pace themselves through a CrossFit competition. They don’t burn
themselves out in the first workout.

BD COACHING TIP
Being honest and recording your daily
training metrics will help you and your
coach identify and attack areas of your
fitness that can be improved. Using a
consistent system for tracking your
training is imperative to your success as an
athlete.

When you join The Pack, you and your

coach will communicate through the
TrueCoach app. This is where you will
receive your daily training, recording
results and key metrics, and communicate
directly with your coach.

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GOALS
Are you clear on your goals and outcomes? The ability to clearly define what
success means to you will allow you to fully live up to it and fight for that
success. It also helps you recognize your own potential through your progress
towards success.

It also helps you recognize your own potential through your progress towards
achievement.If you can’t define what “success” means to you, you will never
reach it. Top tier athletes realize that pursuing their competitive ambitions is
about tackling a series of ascending goals.

There is no substitute for the basics and elite fitness is a process that requires
time and commitment to the journey. This recognition of a “tiered” approach to
reaching your goals also gives you awareness of where you sit on the fitness
continuum and help determine where your weakness lie and how to progress.

BD COACHING TIP
Ask yourself what your goal is, then ask
why again and again until the answer is
backed by solid reasoning. Your goals
need to have a strong foundation, not
just to ‘look good naked’ or to ‘get more
likes’.

Your Bid Dawgs Coach will help you

uncover your ‘why’ and build a plan
that keeps you rooted in your core
purpose.

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THE ‘RIGHT’ COACH
The importance of a having a professional coach can not be overstated. You
need a coach who has experience in the area you are pursuing. Using a running
coach to help you get to an Olympic lifting competition won’t work.

You also need a coach whose personality meshes with your own. Your coach
needs to relate to you and understand your personality type in order for the
relationship to work effectively. A great coach is someone who is surrounded by
a great team or plugged into their niche community that furthers their own exper-
tise and growth.

Most importantly, an athlete and coach must have a trusting relationship.

Athletes should always feel comfortable opening up to and speaking with their
coach about personal issues as well as their thoughts on the programming. With-
out trust, there will be little communication. Without communication, there will be
no effective programming or athletic development.

Big Dawgs Coaches are the next generation of coaching. All of our coaches were
hand picked by James “OPT” FitzGerald, himself. They have continuing educa-
tion meetings weekly with James and other experts in the field. We know what it
takes to build champions and prepare them for their biggest moments of compe-
tition.

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BIG DAWGS COACHING TIP
Like in any good relationship, communication is key. Having a
coach that you can be honest with will be the most important
thing to your success as an athlete.

Therefore, it is important for you to do your research to find a

coach that is right for you.

Before you join The Pack you will have an initial consultation
with your Big Dawgs Coach to ensure you are aligned and are
an ideal pairing.

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JOIN THE PACK
STEP 1 : INTRODUCTORY CALL
Once you book your call with Big Dawgs, you will talk to a
coaching advisor who will go over basic information regarding
your goals as an athlete.

You will have an opportunity to ask questions about Big

Dawgs and our training philosophies to understand how we
can best work together. Based on this conversation, you will
be matched with the Big Dawgs Coach our advisor believes
you will work best with based on your individual needs and
our specific coaches strengths.

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STEP 2 : INTIAL CONSULTATION
The next step in becoming part of The Pack is having your
first consult with your new coach.

This is a 60 minute video call where you will go over your

training history, goals, and lifestyle in depth so that your
coach can start writing out an individualized prescription for
you including lifestyle, nutrition and training protocols.

BOOK A CALL
We believe you are Bred for Victory.

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STEP 3 : BECOME PART OF THE PACK
Once you have your initial consult, your coach will program
out assessment and testing pieces to begin collecting data on
your physical abilities.

All Big Dawgs athletes go through tests that we believe

efficiently expose strengths and weakness in training. This
allows your coach to write the best training prescription for
your abilities and goals.

This is where the fun starts! Over the next year(s) you will
have various training cycles and lifestyle pieces that will allow
you to reach your full potential and reach your goals.

Throughout your time as a Big Dawgs athlete, you will receive

monthly consults so that you are in constant communication
with coach, which will allow you to stay on course and
successfully reach your goals.

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JOIN THE PACK
Are you ready to reach your full potential as an athlete?
Book a call and experience the difference of individualized
programming with Big Dawgs.

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