If You Really Want to Win, Relax

Rick DeMont, associate  head coach for men’s swimming at the University of Arizona and a former Olympian, calls relaxation “the paradox of athletics. “Tension is slow,” he tells the New York Times fitness writer Gina Kolata.  “Tension is inefficient. You need to be relaxed.”
The good news, says DeMont, is that athletes can learn to relax, but only if they don’t  try too hard. What to do?  Kolata kindly includes a few tips that trainers use to teach athletes to relax. Among them: relax your eyes, relax your jaw, and breathe with your stomach.
For more, read this in the New York Times.