Examples of healthy lifestyle choices are so plentiful online that it can often feel like there are millions of them, especially when a new year rolls around, and people are on the lookout for the fresh new year’s resolution they will inevitably fail to adhere to. Failure to follow through on resolutions usually happens due to the fact that many touted lifestyle changes are completely unrealistic. These often involve outlandish athletic feats, physiques, or routines, many of which even the pro athletes whose names appear in tipsters’ columns would find hard to realize. That said, a healthier way to go about turning one’s life around is to pick and choose the tips and suggestions that suit you as an individual, rather than sticking to a regimented plan that will drive you insane inside the first few weeks of the year. Sports stars are great sources of inspiration for many people and a great deal of their habits and routines can be harnessed, even if you never plan to have your name featured in the sports betting odds or the columns of online betting offers. Here are just some of the great takeaways that people can glean from the lives of pro horse racing jockeys.
Filling weekends with healthy competition and exercise are just two of the main tenets of being a pro jockey, which the average person can take into their weekly and monthly routine
Consistent Diet is Key to Weight Control
One of the toughest things for any jockey to do is to maintain an ideal racing weight because if they go over the stipulated weight limit then they lose their seat on a horse and potentially their good standing among the sport’s top trainers and owners. This means that while they do core strength work, they tend not to try and bulk up too much, preferring to ride, run, cycle and swim to maintain general strength and cardio.
Diet is obviously also a huge consideration with jockeys doing everything possible to cut fat and complex carbs from their diet.
Doing What You Love is the Best Form of Exercise for Mental Wellbeing
It is often said that if you manage to find a job in which you get to do something you love, then you will never work a day in your life. It is undoubtedly the case that most jockeys feel this way, with only broken bones and other injuries sometimes souring careers.
While it is not always easy to know what job you would love to do or how to get to your dream role, people should always do everything in their power to work towards such fantasies, because wallowing in the same role and counting down the days to the next paycheck is no way to live life.
Jockeys must be super fit both mentally and physically to perform at a consistently high level
Travel is the Spice of Life
There was a time when top jockeys rarely ventured out of their native country, but all that has changed in recent years, as people like Frankie Dettori are flown at great expense to races all over the globe, because rich horse owners trust his judgement entirely when it comes to getting the best out of a well-tuned thoroughbred beast.
This feeling of getting on the open road at weekends is important for everyone, because staying close to your place of work during your off time is a sure-fire way to go a little crazy.
Early Birds Catch the Worm
Much of the best training that a jockey does with their horse is at the crack of dawn, when their steeds are less likely to overheat, air pollution is low, and the animals have full tanks of energy to burn out on the training courses nearby their stables. This always means a particularly early start for jockeys, who need to be in at the crack of dawn, to help prepare their horse before any riding can be done.
This habit of rising early is one of the easiest lifestyle changes that someone can make, suddenly finding that they have an extra couple of hours to themselves each day, while the rest of the world hits the snooze button.
