Athletes often come to me with a clear desire to improve their results. Most of them are highly motivated, physically prepared, and accustomed to intense training. Despite this, I notice something common among many of them—their movements are rigid, their breathing is inefficient, shallow, and fast, and their fatigue is constant, even chronic, I might say. These are common signs I observe in athletes who constantly push to exceed their limits but often neglect the basic needs of their body and mind.
Over the years, I’ve learned that this is a common issue among athletes striving for better results, but in doing so, they often overlook the key physiological and psychological mechanisms necessary for long-term success. As a former professional athlete, I understand this very well, as I myself faced similar challenges.
Many athletes are incredibly stubborn, which often helps them achieve their goals, but it also becomes an obstacle when it comes to understanding and listening to their own bodies. The athletes I work with often "keep banging their head against the wall." Their desire for success is so strong that they are willing to ignore and suppress the body’s signals calling for rest and relaxation.
However, rigid movement and chronic tension aren’t always a result of physical fatigue or overexertion. They are often the result of unconscious behavioral patterns and repressed emotions. Athletes, like all people, experience stress, pressure, and emotional challenges throughout their lives, which they often don’t process properly. Instead, they suppress these emotions and push them deep into the body, leading to muscle tension and impaired ability to move freely.
Through the AEQ method, which is based on conscious control of movement and breathing, I help athletes recognize these tensions. It often happens that when athletes slow down and begin to move more consciously, they discover that certain muscle tensions are linked to unresolved emotional experiences. This leads them to a deeper awareness of their body and allows them to release tensions they weren’t even consciously aware of. In doing so, not only is physical tension released, but emotional tension as well, leading to a holistic improvement in their well-being.
Athlete mindset
Many athletes I work with have an ingrained mindset that hardness and relentlessness in training are the only true paths to success. This thinking is often the result of the belief that hard work is the only way to achieve results and that pain is part of the process. This mindset is then reflected in their movements—they move rigidly, tensely, and without natural relaxation.
However, this belief is incorrect. When athletes slow down their movements and focus on conscious movement, they start to notice that their rigidity in movement reflects their rigidity in thinking. They learn that hard work isn’t always necessary to make progress, but that awareness and relaxation are often what allow them to overcome their limits. Such a shift in mindset leads to more relaxed and efficient movement and better performance in the long run.
Breathing
Most athletes who come to me breathe shallowly and quickly, which is a result of chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system, keeping the body in a state of fight or flight. This shallow breathing reduces the body’s ability to efficiently oxygenate tissues, leading to quicker fatigue and decreased performance.
With the AEQ method, I help athletes recognize how important conscious and deep breathing is. By using breathing protocols and slower breathing, they increase their tolerance to carbon dioxide (CO₂), which allows for better oxygen utilization in the body. When athletes begin to breathe more consciously, they notice they have more energy, tire less quickly, and can control their body more effectively during exertion. Additionally, proper breathing helps them release emotional tension, as breathing is closely tied to our emotional state.
Recovery
One of the biggest challenges athletes face is proper recovery. Many of them are used to constantly working at the edge of their abilities, neglecting how important it is for the body and mind to get time to recover. As a former elite athlete, I also believed for a long time that more training equaled better results. However, over time, I realized that recovery is crucial for long-term success.
I teach athletes how to consciously relax their body and mind and how to speed up recovery. This doesn’t just mean resting, but also being aware of their body, breathing properly, relaxing muscles, and paying attention to nutrition, sleep, and relationships. When athletes start to take more conscious care of their recovery, they notice that they recover faster after intense training, feel less fatigued, and are better prepared for future challenges.
The AEQ method helps athletes transition from constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic state (rest and recovery). This is extremely important because overactivation of the sympathetic system leads to exhaustion, decreased efficiency, and a higher likelihood of injury.
By learning conscious breathing and muscle relaxation, athletes reduce unnecessary tension in the body, enabling more efficient movement and faster recovery. When they learn to switch between high activity and relaxation, their performance improves over the long term, and the risk of burnout decreases.
Emotional balance and coping with stress
Athletes are often under a lot of pressure, both from the expectations of others and from their own high standards. Many of them are emotionally drained, which manifests as tension in the body and constant fatigue. The AEQ method helps them not only physically but also emotionally relax. Through conscious movement and breathing, they discover where they are holding emotional tension in their body and learn how to release it.
Working with athletes has repeatedly shown me that the path to better results doesn’t always lead through more intense training or greater efforts. Often, it’s the opposite—the path requires slowing down, listening to the body, and consciously working on improving movement, breathing, and recovery.
The path to long-term success isn’t simple and requires a shift in mindset. But those who are willing to embrace this path find that more conscious movement, breathing, attention to nutrition, relationships, and recovery lead to better results, fewer injuries, and greater satisfaction in both sports and life.
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