MY PERSONAL BEST

You’re an All-Star! Let me tell you why you don’t need a multimillion-dollar contract or your own brand of shoes to get the most out of sports.

By Marta Montenegro, Founder/Publisher/Editor-In-Chief; Photography by Dania Graibe

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Chad Pennington, Misty May-Treanor, Lance Armstrong… What do these names have in common? And what do we have in common with them?

The former question is quite easy: They’re all professional athletes. But what about the latter? Well, while we may not have Lance’s VO2max, Misty’s spiking power or Chad’s precision delivery of the ball to his receiver on deep routes, we can always take maximum advantage of our own unique skill set simply by paying close attention to their discipline, courage, hard work, perseverance, dedication, resilience, passion, guts… the way they learn from failure and celebrate their success. Athletes are constantly teaching all of us by example, in the sense that they help us believe in ourselves and get the best from our effort.
 
Every day I get up knowing I have to compete with myself. I have to beat every single mark that I set the previous day. I may not be an athlete like them, but over the years I’ve come to understand what drives them, and I do my best to act like one. In my heart, at least, I feel like one. That’s why I was moved to write a few lines to our contributor Alonzo Mourning as soon as he announced his retirement: “The basketball player can retire today, but the heart of an athlete never does.” You just need to hang around these competitive personalities for a few minutes to realize how true that simple statement can be.

So, it doesn’t matter if you have put away the basketball you used to bounce around during your school days, or if you have never set foot on the field in a competitive environment. At SOBeFiT, we know how much you strive to live a healthier life. In this issue we have gathered everything you need to know about the drive, mentality and benefits you can reap by stepping into the mind of a sports star.

That’s why we’re highlighting our top 12 contenders for our Fittest Person of the Year Contest. Out of nearly 500 participants, these semi-finalists embody what the contest is about—a commitment to fitness, health, nutrition and sports—and they set an example for everyone, including me! The winners must be people that I can admire, and the top 12 certainly have earned my respect.

With this issue, you will also notice we’re growing in every sense: We now have a larger audience that is expanding outside our Florida home base and into New York City. In addition, we have more content-filled pages and a new section: The Montenegro Method. This is where I show you how simple changes to common exercises will allow you to get the most out of your workout so you can do better than your best. This is the way I have continuously trained for 17 years and what I have recommended to my clients in the past, with notable results.

But why am I telling you this? Check out all our content for yourself—and let our athletes and coaches lead the way!

THE SPORTS MOMENT THAT MOVED ME THE MOST WAS
Few can compare to what Tanzanian runner John Stephen Akhwari achieved during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City by coming in last in the marathon, on a bloodied and bandaged leg, to a practically empty stadium that had awarded the last medals an hour and a half before. He could have dropped out a dozen times, but his courage never wavered, and his words still bring tears to my eyes: “You don’t understand. My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race. They sent me to finish it.”

Get to know more of Marta’s perspective on sports in the July/August issue of SOBeFiT Magazine.

Catch the latest episodes of the Montenegro Method on Plum TV.

 

 

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