How Important is it to Have Good Eyesight When Training?

When it comes to sports performance, eyesight is a key element that is often overlooked. Many people focus on the weights and exercises during their training. However, good eyesight is important for a number of reasons when training.

Visual Contrast

When training, especially for sports, it’s important to be able to discern objects from their background. Over time, eyesight can be decreased to the point where it becomes difficult to make out items that are farther away. Items such as baseballs, footballs, and even soccer balls that blend into the background can slow down a player’s reaction time. Having an adequate level of visual contrast will ensure that you can pick out these items from far away.

Quick Reaction Times

When training, your reaction time is everything. Whether it’s catching a ball instead of dropping it or moving out of the way of a defender, you need to react quickly to be successful. When you have dry eyes when training, it can reduce your ability to see the ball or defender until it’s too late to properly react. It’s best to undergo a dry eye treatment  to ensure that dry eyes don’t impair your training experience.

Enhance Coordination

When it comes to sports performance, coordination is a big factor that makes it successful. From lining up the bat to hit the ball to catching a throw, you need to be able to coordinate your vision with the movements of your body. Most studies have shown that poor sports performance isn’t usually in the movement itself. Rather, it’s in the proper movement being performed at the wrong time or place. When you have good vision, you can coordinate your movements with the right accuracy regarding time and place.

Visual Exercises Are Just As Important As Other Training

Sports optometrists are working with all levels of athletes throughout various types of sports to enhance players’ vision. Contrary to what you may think, your eyesight is like a muscle. When exercised correctly, it can enhance your ability to perform on the field. It all starts with a sports vision examination to determine a player’s weaknesses. Then, the sports optometrist will address those areas of weakness with more exercises to normalize the functioning areas of the eye to enhance the player’s performance.

Having good eyesight is essential to your sports performance and your training. When you can train with good eyesight, you can enhance your ability to perform on the field. However, if you train with poor eyesight, you will be engraining bad performance into your brain.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan