Ask anyone to recount a story of their best sporting moment and they will talk about it being one of the easiest things they've ever done. Why? Because they were in The Zone.

Here is an interesting story that I believe highlights one reason many fail to reach The Zone, that euphoric state when a peak performance feels the easiest, most natural thing we can do.

On my drive to work I used to see an elderly gentleman walking his dog. He first caught my attention because in spite of his age (probably around eighty years old) he moved with a wonderful free-flowing action and always had a smile on his face. Day by day I observed his effortless style and we soon began to acknowledge one another with a polite wave. Here was a man in The Zone. He could enjoy being in the moment during his daily activity.

Several weeks later I noticed a change in his gait. In place of his usual stride was a contrived march accompanied by a fixed facial expression and stiffness throughout his body. Thinking he might be in pain, I stopped to ask if he needed any help. Once I got closer the reason for the change became obvious. It was not physical but one of attitude; today he was wearing a tracksuit. He informed me that his doctor had suggested he took up exercise to maintain fitness in his later years.

So instead of enjoying his morning walk he was now ‘working out’ to keep fit. It was apparent that his idea of exercise involved making a natural activity harder, to guarantee he would get some benefit from it. Yet the extra effort succeeded only in adding unnecessary tension to his frame and strain on the joints and perhaps in the long term changing his concept of what free movement feels like. In place of enjoying his morning stroll, whilst keeping fit in the process anyway, it had become a chore because it was now exercise. Was he still in The Zone?

Your biggest hurdle to reaching The Zone and experiencing a peak performance e is an invisible one. That's not because it is hidden from view; in fact, you can’t see it because you are too close to it. It’s right in front of your nose, or to be accurate, behind your nose. I believe the conventional attitude to training and physical activity, that is, it takes hard work and plenty of effort, can interfere with our body’s natural ability to perform at its capacity. I think of it as driving your car with one foot rammed on the accelerator and the other on the brake.

To increase our chances of getting into The Zone we need to try a little less and train a little more imaginatively and intelligently to appreciate how our body’s want to move and can move if we just let it. Perhaps this is what is happening when athletes use words such as effortless, flowing, simple and even easy to describe their moment in The Zone.