Steve Magness is a performance coach, author and elite athlete with a very interesting past in elite sport that he has been very open about and is how I think I came to read of him initially.
He posts an excellent mix of training and preparation content with a different twist then most other coaches', but it can assist you greatly in becoming an extremely well-rounded coach - which you need to be - and something I am still working towards.
TENNIS GRUNTING
It’s not to hit the ball harder but to fool the opposition as they use the sound of the ball to predict how far the ball will travel and a loud grunt makes them think it will travel further
GOAL SETTING
Process has the greatest effect on performance...Performance goals have at worse, a moderate effect on performance results...Outcome goals have a negatable effect on performance outcomes
PARENTS
At games do not provide technical/tactical advice, only comment on effort/attitude and not performance, respect the sports etiquette and match non-verbal behaviours with supportive comments
BOYS v GIRLS
In running events there’s a consistent small gap from 7 – 12yrs of 4% or less but at 13yrs that gap jumps to 6% and keeps widening until 18yrs where it can reach 12%
LOSING STREAKS
Winning changes your biology giving you an unfair edge...Winners become more aggressive and losers become more timid and then winers keep winning and the losers keep losing...Winners get a surge in Testosterone (linked to aggression/risk taking) while losers testosterone plummets and cortisol increases, priming you for future encounters...It’s not just hormones, it’s also the brain where the activation of an area called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex that transforms you into a winner through not just aggression, but also grit/perseverance...The DMPFC stores memories of past wins/losses and manipulating this memory can change your place in the dominance hierarchy even after the manipulation stops...Winning rewires the brain for future success...Win and you get a testosterone boost which increases your chances of winning next time...Even perceived wins can give you the testosterone boost showing it’s the belief that we won that influences our biology...Competition is about status and winners are more likely to rate themselves as desirable mates which highlights how winning can influence our social standing and even our romantic prospects...Dual hormone hypothesis suggests that high testosterone needs low cortisol to have the desired effect so if stress is too high then a testosterone boost won’t translate to increased performance...If stuck in a losing streak, oxytocins after losing works against stress hormones, soothing distress and activating our calm/connect system and allows for confidence to emerge...In athletes, higher oxytocins levels were related to self-confidence/lower anxiety...Having oxytocins before being ostracised during a game increases your desire to play again...How we handle winning/losing is connected where if we tantrum/default to avoidance after losing then we’ll settle into a protective state where we avoid challenging competition after a win...If we are balanced in losing then we’ll be balanced in winning
VIDEO GAMES
Is the 1 place where adults can’t interfere/control/critique...It's the 1 place kids can find autonomy/connection...That used to be sports until adults ruined it...Outside play has gone from 80% to 27% over the last 2 – 3 generations...An increase in safetyism and total control has killed unstructured play...We’ve replaced pick-up games with leagues, park footy with Auskick/junior footy all driven by adults, ego’s and money...Schools continually limit anything deemed unproductive such as recess, PE and music...A primary cause of the rise of mental disorders in youth is a decline in the opportunities for them to play, roam and engage in activities not run by adults...Play frees us up, helps us to learn who we are in an environment where we can fail/screw up...Helps us to develop intrinsically driven interests, learn about rules/problem solving, regulate emotions, navigate relationships/make friends and experience joy...Play is something done for its own sake, its involuntary/pleasurable, offers a sense of engagement and takes you out of time with the act being more important than the outcome...Even adults need unstructured play...We’ve shifted from playing sports to watching them
FLOW
Practice, practice and practice then forget all that and just wail...Jazz musicians/freestyle rappers train their brains to quiet the inner critic and turn up self-expression when they perform...When improving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inner critic that evaluates/monitors/2nd guesses, goes quite while the med prefrontal cortex (creativity/self-expression) lights up...When most of us try to improvise the brain does the opposite with the inner critic dominating and we overthink/hesitate/freeze and thinking gets in the way of doing...Experts have trained enough to move from reactive to reflexive...They’re not improvising from nothing as they’re drilled in scales, rhythms and progressions where practice loads the system and letting go unlocks it...This is why false bravado backfires as you can’t just believe your way into flow if the foundation isn’t there and the brain knows...Confidence is about having enough evidence in your body/mind that you can release control
EGO
Quitting isn’t always laziness/weakness – it’s a sophisticated form of protection…If we don’t try then our ego is still intact when we fail…It feels safer to say I didn’t try or they got lucky then to discover our best wasn’t enough…It protects our ego from coming face to face with our own inferiority…runners admitted looking for a hole step in to get injured for an out without damaging their identity as a runner…This freak out/urge usually happens when uncertainty is at its peak – when effort is high but the outcome is still unknown…Uncertainty leads to caution and defaults to protection rather than risk and running through cost-benefit scenarios…The 1st step to overcoming this is realising that the urge isn’t a sign of weakness but your brain trying to protect you…Give yourself permission to see what’s possible and potentially fall short, shifting away from wining/losing to exploring your limits…The protective urge is a malleable calculation your brain runs based on past evidence and to change it you must expose yourself to small manageable risks where the outcome is uncertain and by surviving these micro-failures without your ego crumbling, you teach your brain that the threat isn’t actually fatal and you slowly recalibrate your internal governor to value the effort over the protection of the self…You decide what matters more – maintaining the illusion of perfection or discovering your actual potential
ENDURANCE ATHLETES
Train in all zones…1 specific athlete recorded 52% of their training time at 6:10min/km pace or slower (2.7 meters per seconds)…28% at 530 – 610mins (3.03ms)…11% at 450 – 530mions (3.45ms)…8% at 425 – 450mins (3.77ms)…1% at 425 – 400mions (4.17ms)….1% at faster than 4 pace….2% hills...I suspect you're doing the opposite
EASY AEROBIC FITNESS
Lots of easy runs…Short/fast but controlled x 1/week (8 x 1min on/off or 12 x 30secs on/60secs off at 5k pace to 1.6km pace…Long/tempo x 1/week (4 x 5mins, 2 x 10mins, 6 x 3mins at half marathon to 10k pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment