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Don’t be late to the present. Learn to live and train in real time.

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When we’re stuck inside our heads, our experience of the world is two-tenths of a second behind the present moment. In practically any situation, social or physical, that’s a serious disadvantage. In every way that matters, two-tenths of a second is an eternity.

This is why a lot of people stress the importance of “living in the moment.” But I don’t like that phrase. It carries too many connotations of spirituality and abstraction that are too vague and esoteric to be of much help to many people.

Think about it: what is living in the moment? How can we characterize it, emotionally and cognitively? What are the mental circumstances of living in the moment: when does it “start” and “stop”?

Continue reading Don’t be late to the present. Learn to live and train in real time. →

Biomechanic Issues

Running form of elite female runners—Analyzed!

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I’m posting about a great video I found on YouTube, which analyzes the most important gait components of elite female marathoners. The author of the video analyzes the things that make or break someone’s stride, race, or body.

Here’s the link.

Watch it; it’s well worth your while!

Key points:

  • Runners need muscle resilience in order to maintain tension in the tendons.
  • The lower the amount of force produced by muscle contraction, and the more it is produced by passive tendon release, the more powerful the runner will be.
  • Certain types of gait (gliders vs. gazelles) will aid in efficiency, and boost speed.
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The lay athlete, brands, and the dilemma of ornamentation.

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Whenever I cross a runner who’s decked out in brand names, their sunday trip to REI or Sports Authority billboarded on their bodies, I worry for their knees.

Brands have become a way of differentiating ourselves socially—of carving our identity as separate from the person next to us, and yet displaying that we share (at least) one common belief: consumerism. Continue reading The lay athlete, brands, and the dilemma of ornamentation. →

Defining our Terms, Linguistic Traps, Principles of Training

Pain is NOT weakness leaving the body.

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At one point or another, we’ve all been given those well-intentioned pieces of advice: push through it. Pain is inevitable. Not really, no. Pain is the body’s way of telling our conscious faculty—our “executive control”—that something is wrong. The sensation of pain happens so that we are aware of what is making us stop, so that we can consciously pick activities that won’t damage whatever is hurting.

Instead, we tune out the pain. We ignore what’s going on—and by doing so we become incapable of changing the conditions that led to pain in the first place. And the culprit is that well-intentioned advice: pain is weakness leaving the body.

Continue reading Pain is NOT weakness leaving the body. →

Biomechanic Issues, Principles of Training

Answering a common question: I want to run, but I keep getting injured. Where do I begin?

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Nothing can show you the way to go better than an expert in the body’s biomechanics: a kinesiologist. But a lot of people think just like me: we’re too proud or too determined to let someone else micromanage our athletic development. We want to do it ourselves.

To do that, we had better start by understanding the principles that pertain to any dynamic system—including the human body. These are simpler than you may think. Consider the advice given to people that are trying to improve their social and personal relationships: the first step is to develop the channels of communication between parties. All future progress depends on that.

Continue reading Answering a common question: I want to run, but I keep getting injured. Where do I begin? →

Thinking in Systems, Training Ideas

Wearable tech stops us from listening to our bodies. That’s a problem.

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We seem to have an ingrained cultural notion that technology solves everything. Got a problem? Throw some tech at it. Is that problem still there—or did it get worse? That’s okay. Some more tech should do the trick. This is what the wearable tech corporations like FitBit have been telling us. Wear a wristband that tracks the amount of steps you’ve taken, or the calories you’ve consumed, and that’ll make you fitter. Which launches us into a serious dilemma: we begin to think that we have control of our fitness like we have control of our thermostat.

Just change the little number and the temperature will change. The little number says how fit we are. But the body is a complex system, and as such, it is hostile to our attempts at simplification. If we try to “describe” fitness in such a simplistic way, we will find again and again that we are becoming overtrained and injured. As Albert Einstein said:

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”

That is exactly the claim that wearable tech purports to let us make: that we “know” how fit we are because the little digital monitor says so. We can say “this is our fitness”—a claim about knowledge (or even worse “this is fitness”—a claim about truth). And our bodies, and our fitness, will be shipwrecked accordingly. The gods will be laughing at our disdain of the fact that the body is a dynamic system.

Continue reading Wearable tech stops us from listening to our bodies. That’s a problem. →

Biological, psychological, and social systems affect our development of speed, power and endurance. Let's discuss them candidly.