Survival of the Fittest

Survival Challenge 2: Negative Chin-Up

2012-01-30T04:05:00Z

This week's challenge: Flexed arm hang into negative chin-up. Roger Lawson came up with this one, so thank him for the burn your biceps are gonna experience.

How to: The clock starts as soon as you hop to the top of a chin-up (or pull-up) position; hold that position as long as you can, then lower your body as slowly as you can. The clock stops when your arms are fully straight.

Finer points:

Once you move downward from the flexed-arm position with your chin over the bar, you cannot move back upward. This is a negative, eccentric contraction; we ain't playin' concentric here.
You can place your hands in pull-up or chin-up position, but I pity the fool who chooses pull-up position.

Check out this video for a demonstration.

For the full schedule of challenges, click here.

UPDATE: When you post your video in the comments, please post your TIME by the link!

Survival of the Fittest Weekly Challenge Schedule

2012-01-30T01:21:20Z

Here's the Dill: A couple weeks ago, fitness blogger and self-proclaimed "bro trainer" JC Deen challenged me via Twitter to a front-squat duel with a barbell loaded to the equivalent of our respective body weights. This is exactly the sort of thing I can't resist, so it was on. Roger Lawson and David Dellanave, also up for a challenge, joined the fun. We talked about our experiences on social media and posted videos of our results, and it grew from there. Strength coaches and fitness enthusiasts from all over took video of their own max-reps sets and posted them at my fitness page, Survival of the Fittest.

It was so fun we've decided to make it a weekly thing, and invite everybody. Wanna play?

The Rules:
1. If you want your video to be included in the weekly write-up, post it in the comments section of the appropriate challenge post at Survival of the Fittest the blog by Wednesday night Pacific Time. I'll post the details of that week's challenge every Monday; that means you have two days to slap your link up there.

Also:
-Put "Survival Challenge" in the video's title.
-Tag it with "Survival Challenge."
-If you use Twitter, use the hashtag #SurvivalChallenge

2. Don't be a jerk about other contestants' exercise form. This isn't an "anything goes" situation, but understand that people have different lifting styles, and the definition of "perfect form" isn't universal. That said, don't do anything dumb in the name of competition. If you aren't able to safely lift the weight ratios involved in that week's challenge, sit it out.

3. Or, if you're not one for sitting things out, scale it by using less weight! I'll still post your results in the weekly write-up even if you're not in the running to be crowned that week's winner. We're all about inclusion around here, anyone willing to post a video can play.

The Prize: Bragging rights and enjoyment. That's it. This is about having fun and finding out what you're capable of. It's not about proving who's the baddest a$$ of them all. (OK, it might be just a little bit about that, but it's mostly about having fun.)

Survival of the Fittest Challenge Schedule
Week of 1/23: Max reps of front squat with your body weight on the bar: Check! Already done; thank you to all who participated! (Of course, if you want to compete retroactively, feel free to post your video at the Survival of the Fittest Facebook page just for fun.)

Week of 1/30: Chin-up negative for time

Week of 2/6: Max reps of back squat with your body weight on the bar

Week of 2/13: Max reps of chin-ups

Week of 2/20: Deadlift 1.5 body weight for max reps

Week of 2/27: Bench press: body weight on bar

Week of 3/5: Barbell push press (1/2 body weight)

Week of 3/12: Swings: Men's weight 32 kg; women's weight 24 kg

Week of 3/19: Strict barbell curls (must hold a sheet of paper between your head and the wall and also your butt and a wall)

Beyond that: TBD

[photo credit: www.menshealth.com]

"Change The Way You Look at Things, And The Things You Look at Change"

2011-12-13T17:24:50Z

Can you change your body with just your thoughts? This may sound wild, but there is evidence to support such a thing.

Some Research

First, a Harvard study by psychologist Ellen Langer, followed 84 hotel maids from seven different hotels. The idea was to look at whether or not the perception of exercise influenced the results. The maids were asked how much they exercise, to which 67 percent reported they didn't exercise regularly. And more than one-third of those reported they didn't get any exercise at all. They assessed the maids' body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, weight and body mass index. The researchers found that all of these indicators matched the maids' perceived amount of exercise, rather than their actual amount of exercise. The maids were then split into two groups, one being told just how much exercise they were actually getting just by doing their jobs, and that it even exceeded the surgeon generals recommendation. The other group was told nothing.

Findings

One month later, Langer and her team returned to take physical measurements of the women and were surprised by what they found. In the group that had been told they were essentially already exercising at work, there was a decrease in their systolic blood pressure, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio -- and a 10 percent drop in blood pressure. When asked whether or not the maids had made any other lifestyle changes, they answered that they hadn't. This leaves only the change in perception of what they were already doing to be key. The important takeaway from this, to me, is not that the maids lost weight after changing their perception to their physical activity, but rather how their previous perception kept them from the changes in the first place -- even with the same activity level. Are you, or someone you know already putting in the work but deep down believing that you just can't get the body you want? Your perception may play a much larger role then you think.

Another Study Looking at Strength Gains

Another study done by Erin M. Shackell and Lionel G. Standing at Bishop's University demonstrates some correlating evidence, but rather than looking at weight loss, they analyzed the impact of thought training and strength gains. They randomly split 30 college student athletes into 3 groups of 10. One group mentally practiced a hip-strength exercise. One group physically practiced the exercise. And the control group did nothing. The mental training group was directed to imagine doing the exercise in extreme detail, including adding weight and performing four sets of eight repetitions.

More Interesting Findings

The group that did the physical exercises saw gains of 28.3 percent. The control group saw little to no gains. Both of these would be expected. What was unexpected was the mental training group saw gains of 23.7 percent -- almost as much the physical training group!

The Takeaway

Most people find no problem accepting the idea that things like stress, anxiety, depression, etc., can have a negative impact on our health. Or that visualization can help athletes performance. But the idea what we can physically change our bodies simply with our thoughts turns most conventional thinking on its head. The power of the placebo effect is impressive. But what is equally important is what is known as the "nocebo" effect. Just like positive thoughts can affect you with the placebo affect, the opposite can be true with the nocebo affect. Remember how they maids health markers correlated with their perspective of lack of exercise even when they were getting it?

I don't think it's good advice to say we don't need to take action, but rather sit around and think about taking action but rather, align both. Do what you believe will get you the results you want, and believe what you are doing will accomplish this. And remember, what can work for us, can also work against us. If you are putting in the time and work and not seeing the results you want, ask yourself what results you truly deep down believe you can achieve. Can you honestly see yourself in the body you want? Or do you have limiting beliefs telling yourself how you cannot get there? This may play a much bigger role in results than conventional thinking allows. It is possible your perspective and self-limiting beliefs may literally be hindering your progress.

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life." Aristotle

More Resources

If this kind of information interests you and you want to learn more about the effects your thoughts, beliefs, and intentions can have, here are a few more sources you can check out.

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton

Upgrade Your Brain by Jon Spayde (Experience Life article)

The Intention Experiment and The Field by Lynn McTaggart

Spontaneous Healing of Belief and The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden

The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto

The Living Matrix: Film on the New Science of Healing

[photo via http://www.elec-intro.com/maid-of-ringtone]

To Look Like a Roman Warrior, Try Eating Like One

2011-12-10T01:22:53Z

How often do you hear, or maybe say yourself, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," or "Eating late at night before bed is the worst thing you can do!" It's repeated over and over as if it's a mantra integral in the human experience. But is it true?

Not according to Ori Hofmekler. The idea behind his book, The Warrior Diet, flies in the face of all conventional thinking on diet, but it may be far more compatible with the way humans were meant to eat than conventional ideas on eating.

In the most basic sense, the warrior diet involves a long "undereating" phase lasting around 20 hours, followed by a shorter "overeating" phase at night, preferably following a workout. The main difference between the warrior diet and intermittent fasting (IF) is that you are not completely abstaining from food during the day.

Undereating Phase

During the undereating phase, Hofmekler recommends "live" foods such as vegetables, some fruits, and easily digestible proteins like yogurt, boiled egg or whey. The goal of the undereating phase is to detoxify the body, build up enzymes, stabilize blood sugar and insulin, and as Hofmekler calls it, "burn up the rubbish." Digestion also takes a huge amount of energy and if you're eating every two to three hours, you're constantly using up energy to break down and digest these foods. Also, proteins cannot be fully broken down and digested without proper enzymes, so the building up of enzymes by consuming live foods is key during the undereating phase to prepare for the overeating phase. He also says that no carbohydrates other then fresh fruits and vegetables should be eating during this phase.

Overeating Phase

As for the overeating phase, Hofmekler starts with three basic rules.
Rule 1. Always start with subtle-tasting foods and move to more aggressive flavors.
Rule 2. Include as many tastes, textures, colors and aromas as possible.
Rule 3. Stop eating when you feel more thirsty than hungry.

Following these three guidelines and ingesting clean, real foods, eat all you want and stop when you are satisfied. Pretty simple, right?

Athletes on The Warrior Diet

As for athletes, Hofmekler recommends a preworkout whey protein shake (if you can't sustain your energy in the fasted state) and another shake immediately postworkout, followed by your first big meal within the hour. This is usually the strategy I use and it works quite well for me. That said, there is a lot of evidence supporting the benefits of working out in a fasted state, so it's worth playing around with.

Like any diet, it's not for everyone, especially if you have other health problems to address first (like adrenal fatigue, for example). You may have to modify it to suit you, which is totally fine (it's your life, your body!). But once I implemented warrior diet concepts, I experienced a great sense of freedom: You aren't on a regimented schedule, and you don't have to stress about where to find decent food during the day. The hardest part is getting used to not eating much during the day, which is usually much more mental than it is physical.

Hofmekler points to the fact that if you keep feeding a caged animal, it will keep eating -- regardless of hunger. So I set myself free.

Other Info

Hofmeklar also goes into great length about the history of ancient warrior cultures like the Romans and how he came up with The Warrior Diet. He also covers dealing with stubborn fat and the role of hormones like estrogen, a Q&A section and a bunch of recipes at the end.

For more information on different types of intermittent fasting, including The Warrior Diet, see Nia Shanks' post in Experience Life's "Contributor's Corner" here.

There are plenty of interviews with Hofmeklar on YouTube; here's one on timing of meals:

[photo credit above] Nerdfitness.com/blog

Back to Deadlifting

2011-12-08T17:49:50Z

Wanna hear my dirty little secret?

Even though I've long been a vocal proponent of deadlifting, posting plenty of links and love at this blog's sister page on Facebook, I haven't done much of it myself over the past couple years.

I'm completely on board with it being one of the best (and arguably the best) full-body lift you can do, but afterward I'd always feel like my sacroilliac (SI) joints had come apart at the seams, and I'd be out of commission for a week or more. (For more on SI Joint pain, see here and here [scroll to bottom].) In other words, not worth it (for me).

OK, sometimes worth it: I competed in the Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC) this September, and pulled a single rep at 285, but it absolutely wrecked my lower back for the following week.

Then, over the past few months, a couple things happened:

1) I got jealous: I kept seeing Beautiful Bada$$ founder Nia Shanks post more and more deadlift videos, and she always makes it look so fun and satisfying: Head to minute 2:20 to see 125-pound Nia nail a 330-pound sumo deadlift PR. I started to want to deadlift again.

2) I got smarter: The other thing that happened was that I started training differently, experimenting with variations such as sumo and Jefferson, and only pulling weight I knew I could pull without pain. And -- counterintuitively -- I also worked to achieve more motion in my lumbar spine (years of landing hard on my a$$ during rugby games had left it without even the little bit of bend it's supposed to have).

Here I am demonstrating a Jefferson deadlift for Coach Dos.

As a result, I was deadlifting without lower-back pain for the first time in years, and I began to even look forward to deadlift nights. I still played it cautious, however: I hadn't ventured above 265 pounds since before the back-hurting TSC (my previous one-rep max was 303), but when Nia asked a few of us last night for deadlift videos (stay tuned for her post on the topic!), it seemed like a good time to assess where I was at. The video below is what happened: a triple at a little over twice my body weight.

Sweet Treats Plus Meat Treats: Discount!

2011-11-28T19:25:56Z

Have you ever tried to find a convenient snack or meal you could take anywhere and eat anytime that was high quality, unprocessed and actually made of food? It can be rough, right? And it's especially difficult if you're are trying to follow a diet consistent of whole foods. Even in a pinch, a man (or woman) can only drink so many protein shakes.

The more convenient healthy options are, the easier it is to stick with them. Enter a solution by Steve's Original.

Jen and I returned to the office after our lunchtime kettlebell workout today to discover a box of goodies from Steve's Original. Considering I hadn't eaten yet, this was a pleasant surprise.

The first version of the PaleoKit, created in 2008, included free-range jerky, nuts and berries. The company now offers a wide range of options, including grass-fed jerky, berries, dried apples, a coconut recipe PaleoKit consisting of jerky, coconut and strawberries (which I am munching on as I write this), an apple pie PaleoKit consisting of jerky, pecans, almonds and dried apples, and a grainless cereal. Unlike most jerky, this one is high quality -- it's grass-fed and unprocessed with no added preservatives. All products are vacuum sealed, low-carb, gluten free. There is no need to refrigerate the packages, and they will last about 6 months. They are very low in sugar (with no added sugars), even in the grainless cereal, which is sweet and crunchy. These kits can make a good quick postworkout snack or a meal replacement on the go if needed.

In my opinion, these kits are as good as what most people would make in their kitchen with the added bonus of being able to take them anywhere and eat anytime. That's a great combo for the athlete on the go or anyone following a clean-eats lifestyle.

Community Impact

Another thing that demonstrates the integrity of Steve's Original is that 15 percent of proceeds go toward Steve's Club, a nonprofit organization that provides fitness and nutritional education and activities for disadvantaged youth.

Discount for Survival of the Fittest Readers!

The company's founder, Steve Liberati, has offered the readers of Survival of the Fittest a 10 percent discount this week if you use the discount code "JenSinkler" when you're checking out. This deal ends Monday, December 5, so grab it while it's still fresh.

For another review of Steve's Original products check out Balancedbites.com

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I SMELL BACON!

2011-11-16T17:51:52Z

Let's talk about every Paleothic Diet follower's paradise....bacon!

Perhaps you've noticed that there seems to be some kind of weird bacon fetish online.

Now don't get me wrong, there are some very good reasons to love bacon in all of its deliciousness, but there are also some things to consider.

There is a plethora of information available out there about the negative consequences of processed meat. Studies have shown that processed meat consumption as little as one ounce a day increases stomach cancer risk by 38%.

But, as always, there are many other variables to consider when interpreting the conclusion of any study, especially one that analyzes a large group of people and finds correlations but doesn't study all the other areas to their daily lives.

But it's not necessarily the meat itself that's to blame, but how it's prepared that's of greatest concern. When it comes to processed meat, the main concern is the inclusion of nitrites and nitrates. Once you ingest nitrites, they turn into nitrosimes in your body, and there's evidence nitrosimes are a carcinogen. Unless the meat specifically states it is nitrite free, you can almost guarantee it has been preserved with nitrites. It's also thought that sodium nitrate may damage your blood vessels, making your arteries more likely to harden and narrow, leading to heart disease. Nitrates may also affect the way your body uses sugar, making you more likely to develop diabetes.

I'm not suggesting everyone stop eating meat, by any means (I'm a bacon man myself), but rather just be more informed about the meats they are consuming. This is especially important with the growing number of people following a Paleo diet and having meats as one of their primary foods. There are great benefits to eating this way, but if you are filling your body full of processed, chemical-ridden meats, you aren't a whole lot better off than you are eating grains and sugars. Our ancestors never had to deal with the onslaught of processing and chemicals in their foods that we currently do.

Some simple things to consider to greatly reduce any negative risks.

Start with a clean source of meat. No pesticides, hormones or antibiotics, and preferably organically grown.
Find meat that is nitrate free, nitrite free and uncured. There are many on the market now, but they might not be at your everyday large chain grocery store.
No artificisl flavors, MSG, high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors.
I'd also suggest getting a PFOA/PFOS-free frying pan; almost all nonstick (especially Teflon) pans leach toxic chemicals into your food (and even the air!). You can also just use cast iron or even glass, although that can be frustratingly sticky.
Do not burn your bacon (or any meat), or cook it at too high a temperature. Cooking meats at high temperatures or for too long creates chemicals called Heterocyclic amines, which are a known carcinogen. It also increases nitromines.
Lastly, just think of bacon (and all processed meats) like ice cream. Enjoy it when you choose to have it, but be cognizant that consistent consumption may have a negative long-term effect.

Bacon is definitely a topic of conversation.

Meet Nik Illies

2011-11-16T17:41:10Z

Greetings all!

This is my first real experience doing any blogging so bear with me, it's an evolutionary experience! My name is Nik Illies, and I have been graciously awarded a position at Experience Life as Jen Sinkler's fitness editorial assistant. I'll be helping her with some online content, including blog posts, video editing, and whatever else she needs me to do to spread more Survival of the Fittest content!

A little bit about me: My current primary occupation is a cardiac sonographer, which in layperson terms means I ultrasound hearts. I get to see some interesting things in this field, including the end results of a lifetime of not-so-great health decisions. Sadly this result is showing up earlier and earlier in people's lives these days.

This brings me to my true passion: health and fitness with a great emphasis on nutrition and chronic disease prevention! To quote Edward Stanley, "Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." What really inspires me is not only learning how to obtain optimum health, but in helping others achieve this as well.

Ironically means you hopefully most likely will never have to see me at my other job -- quite the catch 22 huh? I'm one of those people that like to ask "why" about everything, and then find out how, almost to a fault. In my free time I love to learn new things. I'm not scared to admit I've spent Friday nights staying up until 2 a.m. watching videos on proper squat form. For me the best part about learning things is teaching them to others to help them achieve their goals. Hopefully I can do some of this for you fine readers! And learning, especially about health, is an always evolving process so hopefully we can all share information and thoughts to further our understand of fitness and optimum health! I look forward to hearing feedback.

I've been a huge fan of Experience Life since the first time I put my hands on one. The information within really resonates with what I'm all about and I'm very excited to now be a part of the community!

Until next time,

Nik

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Survival of the Fittest: Facebook Edition

2011-02-22T20:18:31Z

This NYT article made me feel better about not having blogged since August (even if I am
lumped into the kids' group). I have a list of potential topics as long as my arm, but can't make any promises about when I'll be able to post again here...soon?

In the meantime, I'm posting lots of fitness content daily on my Survival of the Fittest page on Facebook.

Come talk to me there!

[image via econversemedia.com]

How Soft Drinks Impact Your Health

2010-08-16T15:20:12Z

A scary little illustration.

Via: Term Life Insurance

The Toning Shoe Sham

2010-08-14T17:23:28Z

Back in May, I attended the CrossFit Central East Regional in Ohio, where there was a Reebok EasyTone stand displaying their product. And the CrossFitters, ardent fans of Vibram Five Fingers and other minimalist shoes, responded to these rigged-up kicks by steering clear of the stand. Way clear. In fact, I don't recall seeing a single person approach it, but I did hear a number of competitors speculating that the EasyTone truck had taken a wrong turn. This attitude pleased me immensely. Why? Because toning shoes are a silly product.

Silly, but one that appeals. The premise: You stand/walk/run atop a built-in unstable surface (whether it's a curved one or cushy like mini BOSU balls), and thus activate more muscles than when shod in regular shoes. An easy-peasy to lose weight and look better -- doesn't that sound great? And isn't that what we want? Sure, but...

The idea that training on unstable surfaces is a good thing is flawed in and of itself -- check out "Build Your Balance" for a glimpse into Eric Cressey's research on the topic (the gist: unstable-surface training makes you slower and less powerful) -- and aside from that, the muscle-activation research these shoe companies are producing is flimsy at best (tiny studies, questionable results).

Reebok isn't the only hawker of such wares -- they're joined by Avia, Skechers, Easy Spirit and even Curves for Women (wth?!). (There are probably more; if so, I don't want to know.)

In my happy little world populated by informed experts who dispense solid fitness advice, I'd heard toning shoes uniformly mocked -- by podiatrists, chiropractors, athletes and fitness industry peers alike, so I genuinely believed (or wanted to believe) that this trend didn't have staying power and didn't impact the market in any real way.

So when my boyfriend handed me an issue of Bloomberg Businessweek this morning, flipped open to an article called "As Nike Scoffs, Toning Shoes Gain Traction," I felt alarm. (Access the entire issue here -- flip to page 24-25.)

Nike has held out on this trend to this point, instead marketing their minimalist shoe, the Nike Free, which makes the small muscles of the feet and lower legs work more by providing less support. And for their trouble, they're losing footing as the top provider of women's athletic footwear. (According to the article, Nike slipped 7.2 percentage points, or $412 million, from a year ago. Reebok's share in the market more than doubled, and Skechers tripled.)

I'm heartened by the sarcastic response of the Nike executive team. Eric Sprunk, vice president for global product and merchandising, was quoted during a meeting with investors as saying, "Wouldn't it be great if we could make a pair of shoes that made your butt smaller, made my gut look smaller, make your muscles look a little bit bigger, just by putting them on and...walking in them? Nobody can do that. I was just teasing."

To Nike: Please continue to hold out, and the rest of us will do what we can to kick this trend to the curb. Right?
______________________________

So, let's review: Do toning shoes work? No. No. No. No.

"ACE Research Study Finds Toning Shoes Fail to Deliver on Fitness Claims" (ACE)
"A Revolutionary Sneaker, or Overhyped Gimmick?" (USA Today)
"Shoes' Toning Claims Draw Experts' Doubts" (CNN)
"Firm Body, No Workout Required?" (New York Times)
"Do Toning Shoes Really Work?" (That's Fit)
"Toning Shoes No Better Than Sneakers" (FitSugar)
"Finally, Research on Those Popular Toning Shoes!" (FitBottomed Girls)
"Morning Cup of Vomiting in My Mouth: Skechers Shape-Ups" (Tony Gentilcore's Blog)

Choke No More: Learning to Win

2010-07-20T20:49:38Z

[In his latest book, What the Dog Saw, author Malcolm Gladwell recounts the story of Czech tennis player Jana Novotna's last-minute choke against American Steffi Graf in the 1993 Wimbledon final. (America! Eff yeah!) Afterward Novotna was consoled by the Duchess of Kent. Photo credit USA Today.]

As anyone who has played a sport knows, there are plenty of ways to lose. The most excruciating among them, in my opinion, are the ones after which you are acutely aware -- as is everyone witnessing the event -- that you should have won. It's one thing when you feel outmatched, outplayed or outmuscled by an opponent who is simply better than you on the day (or every day); quite another to have very nearly held victory in the palm of your hand only to, at the last minute, watch it slip quietly, despairingly out of your grasp.

In other words, second place sucks when you feel like you couldn't have altered the outcome that day, regardless of your actions -- but it sucks quite a bit more when the locus of control is internal and you're left thinking, "I could have done something about that."

IN 2003, MY THEN RUGBY TEAM, the Minnesota Valkries, faced off in the women's club national championship game against the Berkeley All-Blues. At the time, the All-Blues had never been beaten. Not in a friendly, not in a league match, not in a playoff game, not in a national championship game. They simply never, ever lost. (Or if they had, it was so far in the past not a single soul could remember it.) And they didn't lose that game, either. It was a bona fide routing, ending with a rather appalling score along the lines of 55-0. Late in the game, I remember watching as their players streamed through our line of defense at will and thinking, "I hope this ends soon." Afterward, the loss didn't sting the way it could have -- they were, quite simply, a better team that year.

Fast-forward to 2005: the same match-up, the same setting; once again playing for the national championship. Only this time, we were winning. We had done an incredible amount of physical work to prepare ourselves for that moment, that game, and we believed.

That is, until the final minutes of the game, when our decision-making broke down, our plays started clunking and even our basic rugby skills went to hell in a handbasket -- our kicks were going awry, we missed tackles and threw errant passes. I could see the alarm and confusion in my teammates' eyes, and felt it myself. Suddenly, it felt like 2003 all over again. Which didn't make sense -- we had come so far -- but we continued to make mistake after mistake, and Berkeley tied the game as the final whistle blew. The game went into overtime.

At that point, we were no longer trying to win -- we were just trying not to lose. And it didn't work. But what happened? And why?

IN MALCOLM GLADWELL'S BOOK What the Dog Saw, his essay "The Art of Failure: Why Some People Choke and Others Panic" dealt with two types of controllable losses: choking and panicking.

Essentially, he categorizes choking as overthinking -- reaching a point in the game, bout or match where, under stress, once-implicit, unconscious motor patterns suddenly revert to the deliberate, too-aware patterns of a beginner.

Panic, on the other hand, Gladwell describes as, essentially, underthinking -- being suddenly unable to evaluate your environment and come up with more than one possible solution.

Choking:
-Overthinking: The slow, deliberate learning patterns of a novice overtake the skilled, unconscious patterns you developed.

-Loss of instinct and intuition: You mentally break down the situation or movement into too many parts, unintentionally eradicating fluidity and ease in the process.

-Can't overcome with experience: Choking doesn't necessarily make sense, as it can happen to even highly experienced athletes.

Panicking:
-Underthinking: The stress of the situation wipes out any existing short-term memory of what to do, and you simply react.

-"Perceptual narrowing": You tend to focus or obsess over one thing, and lose the ability to identify other options.

-Can be overcome with experience: After enough repetitions, you reach for the right reaction to the situation, so even if it's the only solution that occurs to you, that's A-OK.

OUR 2005 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME was a cut-and-dried case of choking, which, as Gladwell points out, "is a central part of the drama of athletic competition." In other words, that %*^& makes for good sports. But that doesn't mean you have to cooperate -- let someone else play the role of the almost-winner.

Since choking can be chalked up to overthinking, you have to approach developing the mental skills to short-circuit the phenomenon in a specific way. That is, if you're not careful, you'll just worsen the situation by thinking yourself even deeper into a losing situation.

Remember, when it comes to choking, you're trying to return to instinct and intuition, so it helps to focus on something other than the particular mechanics of the task at hand.

WHEN YOU START TO CHOKE -- and you know when it's happening -- Linda Keeler, sports psychology counselor and assistant professor of kinesiology at Chico State University in California, recommends using a "three-point refocus routine" to reset your mind and your instincts.

1. First take a deep, diaphragmatic breath (just a fancy way to say breathe from your belly).

2. Next, do something you can focus on physically -- such as snapping your fingers or clapping your hands a certain number of times -- and then imagine yourself successfully completing your goal, whether it's a dead lift PR or hoisting a championship trophy. Pick whatever appeals to you -- the important thing is to picture every detail of the environment: the sights, sounds and smells. Imagine the field or the gym, feel the sweat drying on your body and practice transporting yourself there mentally. In your mind, make winning -- or your equivalent of winning -- part of your culture; a foregone conclusion.

3. Lastly, utter a phrase aloud (but quietly, so you don't seem crazy) such as "Just do" or "Just breathe" to remind yourself to let your ingrained skill set take over.

Any time you start to falter, complete this routine. It can take some trial and error to figure out exactly what works best for you, but once you do, you'll be able to teach your mind and body to cooperate on command. This still may not guarantee you the gold, of course, but at least it will put you on a level playing field.

Read Gladwell's entire essay here.

It's Video Wednesday!

2010-07-01T03:38:13Z

Will there ever be another Video Wednesday? I don't know. But doesn't it sound more exciting if I imply this is a tradition we share? Honestly, I have no fewer than 30 drafts of what might someday grow up to be thoughtful blog posts, but until I get a chance to work them over but good, you get the phoned-in version of blogging. But hey. They're moving pictures! You have to do as little work as I did!

Enjoy this awkward interview, followed by much more solid demonstrations of how to do 12 different TRX exercises. This video was filmed to accompany Experience Life's July/August fitness feature on suspension training. (Read the article here, or see each of the 12 exercises demonstrated individually here.)

Behold 45-year-old Crystal West -- personal trainer, fitness model, figure competitor, lawyer, speaker, writer, vegan -- demonstrating freestyle pull-ups. I had never before considered pull-ups a form of self-expression, but I was wrong. Waaay wrong. (For tips on getting to your very first pull-up, check out this article by Krista Scott-Dixon, founder of the magnificent women-and-weightlifting site Stumptuous.com.)

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Some Days...

2010-05-25T15:40:43Z

... don't you feel like this? :)

Dan Gilbert on Happiness

2010-05-13T13:27:32Z

Worth all 22 minutes.

(Thanks to Kaeti Hinck for the link. And the rhyme!)