Zoubek breaks foot--again

[rsvman]

Have you tried any forms of alternative medicine or meditation to improve some aspect of your life? The world offers many viable alternatives to the strictly scientific approach so valued in the western world.

Yes, I have, and I agree with you that there are alternatives that are helpful and attractive. I have especially been impressed with meditation and even self-hypnosis as a method of self-improvement.

Are you familiar with visualization as a method to improve performance? What about Pilates to improve strength and flexibility? Or using dance to improve movement for other activities such as playing football or basketball?

I am familiar with visualization, including visualization studies. I don't know anything about Pilates, and I am also unfamiliar with dance as a mechanism for improving sports performance. I don't doubt that dance would be helpful; I wonder if it would be difficult getting some athletes to give it a try.

Thanks for bringing these points up for discussion.

[Lavabe]

A. You're out of your mind (in my humble opinion; others are entitled, as you so eloquently pointed out, to form their own opinions).

B. The lower "stratta" animals have been doing quite well without the help of the Maharishi Yogi (or whomever) for hundreds of thousands of years. In fact, one could make a cogent argument that when it comes to movement, many of the lower animals do much better than lowly homo sapiens does. Compare your sprint speed to that of a cheetah, or your leaping ability to that of, say, an impala. And I dare say that their injury rates, despite all their predator/prey-induced vigorous activity, is considerably lower than ours. In short, when it comes to movement, most might consider it PREFERABLE to be able to move in the manner of the animals you seemingly disparage with your misspelled reference to their strata.

FWIW, greybeard/rudra has always freely admitted to his spelling issues. He's also spelled incorrectly in different languages ... often with great humor. It's his shtick on the DBR. Just as normal as Jason's long quotes in his name. I believe EagleDevil (on the old board) was one of the first to comment about this.

My conspiracy belief is that greybeard actually did not post on this thread today. The true one would have cited Bob Dylan!
Cheers,
Lavabe

[3rd Dukie]

Everyone is entitled to his or her view. You would, however, be amazed, neigh your brain would be frazzled, about how a conscious exploration of movements of the pelvis and ribs, which necessarily involve conscious movement of the limbs, could expand exponentially one's ability to take in air and expel it; to do it with ease and greatly facilitate the exchange of gases. In fact, just the other night, lead by the words of the man himself, Moshe Feldenkrais, taped in SF some 30years ago, I had just such an experience. I can assure you it was quite impressive; afterwards, the feeling of freedom in through my ribs, actually my entire torso, remained for some time; very nice to know what can be different.

Or one could delve into the breath work of Hatha Yoga, known as praniama. My suggestion is that you pursue that in the Iyengar tradition, which will require you to take at least one six month instructional series in posture work in most Iyengar studios. Can we say lala land boys and girls.

Movement without the ability to make a conscious choice leaves us no different than lower stratta animals. The ability to chose how to organize oneself to perform simple tasks is empowering and produces growth.

Or you could leave it all to chance, until you get injured, in which case you will do it exactly the way some "expert" tells you, and you will then pay attention to the smallest detail. You will, however, have no ability to chose and learn nothing in the process, which is the shame of the paridigm you embrace.

I don't know much, if anything, about yoga. However, I have just spent the last three years in physical therapy (6 hours a week) for a crushed ankle, and the ancillary problems it caused. Much of that time, in addition to the actual exercising, was dedicated to learning about the movement in one part of the body affects other parts of the body. Maybe I am out of bloomin' mind as well, but I agree completely with Greybeard.

After all, martial arts in particular, and most sports in general, require total body coordination. For example, think about the fact that power in a punch starts with the ankles. The body must function in a coordinated fashion for maximum
efficiency.

[mgtr]

Greybeard -- you certainly seem to have views which are out of the mainstream. But, in a world where political results seem to be upside down, and Iran thinks they can harass US Navy warships with little speedboats, maybe it all fits. Maybe you are right and all the rest of us are wrong. Pretty hard to say anymore.
However (and that is a very big however), sometimes you are right on target. So, the rest of us have think about what you are saying and the relevance thereof. Clearly this is more difficult than just blowing you off. Most of us don't really want to make the effort to determine which is which.

[greybeard]

Greybeard -- you certainly seem to have views which are out of the mainstream. But, in a world where political results seem to be upside down, and Iran thinks they can harass US Navy warships with little speedboats, maybe it all fits. Maybe you are right and all the rest of us are wrong. Pretty hard to say anymore.
However (and that is a very big however), sometimes you are right on target. So, the rest of us have think about what you are saying and the relevance thereof. Clearly this is more difficult than just blowing you off. Most of us don't really want to make the effort to determine which is which.

Thanks, I think. The views I express about movement, learning, the state of injury in sport, what trainers have to contribute and what they do not, might be out of the mainstream in the sense that many people, especially in the media don't talk about such matters, but they are not as "out there", for lack of a better term, as some might think. They are grounded in years of study from masters of movement in many different disciplines and self-experimentation with core concepts that I have picked up about the nature of learning and the movement combinations at the core of various activities.

In my opinion, any person seriously interested in sport should have in his library a book by PGA Master Golf Professional Michael Hebron. The book, Golf Swing Secrets . . . And Lies, Six Timeless Lessons, begins with a discussion of the nature of learning, education, teaching, performance, the ability to make progress and its opposite, that I believe captures the essence of the oversimplified and dysfunctional world that most of us function in when it comes to the games that we play and watch, including the game, as it were, of ambulating in this life. Whether you are a golfer or not, reading the first 50 pages of this book will expand your concepts about, and appreciation of, why it is that with the thousands and thousands of "how to" lessons, most of us still do not have a clue about what might make that ball move, much less how to go about moving it. You can extrapolate from there. Later.

[Jeffrey]

The views I express about movement, learning, the state of injury in sport, what trainers have to contribute and what they do not, might be out of the mainstream in the sense that many people, especially in the media don't talk about such matters, but they are not as "out there", for lack of a better term, as some might think. They are grounded in years of study from masters of movement in many different disciplines and self-experimentation with core concepts that I have picked up about the nature of learning and the movement combinations at the core of various activities.

Hi,

Geez, I just thought you had taken too much acid!

Best regards,
Jeffrey

[greybeard]

Hi,

Geez, I just thought you had taken too much acid!

Best regards,
Jeffrey

"Too much?" EJ, seems like there's fodder for another thread.

[Jeffrey]

"Too much?" EJ, seems like there's fodder for another thread.

Hi,

It appears you reside in the fifth dimension while those you're debating need 3D glasses just to see your trails.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

[greybeard]

Hi,

It appears you reside in the fifth dimension while those you're debating need 3D glasses just to see your trails.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

Thinking does take a tad of work.

If people need to figure out how to swing a golf club, and even the best of the best like Tiger need experts to help them explore how they might swing it more effectively, then why would anyone think that how we think does not impact how we stand and walk, and why thinking differently might not improve how we currently accomplish those tasks? Is that what you mean by something that requires 3D glasses?

If so, I suggest instead LOGIC 101.

Unlike a wildebeast, you, Sir Jeffrey, were not "Born to Run," but rather had to learn to, and might still improve on it, but only if you are willing to think before you put your foot . . .

[greybeard]

By the way, on this board at least, I do not see myself "debating" anyone. I put forth my perspectives and listen to others. People comment on what they read.

Most of the debates concern matters of speculation, for example, why is K not playing Smith more, which I find moot, to say the least.

Does thinking underlie the quality of movement? How can anyone debate about that? They can ignore that reality--conduct most of what they do without considering how they might improve their thought processes (concepts) and therefore improve the quality and enjoyment of performance; but debate it or change it. Please.

[greybeard]

And, to put what I mean about "core" concepts regarding certain sports into concrete terms, allow me to.

It would be helpful to anyone trying to learn to hit a baseball to know that what makes the ball "pop" off the bat is pressure, and that it is not possible to put pressure into the ball if the barrell of the bat reaches the ball in front of the hands.

It would also be helpful for a young child to know that the bat does not move forward when one swings and tries to impart pressure into the ball. The bat barrell first drops, moves down, and than moves out as a consequence of rotation of the body. It is only after impact that the bat moves forward.

If this information is imparted, and pictures, as in a demonstration of positions, are shown to the kid who is trying to learn, the kid's ability to figure out how to hit a baseball with authority is going to be greatly accelerated.

In basketball, it is not possible to create a repeatable shot without a proper release of the wrist/hand to give the ball flight. It will be useful to anyone interested in making progress in learning to shoot if they are shown what pronation of the wrist/hand looks like. The same mechanism is at work in a two hand chest past, in which case both hands pronate. As the wrists in young children, under 12 or 13 generally, are too supple to function maximally as a lever, the two handed chest pass is a much better way for a young person to explore and learn for his or herself the feel for a proper release and an appreciation of the difference such a release will make to the easy and controllable flight of a basketball.

Now, if these elements are left for an individual to figure out on their own, they will watch others and, through trial and error, perhaps figure out these and other "core" elements. Unfortunately, we do not always see what we think we see. And many people go through life without ever having compressed a baseball, although they played lots and lots of baseball, or ever having shot a basketball with real touch.

Demonstrating such core elements in performing certain tasks in sports is not the same as trying to "teach" someone how to hit a baseball (have you ever watched little league coaches who have no clue about compressing a baseball try to do that) or how to shoot a basketball. Those are things that kids get to figure out for themselves through the free flow of experimentation known as play.

Read at least the first 50 pages of Hebron's book, especially if you have kids and want to be helpful in their making progress in the sports that they chose to play.

[Lavabe]

Oh boy. Now you've done it.

There should have been a flashing blue light attached to your message.

Cheers,
Lavabe

[77devil]

Greybeard -- Maybe you are right and all the rest of us are wrong.

I don't think so.

So, the rest of us have think about what you are saying and the relevance thereof.

No I don't, and believe me, I choose not to.

[Saratoga2]

We are now into the period without Brian. By the sound of things, he should return by the 1st of February, if not sooner. He has looked good this year, but I read that he had some sort of specialized insert in his sneaker to minimize the pressure of playing on the foot that had been broken. I wonder if that may have hampered his further improvement, much like Nelson's heavy cast when he wore that. Kind of limited ones mobility.

[markbdevil]

We are now into the period without Brian. By the sound of things, he should return by the 1st of February, if not sooner. He has looked good this year, but I read that he had some sort of specialized insert in his sneaker to minimize the pressure of playing on the foot that had been broken. I wonder if that may have hampered his further improvement, much like Nelson's heavy cast when he wore that. Kind of limited ones mobility.

He was wearing dress shoes last night instead of a boot, so I hope this is a good sign.