April 04, 2006
Welcome to issue No 3 of The eZone. The theme for this month is conventional vs. radical. Trying something new has its risks - but if you want a guarantee buy a washing machine!
Is the time you spend exercising helping your performance? How would you know if you keep doing the same routines?
In this issue
1. Sports personality: Dr Mel Siff – an incredible analytical sports mind
2. Habit and performance
3. This month’s fitness myth – Sit-ups and flat stomachs .
4. What’s on the web?
5. March’s special offer – 30% off my Improve Your Posture program to all readers! (Offer lasts until next eZone edition.)
1. Dr Mel Siff
Sport scientist Dr Mel Siff, who sadly passed away in 2003, had an incredible analytical sports mind .A prolific writer, he was very critical of many of today’s methods used widely in training.I had the pleasure of meeting Mel when he visited London. He had an incredible talent for spotting flaws in your thinking – he pulled me up on a number of articles I had written. I am always careful now of not accepting anything just because that is the way it has always been done.
Dr Siff wrote two huge tomes on the subject of strength training and fitness- ‘Supertraining’ and ‘Facts & Fallacies of Fitness’, they are becoming harder to find but if you do come across either of them they are worth their weight on Gold. I consult both on a regular basis.
One lesson Mel can teach us all is never to accept a ‘fact’ just because every one else appears to believe it. The longer a fitness ‘fact’ is repeated the harder it is to think any different. One good example? The ever popular sit-up – see item no. 3.
You can find a list of Mel’s popular Paradox Papers plus a number of other articles at Mel Siff Articles
2. Habits and Performance
The title of this email is just as valid if we say ‘If you keep thinking the same things …you get the same results'. Habits tend to make us do the same things physically and mentally – and we don’t even realise it!I use the following exercise to demonstrate this point and at my lectures. Have a go and see what it tells you.
1. Fold your arms and note the position of your hands and which arm is on the outside.
2. Now unfold them and fold them again but this time the opposite way. Note your reaction to how this feels.
Does it feel odd or even wrong? In the first step you used your habitual ‘folding the arms’ pattern. You did not have to think about how you did it because you have an existing pattern; it’s automatic and feels right. Did you have to think for a moment before carrying out the second instruction? It may even have taken several attempts to achieve.
This is because you do not have an existing pattern for this movement and it has to be consciously worked out. It will probably feel wrong because you will not have done it like this before so the sensations from the muscles and joints will be new to you. The important lesson from this experiment is how the two positions feel. Your habitual pattern feels right and is easy to do, your non-habitual opposite way feels wrong and is not quite so easy to do. There is obviously nothing wrong with the opposite arm-fold but that is exactly how it will feel. Would you normally choose to fold your arms in this manner? What feels right and wrong is therefore determined by habits that may be working for you but also against you.
When you are performing your fitness routines or playing your sport do you always do what feels right? Is there a better way to do them? Unless you can let yourself do something that feels wrong initially, you will always perform according to your habits.
“Minds are like parachutes; they only work when they are open”. Marc Salem, Professor of Psychology
3. Fitness myth of the month:
Sit-ups will flatten your stomach
Sit-ups have been done for centuries in some form or other. As far back as the 17th century artillery soldiers would practise a form of sit-up using cannon balls to prepare them for their duties during battle. Today ab exercises are hugely popular – A Google search will finds 4.8 million pages! But are they really necessary?
One of the reasons people do sit-ups is to get a flat stomach but no study has ever found this to be an effective way to get one. Ab exercises will NOT reduce fat in the stomach area but WILL increase your girth due to building the abdominal muscles!
So why do people believe ab exercises will flatten their stomach, strengthen backs (again unproven) or even improve posture? If something is repeated often enough it will eventually be accepted as the truth. I used to perform around 500 sit-ups a day in various positions thinking it would strengthen my stomach muscles for my karate training. Shortly after starting Alexander Technique lessons I started to query my logic – when did I ever use my stomach muscles in the same way as a sit-up? Never! Was I wasting 20 minutes of my training schedule on a pointless exercise? Most certainly.
So the next time you feel the urge to do a few sit-ups, why not find something more enjoyable or relevant to your sport/ activity. The last sit-up I performed was in 1993 and do you know – my stomach is still pretty flat (well not too bad), my back hasn’t given me any trouble, my posture is fine and I can still take a blow to the midriff without doubling over – well perhaps with a little warning first!
You may find Mel Siff’s article rather interesting – see Abominable Ab Mania
4. What's on the web?
One of my New Years Resolutions was to be able to log onto the internet and NOT buy a book! I don’t know about you but I find so much on the web and always tempted to buy a book. Luckily I live only 5 miles from Amazon’s UK distribution centre!One site that consistently produces first class and up to date information about all aspects of fitness and performance is Human Kinetics. Their mission is “to produce innovative, informative products in all areas of physical activity that help people worldwide lead healthier, more active lives.”
A grand vision and one I think they are managing extremely well. I have bought around 12 of their books over the last five years and they never fail to disappoint. From specialist to general fitness subjects you will find a top quality source for information.
Visit their website at Human Kinetics
5. Special Offer!
As a valued subscriber to the eZone ezine I am offering you 30 percent off the usual price of my Improve your posture w ithout exercise program. That’s a special price of just $9.50. Please note some of the procedures in this program are taken from my Fit for Life ProgramInformation about the program can be found at Improve posture without exercise I apologise in advance for the sales letter style but they are the best way to sell on the web (apparently).
To get the program at the discount offer price come back to this page and click on this link Improve Posture Program Offer
HURRY! - Offer expires at the end of April 2006!
I hope you enjoyed this issue and found something that will be of interest or use to you in your training program. Please feel free to email this ezine to your friends.
Regards
Roy Palmer
Next issue will be sent out early May 2006.