Blog Archive

I recently stumbled upon a great article from K. Anders Ericsson PhD about Deliberate Practice and Expert Performance.

A few things jumped out at me.

1. We’re all wired for good enough.  Especially for everyday tasks.  It seems one of our main functions is to get to a level of competency at something, enough that the task becomes automatic, as quickly as possible. This decreases the demand on our working memory.  Its a great idea to get you though your day as efficiently and effectively as possible.  Not worrying about depressing the clutch as I shift gears while driving, allows me to fist pump to Journey.

2.  The trouble is, good enough, isn’t good enough for elite performance.  Athletes often get mired in a stage of arrested development once they reach a satisfactory level of performance, and they don’t have to think very much about the task at hand.  Improvement is hard to come by.

3. Once an athlete reaches a certain level of skill, more experience doesn’t, in itself, get them better. Deliberate and focused practice does however. Experts have to work hard to ovoid automaticity (real word).

4. Sometimes athletes give up their commitment to improvement,  Ericsson calls this ‘premature automation’ of performance.

A good example of a skill where most folks are in some sort of arrested development, is running.  Competency, when you’re no longer in danger of falling, is usually found early on, around 5 or 6 years old. At this point you’re ‘good enough’, and you don’t have to think too hard about where the foot goes, or what the arms have to do. The process has become largely automatic.  More experience or exposure to running doesn’t make the action any more elegant (the heart and lungs get better, but the stride doesn’t improve), and so progress slows… unless you engage in some sort of deliberate practice.

The same could be said for an air squat, double unders, pull-ups or diet.

Ask yourself, what areas am I in a stage of arrested development?

Oh ya, it so happens, I’m hosting a 10 week running workshop with Dan, and Sheppy for all you premature automaters out there. Lots of deliberate practice.

Today’s Strength Element:

A1. 3-5 Strict Pullups w/ 3 breath hold at the top*, 5 sets

A2. 5 Cuban Press, 5 sets

A3. 20 – 30 Hollow Rocks, 5 sets

*Use band assist if needed.  Add weight if possible.

Today’s Workout:

1/2 Length Beep Test w/ flop pushup

Coaches, budget 15 min for this workout

Andy