I play real sports !

I PLAY REAL SPORTS, NOT TRYIN' TO BE THE BEST AT EXERCISIN'



A friend asked me about that quote today , and I readily admitted it was not mine  -- but rather attributed to the fictional character, Kenny Powers, portrayed by Danny McBride (no relation)

Kenny is a down on his luck ex pro baseball player who returns to his hometown after a seemingly failed career , now he's about to  begin a job as a substitute teacher


                                   

Kenny's return to his alma mater, and his outlook on life, is summed up in this relatively quick YOutube clip below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7rbB2bteE



We are not all ex pro ball players,  or ex pro at anything necessarily,  but isn't it irritating for some that, no matter how hard we work out, pump iron, run coolies and gassers, do fascial stretching, pilates, windsprints, and rope climbs,  ------
--that some dude who looks like he shouldn't even be out there shows up and pushes up 315 x 10 in the bench press, or runs a 5:45 mile, or a 4:52 40 yard dash ?

     The Cutler character represents the everyman -- the 30 something or 40 something who is fixated on age group rankings and personal bests  ---- while the chubby schlub, Kenny, has already reached the top of his mountain and is on the downhill slide  (although he claims to be on a comeback)


          There are parallels to real life

In real life , we can figuratively work all the angles , do all the drills , all the daily workouts and windsprints and all the group bicycle rides  ----

Then metaphorically speaking,  there is always one guy who shows up, takes off his jacket , and drills a 100 mph fastball , or does any number of wild, seemingly outrageous things we can never train enough to do

Welcome to the world of the naturally gifted,  vs the rest of us who have to work at it

K Anders Ericcson came up with some theories about the hourly toll of achieving expertise, and that hourly toll is 10,000

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book  Outliers , also expands on that notion  -- the unspoken 10,000 hour rule to achieve greatness


 -- Gladwell notes that success "is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky"

----------  I will unashamedly promote Gladwell's books whenever I can  --------   but

David Epstein (also a Gladwell admirer)  recently published his book  "I The Sports Gene" - not as a counterpoint , but as another view that there is much more to it than just mindlessly putting in the time -- and for some , it may take much less than 10k

              For those interested , these books are true gems  --

Gladwell's volume is full of the promise that, if we expend 10,000 hours at anything, we can achieve excellence

       I have some friends who are aircraft technicians -- this is a heavy job -- if we apply the 10,000 hour rule to this ,  and guess that  the average  man works a solid 250 days a year at his job -- we would see that it would take a diligent man roughly 5 years to achieve mastery  ----
       --- now if we also then assume that the average man really only applies himself half the time at work, -- that stretches out to 10 years 
    ---- I think if you ask a journeyman 20  year wrench how long it takes to "get good" he would probably agree that between 5 and 10 years is a good place to start


                  Epstein blows this apart in his book  though with the insinuation that even if you train 10,000 hours at your sporting event --- there will irritatingly enough be someone bigger than you,  faster than you, stronger than you, or more agile than you
        Bigger, faster , stronger    ----- 

I will add that I am not meaning my blog to be a book report --- but am pointing the individual towards some exceptional reading where they can make their mind up for themselves

     I will say this though -- despite all you 42 year old dudes who may think to the contrary ---- it is not wise to take up karate in your late 30's, get a little bit buffed up on creatine and Clif bars,  then enter your local MMA pre-cursor fights
        This type of thing happens often  -- and often with a series of rude awakenings  --  but real life is not like "Here Comes The Boom"

   That was a fun movie , but the fictional charater portrayed in it is an ex Div 1 collegiate wrestler , 20 years removed -----   I would dare say, in real life, a guy with that pedigree would be closing in on 10,000 hours


But for you guys who are out there trying stunts like that ------- I'm glad you are --- take your black eyes back to your cubicle at the insurance company and you will have stories to tell for years




---------  Like a lot of my blog entries , I am merely scratching the surface and perhaps giving you something to think about
         This has very little to do with time management and working insurance claims , but I am thinking that , given a few workouts --- some of my target audience will find their inner athlete, and decide that running on a hamster wheel and mindlessly working out with no real purpose is a losing proposition
          Unlike Kenny Powers though, I do think triathlon (and all the associated disciplines) are very real sports

       Give yourself a target  -------   

----- hell, even this guy allowed in his Academy Award speech last night that he couldn't live without some sort of a target , -- and his target is him in 10 years .... perpetually --- seems to be working out alright for him - in his particular craft
  

Thanks for reading again



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---- Doug

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disclaimer:    The information contained here is not intended to replace the medical advice of your physician and is not intended as medical advice.  This newsletter/blog is a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the staff of Fitclaimspro.com and professional colleagues unless otherwise noted