Henri - The sport science nerd

Part 7. The fallen leaves tell a story of how a nerd spent way too many hours to get all different endings...

Apart from the reference, examining the circumstances aroud past peak performance moments can be incredibly informative - especially if you look at them through the lens that appreciates the fact that they only emerge if the structure as a whole can support them.

Make sure the structure can support the cool things you want it to express. Go for sustainable practice that doesn't neglect the fundamental elements and makes sure you're strong enough for whatever you want to be able to do.

Now all of this is a bit different for athletes who taper to time their peak performance for a specific moment and artists who have to perform at a high level week after week. The cost/reward and risk/reward -ratios differ quite a bit... but while the situation is different, the underlying exercise physiology is the same.

Play the long game, but also remember to stop to admire the leaves when they're there for it.

(If you missed what I'm talking about, see part 1)

Part 6. Reality is affected - and perhaps to a degree constructed - by a vast collection of consistent actions.

I kinda feel like rambling on about the existential dread of what the collection of consistent actions of humanity as a whole has built, but I'll try to stick with the hopeful aspects this notion can teach us about training.

Single moments don't define you, they can mostly just inform and adjust the course as a whole. Most moments don't have the power to make or break you - and the ones that do are ones you arrive at through hard work, some luck, and a vast collection of consistent actions.

Cutting through the noise and recognizing what matters most saves a lot of time and energy. Try not to stress over minute details where keeping the big picture clear is enough. The details will follow.

Part 5. The environment is absolutely among the most important factors - if not the most important. Sequoia can't survive in the cold or dark and basically nothing can survive a hurricane.

The environment doesn't determine everything, but it sets some of the boundaries on what's possible and affects the difficulty setting of many different things.

Access to clean air and water, conditions that enable good nutritional choices, circumstances that allow restful sleep, access to training facilities/equipment, resources to treat/medicate what needs treatment/medication, acces to reliable info on training, education that helps you assess the reliability of information, social circle / community that supports healthy choices and allows self-expression, resources that allow you to prioritize your health and/or performance...

As a random example of luck and priviledge I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have the option to see dermatologist that knew to test for Lyme disease and treat it before it got bad. With luck I could be fine, with poorer luck I could have serious issues...

We all have luck-based things that hinder us and things that help us. We can also make choices that move the whole environment in a direction where luck becomes less necessary.

Be kind to yourself and others.

(If you missed what I'm talking about, see part 1)

Some of the long-standing almost-impossible-to-break world records are things one human has been able to do once in their lifetime. Getting there usually leads to a very exceptional level overall, but the process respects the fact that the absolute peak is - by its inherent nature - transient and fleeting.

If you want to maintain readiness to perform at your own peak level all the time, you must keep your overall total load low enough that you're decently recovered all the time.

If you want to push your limits and go for occational functional overreaching, you must be able to predict and affect the total load and the upcoming deload periods - and then actually do the deload.

While the underlying adaptations follow the same principles, the reality around power and strength sports is different that that around team or skill sports - and if you're an artist with physically challenging art form, you kinda maybe need to train like an athlete, BUT you absolutely need to know what kind of athlete. They're not all the same.

The physical preparedness of a fire-rescue can be maintained year after year, the readiness to break world records can't.

Performance level fluctuates over time - and the higher the level, the more clear it is and the more important it is to undestand the implications.

If you train, make peace with it, aim to understand what it normal and be patient towards yourself. If you coach, aim to see when things happen as expected and when the timing of the seasons seems "off". Changes in climate can be weird...

Either way - be kind and understand the cyclical nature of life. And if you want to minimize the fluctuations, understand what that means. More on that next.

Part 2. Some of the roots here represent things like sleep, nutrition, load management, social life etc, which then converge to form the base - your overall health.

A couple of nights of poor sleep every now and then isn't a problem, but accumulating sleep debt or recurring sleep disturbances are. A week of weird eating isn't too bad, but severe deficiencies or eating disorders can be crippling.

The system aims to maintain allostatic balance (balance that reacts to changing demands) and fluctuates around it. As you place demands on it, you also need to give it the time and resources to meet those demands. If the needs aren't met, problems start to accumulate under the surface.

The most apparent changes are often the result of countless invisible factors that accumulate over longer periods of time. Appearances never tell the whole story.

There's a reason games use skill trees to represent many phenomenae around training and learning. It works.

It's not a perfect metaphor and in some situations it does break down, but such is the nature of all metaphors. I'll be focusing on the things it can help illustrate better than most.

I was considering using Canva to make the same point with few slides and pictures, but I decided to go with a whiteboard and uncut video clip instead. I'm pretty tired of AI content, so here's something old school.

I'm also not a fan of super-polished fast-paced videos where all micro-pauses have been edited out, so in the near future my format will be this: what you see here is what you can expect to get in a live setting. This might be uncool in todays world, but I'm fine with being uncool. 🙂