RRC Archives

A review of Talent is Overrated:
"In explaining what deliberate practice is the author is careful to explain what it is not. Practice does not make perfect. Repetition, repetition and more repetition is not the answer, either. Instead, it consists of five basis elements:
• It’s specifically designed to improve performance.
• It must be repeated a lot where both the amount of repetition and the type of activity are carefully calculated.
• It requires continuous feedback by a teacher, coach or mentor.
• It must be highly demanding mentally.
• It isn’t fun."

Ordering my copy now.

one fall, how can I keep this thread going for days if you succinctly outline the premise?

pigsteak wrote:gary, I think that this is where the discussion divides in that you and I are always trying to get back in shape. we are not "taking it to the next level" of elite performance... my question really was to focus in those who use "deliberate practice", and if it has helped them.

that is the point the books are making....so many "athletes" think they are "practicing" but when they look back at the last ten years of performance they have made little headway in their chosen discipline. it is merely a series of peaks and valleys but no real sustained jump in performance..for me, I am always trying to stay at 12a as a level to gauge my fitness.....but I have not moved that level up in ten years.....

I think what you're missing is that I am in the progress of taking my climbing to the next level. The training I'm doing is far above and beyond what I've ever done before. The key factor here is mostly diet. That and forcing myself to either get on rock/plastic, or be lifting/running 4-5 days a week. In a mere 5 weeks I've gone from completely out of shape barely sticking 5.9 to nearly sending my 12c project.

All the strong climbers have different workouts. But with very few exceptions they are all super fucking skinny. You and I clearly aren't going to get skinny through exercise alone (short of working out 5 hours every day), so diet is the only answer. I'd be glad to give you my diet if you like. I've lost 14 pounds in 3 weeks. Initial losses were huge, now I'm looking to average about 1.5 pounds a week (mainly due to my inability to stop drinking booze). It takes a little preparation, and you need to actually weigh stuff, and figure out exact proportions, and prepare all your meals. But you can actually eat quite a lot of food and still lose weight if you do it right.

Apart from that, you mention how we're always trying to get back into shape...and In my case it's usually after being injured (or going on a long drinking binge), so I've taken a lot of steps to prevent that from happening by working opposing muscles more and adjusting workouts based on how my fingers feel. Also losing weight puts a lot less strain on the body while climbing/running/whatever.

pigsteak wrote:one fall, how can I keep this thread going for days if you succinctly outline the premise?

#5 in my above list is aimed at Matt.

yeah, weight has always been our issue..but I also remember you and I having those conversations about projecting 13a ten years ago...both of us....we have not progressed in ten years, have we? I know I haven't.

oh yeah, congrats on the weight loss and getting psyched on your road trip.....

As the authors state, 99% of golfers will never get better because they only play occasionally. And going to the range and hitting a bucket of balls is not practice in their definition. It is a waste of time because it does not hone in on any specific weakness.

deliberate practice? it works.

9 months later, where you at Shamis?