Similar Posts
Two Brains: Short Term vs. Long Term
Somebody more intelligent than me pointed that we never fully understand anything. What we do is we go one step back in the line of causality. That step back gives a sense of ease and brings us calm. The more I study neuroscience, the more I agree with that view. Today's video is one example of what that means. When making a choice, do you ever feel like you have two brains? ... Well, neuroscience kind of says you do. However, my aim isn't to give the step back but to use that description to improve your decision-making process in the future.Okay, okay, alcohol is complicated, and I wish the answer were that simple. In today's video, I try to embrace its full complexity. I present some ideas I consider valuable when thinking what's the role that alcohol should play in your lifestyle. If you like this video or this topic, make sure to check the references below.
What can we learn from the Gamestop saga?
When I recorded this video, I thought the Gamestop saga was kind of done. Man! I was so wrong. It is still going on! Last night when I realized this, I rushed to watch my video again to confirm it still had value. Phew! It does. And I realized it has value regardless of what happens with GameStop. That was a nice rush and a great reminder. Context is everything for sure. Yet, I want the content I share with you to stand for a little longer than a week. I am happy to say this does.
Even though there are not financial predictions or observations, there are a few cute internet cats and an upgraded set of video transitions and high-quality music. You will effing love it. Watch it and let me know what you think!
Training Hard
We all love to train hard. We love the feeling of working our asses off, yet I think training hard, truly training hard, is greatly misunderstood. Hours of media featuring Energy Drinks, Athletic Shoes, and awesome-sports-movies-action-montages has lead us to confuse training hard with intensity. We have this image in our head that training hard is finishing a workout sweaty and gassed, lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling like somebody just punched us in the face and stole all our money while quoting Jame Joyce. That outcome turns out to be fairly easily achieved: just do 50 burpees as fast as you can without stopping... it will take you less than 5 minutes and if you really commit to not stopping you will finish on the ground regretting life.
What are you getting out of your training?
I love coaching, I love training. I have spent several years of my life in higher education institutions earning various degrees. However it’s in the gym that I have learned the most. Watching people sweat, talking about food, feelings, and the biomechanics of the squat, is where I have seen the most epic battles, and where I have had the biggest impact. I love it. Nonetheless there is one aspect of training/coaching that I have not yet learned how to address very well and that bothers me constantly. This post is an attempt to start changing that.
My Two Main Principles in Fitness and Nutrition
The Strong Story Hypothesis states that the mechanism that enables us to tell, understand, and recombine stories is what separates us, humans, from primates. In other words that storytelling is what makes our thinking brainz special. The exciting thing is that Patrick Winston, its author, was an engineer and a professor at MIT, not an anthropologist or a social sciences guy. For many years he was the head of the Artificial Intelligence Lab. So when he says that storytelling gives us an evolutionary advantage over primates, that is meaningful. He gets to this conclusion by asking the right question. You see, the AI field was always trying to answer the question: can computers reason like humans? Winston made another question, more elegant, more interesting. What makes humans different than primates? Why are we capable of more?
Touché!
Nothing like a good question asked at the right time. In the video below, I present to you the principles that guide my practice in fitness and nutrition. I show them in the form of questions too. I believe this is the most effective way to approach such a complex problem. When you feel sluggish and unproductive today, instead of heading to Facebook, get this video a watch and let me know what you think.
Why train?
In the world of fitness it’s common to hear that you should find a “why” for your training. The idea behind this practice is to find an emotional connection to some part of your identity to use as motivation whenever you feel like you want to throw in the towel, or not get out of bed for your morning workout. Although this can be very useful, it is also the source of a plethora of cheesy motivational memes and worse, it comes with the assumption that exercise is inherently good for our health and all we need is more motivation and willpower. This seems like an innocent idea but it is NOT. This way of thinking takes from us the opportunity to question the physiological purpose of our training, and in doing so set us up for failure before we even start, regardless of how many hours of sweat we put in. I believe that this is the kind of “why” we should identify. Let me explain.
