Lessons from skydiving (6) - Smooth is fast. Take your time.

"Remember: Smooth is fast!!"
I heard the instructors saying this to the students of the Basic Underwater Demolition training(BUDs) over and over again. It was a gift from a very dear friend of mine, a documentation about the Making of a NAVY SEAL.
I heard it but I did not truly understand it until my skydiving- course.


Even when we were still practicing the key movements on the ground during the theoretical part of the skydiving- course we were told repetedly to execute the movements smoothly and a bit slower than we thought they should be.

Because during stressful situation movements become shorter, staccato- like.


Martial artist learned to first practice in an environment without stress, where movements can be executed in a smooth, somewhat exaggerated, slower and wider manner.
Only if you start with wide, relaxed motions, only then will there still be any movement left which is still useful during stress.


I want to take about 2 things which can be learned now from this statement:


1) The physical aspect:
Everybody involved in any sport does know how movement tends to change during application under stress.

Be it the martial artist who suddenly gets tight during sparring or in a fight when he should be relaxed and breath freely.
Be it...to be honest, there is no sport coming to my mind when you do not have that kind of problem...Well, maybe Soccer. ;-)

Even if you are playing, e.g., the piano and giving a concert...If you tense up, interrup your flow you got a problem.


This is why training, the steps of learning the technical aspects of your sport, should be happening in an relaxed environment.
Why?
Because our brain is a marvelous, little box.
It not only remembers the physical sensations but the emotional state as well. And as everybody knows emotions translate into physical/bodily reactions back again.

One of the most common examples I get to observe is the frequent shot people recieve when in the hospital.
Sometime in tha past they associated a lot of things with recieving a shot: pain(the injection itself and maybe a hurtful inflammation afterwards), fear(we do not like when being hurt), deception(when mommy told you "this will not hurt"), violence(they had to held you down to give you the shot), disappointment(mommy lied to you), relief(when it is over I feel better).

(To some adults this seems exaggerated but to a child without the proper connections a ability to construct a future based on the events currently happening it may very well seem like this.)

Even when we do know better as an adult("It does not hurt that bad..."; "It´s for the better"/"If I get that shot now I will not suffer in the future", etc.) some of us still experience some sensations when facing a needle.
Breathing changes...Somehow it feels like your chest is getting to small for your lungs, your breathing muscles won´t move so freely as they used to. Breathing becomes shallow.
Somehow certain muscles are very tense...Abdomen, neck, shoulders,...
Your heart is starting to beat faster...faster...faster...

You do not need all this tension, cardio- vascular stress.
It disrupts what some coaches call "flow", a term I really like. It increases your energy demands and robs your precious recources.
A lesson I´m still learning when having a sparring situation and somehow I get tense(which is still happening much)... I´m a quite physically fit individual but those tensions combined with the demands of perception, action and reaction, movement burn me out very fast. At least it happens to everybody. ;-)



Ok...Old dogs not only can learn new things, they can learn new ways of learning.
Still... They are old dogs and have already learned a lot of things in ways not very productive.
I will talk about "arousal control" and mental training soon.



Now we are off to number 2) The symbolism behind todays "Lesson from skydiving":

This lesson actually started building itself in my head when attending the Steve Maxwell workshop in July.
We were talking about the execution of movement, the ongoing empahsis on numbers/repetitions under the label of effort/output/power per time aka intensity.
We talked about the goal of training which can differ from person to person and the necessary adaptation of the means to the end.
To show you what I mean: if you want to build a muscular upper back and biceps strict pullups are a great way to accomplish this. Kipping pullups have their value but in a different context.

So it is not just what you do but how you do it.


"It´s not about the present, it´s about the way it is given" to quote my mother.

It is not about what you do but how you do it.
Simply starting you own company and trying to get as much money for yourself without a thought for the well- being of your employees, customers, family, friends will not be enough. Within months you will be out of business.
Simply going into the hospital, running test, diagnosing and treating according to lab results, CT- scans will not make me a successful doctor. True compassion for my patients and mindset of truely helping them to get back into (social) life will make them happy, healthy and myself a better doc.


Too many examples come to my mind to write them all down, many, many more I do not know.
When you stumble over a good example, post a comment below because this is one mather best learned by examples and experience.


Just keep in mind: it´s not just about what you do, but how you do it.


Train hard and enjoy life. Smoothly. ;-)
All the best,
Harry