Blog 30 – Deliberate Development…
Hi Folks!
As of July 15, we are reintroducing equipment back into our Groups Strength and Conditioning classes! I can’t promise that Nigel won’t still be programming hill sprints regularly, BUT I will tell you that he (like all of us) is excited to put weights in your hands again… perhaps while doing hills sprints… you never know with him…
Anyway, with the reintroduction of weights and loadings, it’s also probably a good time to start reintroducing some little tips and tricks for that butt stuff and brain gainZ we like to talk about. “This one,” you ask? Deliberate development. “What’s that,” you ask? In this instance, it’s a concept authored by Robert Kagan and Lisa Laskow Lahey in the book, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization. “Another book, Dylan?” Yes. “Where did, I find this?” I dunno. “What makes me think I can use the concepts of business culture to write about strength and conditioning?” Because I’m the one slapping the keyboard over here and Jocelyn hasn’t told me to rein it in yet.
So what is it? Deliberate development is an idea that people need to deliberately create scenarios in their lives in order to continue to grow and develop as people. Not all that off the wall of a concept, but humans have a funny ability to find the path of least resistance and then hold REALLY strongly to patterns that don’t veer too far from the safety of routine. There are many issues with this, some minor that no one would ever notice and others that affect other people and groups. Deliberate development is just finding opportunities to introduce feedback in to your life in order to continuously and consciously develop your schema. Pretty simple really, or for the sake of the blog and the remaining 200 words or so, I’ll leave the concept simple to oh so astutely write this blog with hyperbolic conviction.
We can apply this concept in many ways, but since I introduced “weights” in the introduction of the blog you inherently understand that this is the example that I will now use to blow your minds… or help you deliberately develop for the day. Coaches have spoken before about how relatively simple strength and conditioning is – gradually and safely increase loading overtime and the GAINZ Train will circumnavigate the metaphorical Earth that is your body and never have to stop at another stations. It’s science. (Yes, there are other factors in life such as aging that will slow the train, but please refer to said hyperbolic conviction for simplicity.) So then, if we take science as fact (Yes, this is a reference to our current political and social environment), then the actual hard part about strength and conditioning is developing the individual and not the process. And how do you continuously develop the individual? (Look at all these callbacks!) You drive adaption by deliberately incorporating new feedback on your body in the form of weights or loading.
We often get in to patterns at the gym too. We have to work out in the same spot. We have to use the same barbell. We have to use the dumbbell with the rubber grip or the kettlebell with the steel grip. But what these really are is your brain holding steadfast to the routines and patterns that make us feel safe (refer to my previous blog about “perfectionism” showing up in the gym). So what can we do about it? We have to get comfortable introducing unknowns into our workout. Heavier weights, different implements, challenging our selves to do one more rep (then maybe 5 more… SAFELY) before we rest. All of these are internally driven. Ultimately, it is up to you. You are the only one that sits with your own emotions, fears, desires, and choices. Coaches can challenge you, talk you through your internal conversations, and give you that little bit of belief in yourself to have the confidence to fail, but you have to make the choice. So what’s it going to be?
D