Category Archives: Sports

Squash: Video, Exaggerate, Dance!

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1.) Video: you might not be doing what you think you are doing.

The most shocking moment of my squash life was watching myself playing on video tape for the first time. I had been playing for decades. Who is that guy? He’s not bending his knees.
He looks so awkward. Oh, no, that’s not me is it? And sure enough.I thought I was bending my knees but I wasn’t. What to do?

2.) Exaggerate – just a little! Every shot say a little more. Bend those needs a little more. Hold the racket a little higher. Put in a little more torque! Make the swing a little looser!

3.) Dance! Make sure you split step after every single shot! If you do you will feel like you are dancing. You feel the rhythm throughout your body until the music stops. Every drill is a chance to feel the rhythm and the dance.

YOUR TURN: Have you ever recorded yourself playing a sport? Did it help you?

Getting from Point A to Point B on a squash court can be Counter-intuitive

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1. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right?
2. Speed is the essence of sports and war, right?
3. Therefore if the ball is at point B and you are at point A, take a straight line route, right?
4. Not always. The straight line route to an opponent’s drop shot  from the T can mean being in a very awkward position.
5. The best standard approach should be to go straight first and then make a lateral lunge
so that you are in optimal position to hit a powerful deep rail or the shot of your choice.
6. My squash coach sometimes put a chair on the court in front of the T on one side of
the drop shot that must be countered – forcing the player to go around the chair rather
than straight to it.

YOUR TURN: Can you think of analogies to other sports? To life? Is the indirect approach sometimes best? Examples?

Should it be required K-12? Favorite dancers? Greatest Dancer Ever? Greatest Dance? Dance highlights of your life?

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DANCE RANT: all humans are wired to dance – yes, dance should be required K-12
1.) The joy of dance is one of the most basic human joys. Babies dance in their cribs. Toddlers can’t stop dancing.
2.) But schools suck the joy of dancing out of most students, especially boys. By age 18 most boys feel that they “can’t dance.”
3.)  Dance is the best way to introduce kids to music. The first element of music is rhythm.
4.) Dance is the best way to teach the importance of self-control.
5.) Dance is the best way to teach cooperation.
6.) Dance is a great way to teach human anatomy and the laws of physics.
DANCE HIGHLIGHTS OF MY LIFE
1.) Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Blue Danube Waltz
2.) Laendler Waltz scene, Sound of Music, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen in White Christmas, Banderas and Zeta-Jones Tango in The Mask of Zorro; Jimmy Steward and Donna Reed Charleston scence in It’s a Wonderful Life
3.) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers : Night and Day
4.) Spanish dance lessons (with castanets) age 8.
5.) Learning to Waltz
6.) The “Mad Dog” dance in high school – a case of tarantism
7.) Mikhail Baryshykov: my candidate for best athlete in human history
DANCE HISTORY – RANDOM HIGHLIGHTS
1. The Moonwalk – from Marcel Marceau to Michael Jackson
2. The Popularity of Ballroom dancing in Maoist China and in parks across China today
3. Renoir, Dance at the Moulin Rouge
4. The surprising popularity of Gangnam Style (perhaps most liked video ever on Youtube)
YOUR TURN:
Please share your thoughts or your favorite dance video.

Squat or Push-Up?

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WHAT”S THE BEST EXERCISE EVER – SQUAT, PUSH-UP, OR OTHER?
1.) If you have time to do only one exercise, what would it be?
a.) squats
b.) push-ups
c.) jumping jacks
d.) other
2.) What is the most efficient, balanced package of exercises ever developed in human
history?
a.) Canadian AIr Force Exercise Book
b.) Other?
In the 1950s the Canadian Air Force developed an awesome physical training program that only takes 12 minutes per day (women)  11 minutes per day (men). And involves zero equipment. Helen Mirren swears by it. A used copy of the original fitness manual costs $31 on Amazon (not the usual $.33). Price differential may reflect value differential. But you can get it for free online!
Does all the expensive equipment we use today really add any value?
Another instance of the best things in life being free?
So why isn’t the program more popular?
No money in it.
The 5BX plan for dudes takes 11 minutes.
toe touching/warm-up:  2 minutes
partial sit-ups: 1 minute
leg lifts: 1 minute
push-ups: 1 minute
stationary running: 6 minutes.
Here’s the XBX plan for the ladies:
toe touching/warm-up: 30 seconds
knee raising: 30 seconds
arm circling: 30 seconds
partial sit-ups: 30 seconds
chest and leg raising: 2 minutes
side leg raising: 1 minute
push-ups (from a kneeling position): 2 minutes
leg lifting: 1 minute
run and hop: 3 minutes
YOUR TURN: What do you think is the best exercise?

The Three Keys to Maximizing Fitness

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Nothing matters more in life than proper posture, breathing, and smiling.
Principle #1: build the core with every breath by maintaining proper posture.
But proper posture is hard to maintain. Especially if you were not taught
what it is. Proper posture does not feel right at first (for most people).
When instructed to stand tall, most people put the chin up. But this only
gives the illusion of being taller. To maximize your height you tuck the chin
ever so slightly in which raises the sternum and engages the core.
Principle #2: maximize oxygen inflow and nitrogen oxide production
through deep abdominal breathing – most easily accomplished
nasally with proper posture. This the wisdom of the meditative traditions from the four corners of the earth confirmed by the research of the likes of Herbert Benson,
cardiologist, professor at Harvard Medical School, and the founder of
the Mind/Body Institute at the Mass General Hospital.
Principle #3: Smile (ie. raise the zygomatic muscles ever so slightly)
Attitude is everything. You (in the form of negative thinking) are your
own worst enemy. Use the smile as a mnemonic for “I can” and
“I will” (be my best, play “as if” I were the player I want to be —
Nadal, Federer, WIlliams…..), visualizing that perfect, basket, that
perfect stop spin bounce deep in the court, focusing on the
proper preparation, angle of the body, contact point, follow through,
feeling the looseness, the relaxation, the weight shift, the instant
recovery….
YOUR TURN: What do you do for fitness?

Best Fitness Tip Ever: the proper angle of the head

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1) The greatest obstacle to achieving proper posture is that for most humans it does not feel right or natural. When a typical human is told to stand tall, the response usually involves raising rather than lowering the chin. But it is the slight lowering of the chin that maximizes your height.
The chin feels slightly “in” rather than “out.”

2) When the chin is ever so slightly in, the sternum rises and the core muscles are engaged.The constant engagement of the core muscles strengthens them.The proper angle of the head doesn’t only make you look stronger, it makes you stronger. The proper angle of the head not only makes you look taller, it makes you taller.

3) But it is a very slight adjustment. Finding the perfect angle is an art and a science and usually takes quite some time to find it, cultivate it, and maintain it without stiffness. But the results are stunning and clearly visible whenever an Olympic athlete, ballerina, or soldier walks in a room. The angle of their heads is always perfect and always the same. Their careers demand it.