Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Hard skills & soft skills
As I continue reading "The Little Book Of Talent", one of the really interesting chapters are on defining and developing the two types of skills; hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills refer to a skill that must be done and repeated with machine like precision every time. A Soft skill is more about building the ability to recognize patterns, becoming agile and flexible to many different situations.
When I read this chapter through my BMX filter, I can see how hard skills and soft skills totally relate to BMX riding. To me a gate start is something that is going to be almost identical no matter where you go. Your set up and form will be something that will stay consistent and requires a huge amount of accuracy, thus making this a Hard skill. This is important to recognize because it shapes the way we would go about training a hard skill.
Gate starts need to be trained slowly and more methodically than working on a soft skill. You would want to prioritize this kind of training by doing starts after you warm up but while you're still physically and mentally fresh. Gate starts shouldn't be done to failure or in an exhausted state. Building the fundamentals are going to be essential to this process. If you have a terrible start this would be where you would want to really focus and visualize a good gate start. If you can't balance very well, start there. Practice balancing and nothing else for a week or two before moving on to the actual start. Balance sitting, standing, left foot, right foot forward, eyes closed, these skills are fundamental to building confidence and a great gate. Think about what it takes and pay attention to how you look while doing it. You will probably want to fall back into what you already know, but it's essential to maintain working on doing it the right way and building a new skill. The author compares skills to sled tracks in the snow. It's hard to erase the old tracks but it is possible to build new tracks that are deeper.
I would consider riding the rest of the track a soft skill. These skills need to be built through practice but not necessarily the same way as you would train gate starts. You need to work on taking jumps in multiple ways, different speeds, choosing different lines around a berm and working on race strategy by trying different moves. Trying different lines on a rhythm section after a race would be another way to develop soft skills. The goal is to be as flexible as possible, possess many bike handling skills and be able to read what the competition is doing before they even do it. Seriously buy this book! It has tons of tips that relate to so much in bmx, other sports, music, and life.
When I read this chapter through my BMX filter, I can see how hard skills and soft skills totally relate to BMX riding. To me a gate start is something that is going to be almost identical no matter where you go. Your set up and form will be something that will stay consistent and requires a huge amount of accuracy, thus making this a Hard skill. This is important to recognize because it shapes the way we would go about training a hard skill.
Gate starts need to be trained slowly and more methodically than working on a soft skill. You would want to prioritize this kind of training by doing starts after you warm up but while you're still physically and mentally fresh. Gate starts shouldn't be done to failure or in an exhausted state. Building the fundamentals are going to be essential to this process. If you have a terrible start this would be where you would want to really focus and visualize a good gate start. If you can't balance very well, start there. Practice balancing and nothing else for a week or two before moving on to the actual start. Balance sitting, standing, left foot, right foot forward, eyes closed, these skills are fundamental to building confidence and a great gate. Think about what it takes and pay attention to how you look while doing it. You will probably want to fall back into what you already know, but it's essential to maintain working on doing it the right way and building a new skill. The author compares skills to sled tracks in the snow. It's hard to erase the old tracks but it is possible to build new tracks that are deeper.
I would consider riding the rest of the track a soft skill. These skills need to be built through practice but not necessarily the same way as you would train gate starts. You need to work on taking jumps in multiple ways, different speeds, choosing different lines around a berm and working on race strategy by trying different moves. Trying different lines on a rhythm section after a race would be another way to develop soft skills. The goal is to be as flexible as possible, possess many bike handling skills and be able to read what the competition is doing before they even do it. Seriously buy this book! It has tons of tips that relate to so much in bmx, other sports, music, and life.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
January book club
So I just bought the book, err I mean e-book "The Little Book Of Talent". I'm about 20 pages in, and this thing is F'ing awesome. I can actually feel myself get a little smarter as I read it, If I retain that intelligence is another story. The book, basically is all about the best, most efficient ways to learn a new skill. This is particularly helpful for us BMXers, because building new skills, honing the ones we already have, and breaking bad habits are so important in this sport.
I'll probably be doing short blog posts as I read along in the book. The first one that I really felt to be important is "Steal without apology". In short, it's about really paying attention to what the masters do and how they do it. Steal it and make it your own. Focus on the specific motions, not the general impression of the motion. When you see someone do a gate start or carve a berm, notice exactly the way they do it. Notice the little things like how the elbow bends while cornering or torso angle while doing a gate start. Now pay attention to how YOU do it, and figure out what's different.
This applies to almost any skill. If you want to get better at shooting a basketball, make your free throw look like Jason Kidd's shot and not Shaq. Study it, emulate it and take the time to make it a natural thing and you will get better. There's a reason why almost every Elite pro rides in a very similar way, and do gates that look quite similar. It's because that is the right way to do it.
I'll probably be doing short blog posts as I read along in the book. The first one that I really felt to be important is "Steal without apology". In short, it's about really paying attention to what the masters do and how they do it. Steal it and make it your own. Focus on the specific motions, not the general impression of the motion. When you see someone do a gate start or carve a berm, notice exactly the way they do it. Notice the little things like how the elbow bends while cornering or torso angle while doing a gate start. Now pay attention to how YOU do it, and figure out what's different.
This applies to almost any skill. If you want to get better at shooting a basketball, make your free throw look like Jason Kidd's shot and not Shaq. Study it, emulate it and take the time to make it a natural thing and you will get better. There's a reason why almost every Elite pro rides in a very similar way, and do gates that look quite similar. It's because that is the right way to do it.
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