👋 Hey.
Welcome to issue #49 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter. Thanks for being here.
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (3.5 min read):
🏌 The mental program for skill execution
Lanny Basham is an Olympic gold medal-winning rifle shooter.
His book With Winning in Mind shares the “mental management program” that got him there (which he’s since taught to professional athletes, Fortune 500 CEOs and everyone in between).
Lots of good lessons on the classic stuff – mindset, goals, rehearsal, analysis and more.
Especially the chapter on running a mental program.
It’s an approach to skill execution I’ve never heard detailed like this before.
Might be helpful if you do a repetitive skill like a golf swing, cricket shot, tennis serve, free throw or goal kick.
Righto…
High performance of a specific skill comes down to 2 things:
- Having the micro-skills to execute it
- Doing it consistently
For example, basketball weapon Steph Curry has:
- 🏀 The ability to sink a free throw (balance, hand placement, elbow angles, eyes, follow through, focus)
- 🔁 And the ability to do it consistently (or in his case about 9/10 times)
He’s at the point where he doesn’t have to think about these micro-skills. It’s second nature (or subconscious).
But sometimes nerves, stress, pressure, head noise or just a bad day can make it harder to focus.
That’s where the mental program comes in.
Because it helps us control the conscious mind by reducing negative or unhelpful thoughts.
It’s a 3-step process that triggers the subconscious to perform the skill. Pretty cool.
The 3 steps are 🖐 a physical cue, 🎯 a point of alignment and 👁 a point of focus. Which all might take 5-10 seconds.
So a free throw mental program might look like this:
- 🖐 Physical cue: a deep breath, focus on putting your feet in the right spot, or feeling your hand placement on the ball
- 🎯 Point of alignment: shift focus to where you want the ball to go – look at the hoop, mentally rehearse the shot you want to hit
- 👁 Point of focus: your last picture or thought – focus on the hoop, run a phrase like “3,2,1,” or “execute”.
Then shoot.
The right mental program is different for everyone. Gotta figure out what works for you.
Just make sure it’s simple and repeatable.
🛋 Taking the pressure off rest
I read this from writer Alexey Guzey on napping:
No need to [fall to] sleep. [Your] brain [is] never fully on, never fully off. If I took a 20 minute nap and didn’t fall asleep, I just took an excellent 10 minute nap!
Interesting idea. But is there any science to it?
Turns out, yes.
10-15 mins of closed-eye resting (without sleep) is shown to help memory and motor skills.
And it chills us out too:
“[Closing your eyes for a break] helps restore balance between sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems” – Dr Brandon Peters–Matthews
Good to know.
💪 Collagen vs whey vs plant-based protein
Supplementing protein is an easy way to help hit your daily protein target (1.5g/kg of body weight per day).
Is that important? Catch up here.
But between whey, collagen, plant-based, concentrates, isolates... It’s bloody hard to know what to pick.
Here’s the rundown:
🐮 Whey
- Comes from cow’s milk
- Likely the best protein source per gram for muscle growth and recovery
- Isolate vs concentrate: Isolate is a higher quality protein (about 90% protein vs concentrate which is about 80%). It's been refined to reduce lactose, carbs and fat. So it’s generally more expensive. Can't go too wrong with either though.
🦴 Collagen
- Comes from cow and pig skin
- Good dairy-free option
- Good data for skin, bone and joint health (so maybe something to consider if you’re getting on)
- Decent for muscle growth and recovery. But likely not as good per gram as whey
🌱 Plant-based
- Tends to come from soy, pea and rice (or for best results, a combo)
- Great vegan/vego/dairy-free option
- Decent for muscle growth and recovery. But again likely not as good per gram as whey
Pick your poison ✌️
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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