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Off-Topic Simple Game Changers

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Adam R Mundorf

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Hello Everybody,

I wanted to start a thread on simple and easy to implement game changers. It can be mobility, health, strength training, philosophy or even diet.

For me, daily joint mobility has been a huge game changer. Specifically, the trifecta from convict conditioning 2.

Thank you, Adam
 
Well, "game changer" is always relative to what you're currently doing or not doing. Whether something changes the game depends on what the existing game is.

Here are a few for me, off the top of my head. Some of these occurred at a very young age, and some more recently:

--Realizing that defense in basketball is about preventing the other team from scoring, not just guarding your man, and that offense is about your team scoring, not whether you put the ball in the basket yourself.

--Learning to read the rhythm of an opposing player's dribble from the floor up, not from the hand down, and to attack an opposing player's dribble when ball hits the floor and is on the way up.

--Starting to drink coffee.

--Deciding that I will never snooze an alarm or even mentally acknowledge that the snooze button exists.

A few more specifically training-related:

--Learning to snatch a kettlebell.

--"Train today like you are planning to set a personal record tomorrow. Then train the same way tomorrow."

--Let the accumulated time and volume do the work, not how tired you make yourself.

--Swinging clubbells and Indian clubs.

--OS resets.

--The David Allen band pull-apart super series:



--The Ido Portal diagonal stretch:



The BIGGEST game changers were getting married and having a child, but the thread title said "simple."
 
Well, "game changer" is always relative to what you're currently doing or not doing. Whether something changes the game depends on what the existing game is.

Here are a few for me, off the top of my head. Some of these occurred at a very young age, and some more recently:

--Realizing that defense in basketball is about preventing the other team from scoring, not just guarding your man, and that offense is about your team scoring, not whether you put the ball in the basket yourself.

--Learning to read the rhythm of an opposing player's dribble from the floor up, not from the hand down, and to attack an opposing player's dribble when ball hits the floor and is on the way up.

--Starting to drink coffee.

--Deciding that I will never snooze an alarm or even mentally acknowledge that the snooze button exists.

A few more specifically training-related:

--Learning to snatch a kettlebell.

--"Train today like you are planning to set a personal record tomorrow. Then train the same way tomorrow."

--Let the accumulated time and volume do the work, not how tired you make yourself.

--Swinging clubbells and Indian clubs.

--OS resets.

--The David Allen band pull-apart super series:



--The Ido Portal diagonal stretch:



The BIGGEST game changers were getting married and having a child, but the thread title said "simple."

Awesome list, what made the coffee drinking a game changer?
 
- "pin and move" self massage with a lacrosse ball
- athletic hip hinge (more knee bend during swings)
- Reading for at least 6 minutes before sleep
- OS resets
- Taking a walk in the evening
- Drinking tap water
- Deep relaxation / meditation practices (autogenic training, MBSR, etc.)
 
Game changer for kettlebell beginners: starting the swing not from the ground, but from the top position of the sumo deadlift. I saw this in a SF video with Zac Horton but never have seen mentioned as a valuable coaching cue in itself. Instant fix for the typical beginner low-power squatty pendulum swing.

Relax into Stretch. Even though it's 20 years old, for some reason unlike other ideas introduced by Pavel, "strength stretching" hasn't caught on at all and popular online flexibility/mobility advice still tends to range from ineffective to harmful. In my opinion it is an essential component to a well rounded fitness routine.

Dietary game changer: ceasing to consume seed oils. Everything seems to feel better. I don't get sick, cuts and bruises heal almost instantly, injuries resolve much quicker. Fat falls off without calorie counting or feeling hungry. My wife used to have painful periods that rendered her practically bedridden; the medical advice was that she would need to start using hormonal contraception to regulate her menstrual cycle. After eating seed oil free for a month or two the periods are pain-wise barely noticeable and don't impact any of her regular activities.
 
Awesome list, what made the coffee drinking a game changer?
Because it's one of my greatest pleasures, and one of the simplest/easiest to enjoy.

I just love drinking it (always black). I also enjoy the effects of caffeine, although I almost always only drink coffee in the morning, so I'm not constantly dosing myself with caffeine throughout the day, and I don't really ingest anything else that has caffeine, other than the occasional cup of tea.
 
Well, "game changer" is always relative to what you're currently doing or not doing. Whether something changes the game depends on what the existing game is.

Here are a few for me, off the top of my head. Some of these occurred at a very young age, and some more recently:

--Realizing that defense in basketball is about preventing the other team from scoring, not just guarding your man, and that offense is about your team scoring, not whether you put the ball in the basket yourself.

--Learning to read the rhythm of an opposing player's dribble from the floor up, not from the hand down, and to attack an opposing player's dribble when ball hits the floor and is on the way up.

--Starting to drink coffee.

--Deciding that I will never snooze an alarm or even mentally acknowledge that the snooze button exists.

A few more specifically training-related:

--Learning to snatch a kettlebell.

--"Train today like you are planning to set a personal record tomorrow. Then train the same way tomorrow."

--Let the accumulated time and volume do the work, not how tired you make yourself.

--Swinging clubbells and Indian clubs.

--OS resets.

--The David Allen band pull-apart super series:



--The Ido Portal diagonal stretch:



The BIGGEST game changers were getting married and having a child, but the thread title said "simple."

I love your basketball stuff. I'm retired from it. Not going to pop my Achilles at 52. My buddy just did it over the summer playing 3x3.
In regard to hoops, one game changer is understanding the art of passing the ball. Anyone can make a shot. A guy who can make great passes has court vision and is selfless. So that being said: If you want to score a lot of points on easy shots.....

LEARN HOW TO CUT AND MOVE WITHOUT THE BALL. That is another gamechanger. Nothing is more frustrating than getting the ball on the high post and everyone is standing at the arc. I HATE the 3. Cut to the hoop or backscreen and let another guy cut. I'll find you.

I'll take Magic and Larry over Michael and Kobe any day of the week.

Discovering kettlebells was a gamechanger for me.
 
Investing in a good strength trainer/coach to program for me long term, who then adjusts my program, reps, sets, weight, cycle in response to how I feedback, videos, and how I'm doing.

Then just following it, taking away a whole load of cognitive overload

Rather than:
  1. Not seeing the forest for the trees.
  2. Overthinking it.
  3. Adding in extra lifts because they offer something else, until the whole thing becomes unwieldily.
  4. Overtraining or lifting very heavy/maxing too often.
  5. Constantly changing programs.
Also:

Two days a week strength training now I'm in my mid 40s per the recommendation of the Barbell Prescription. Leading to:
  • Better recovery.
  • Better flexibility for the business of life, family, work, and travel.
  • More consistency.
  • More energy.
  • Enough days left over for aerobic training.
  • Better strength gains than I've had on a 3x week program.
Having a trainer and 2x week program at the same time has been the biggest game changer.
 
"Train today like you are planning to set a personal record tomorrow. Then train the same way tomorrow."
I have seen this said a few different ways, but it is some of the best advice that too few people follow.

Actually deloading after a period of hard training
this too!

I would add that lately, a big one for me that falls in line with the above two is:

Train things that make your body feel better after training.

For most of my "training career," I have trained to perform feats (mostly calisthenics feats) while relagating the above notion to "prehab days" or just to when my body felt crummy enough that I HAD to train that way. Training while prioritizing the goals of making my body feel and move better has been a big step forward.
 
In regard to hoops, one game changer is understanding the art of passing the ball. Anyone can make a shot. A guy who can make great passes has court vision and is selfless.
Agreed. But there's passing and there's playmaking. Passing is seeing the floor and being able to anticipate or quickly recognize the right pass so you can deliver the ball on time and on time target. Playmaking is manipulating the defense to create openings for other players. There was point in my playing career when I went from "get me the ball" to "get me the ball and I'll get you an open shot."

So that being said: If you want to score a lot of points on easy shots.....

LEARN HOW TO CUT AND MOVE WITHOUT THE BALL. That is another gamechanger. Nothing is more frustrating than getting the ball on the high post and everyone is standing at the arc.
No, nothing is more frustrating than making good cuts off the ball and getting ignored, which is the norm in a lot of pickup games.

I HATE the 3.
I felt this way for a long time. I grew up partly before the three point shot was adopted by the NBA (1979) so I didn't even watch games with it as a kid, it was not in high school or college ball when I was in school (adopted in 1986 by the NCAA and 1987 by HS), and even for many years later there was often no three point line on outdoor courts. So it just wasn't part of my experience of the game.
,
However, I've grown to like it, both as a player and fan. It's a part of the game that rewards skill, not just size or athleticism. And the math is undeniable. You just can't compete shooting twos against a team that can hit threes. This is even more pronounced in pickup games where you play with ones and twos instead of twos and threes. Here's Dan D'Antoni's (brother of Mike, coach of Marshall University) after being questioned during a post game press conference about taking a lot of threes:


The other thing I like about the three is how it spaces the court. If you have to guard players at the three point line, you can't be packed in the paint. That opens up driving lanes and allows for a lot more creativity on offense, so dribble penetration is still a hugely important skill. That's where playmaking comes in. You can run around and pass the ball all you want, but if you can't break down the defense, you aren't going to get good shots. That's one reason college ball is so much slower and more boring that the NBA -- a shorter three point line and much worse shooters (and lower skilled players in general), allow defenses to pack in and muck the game up.

The NBA used to have complicated illegal defense rules to force defenses to spread out and allow the offense some space. Now they just have a defensive three second rule, which they could just as well get rid of. The spacing happens organically because defenses have to guard the three point line. This has also put a much bigger premium on versatile team defenders who can switch and defend in space. Immobile unskilled bigs are a thing of the past, and pretty much good riddance. A traditional power forward who is a rebounder, post player and post defender, but can't shoot or defend perimeter players, kills your spacing and gets targeted and roasted on defense. I watch a lot of classic games, and love a lot of the historical players (I'm usually the one arguing that they would still be great today and would adapt to today's game), but overall I prefer the current style of play.

"Train today like you are planning to set a personal record tomorrow. Then train the same way tomorrow."
I have seen this said a few different ways, but it is some of the best advice that too few people follow.
That line is from Dan John, although I don't recall the specific context.
 
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