Thoughts.

A gem dropped in a Force Flick post, this Men’s Health piece about deep muscle fascia and the massive role it plays in posture and, by extension, body function, is well worth the read. Makes me want to turn the scalpel to the side and do my own fascia examinations in the dissection lab.

Great to see this stuff hitting “conventional” fitness sources like Men’s Health. If you don’t already, consider foam rolling and mobility work as part of your warm-up routine.

Good to see somebody(ies) reporting; check out U Catch for your elite trends and reports. I’m interested to see what other content they churn out, especially now as the big tourneys wrap up and we move into a month of relatively quiet sectionals matchups.

Speaking of sectionals, I’m off to Lancaster this weekend. No real preview necessary; the easy goal is to make regionals. Slightly harder, but very doable, is doing so with the 2nd-place bid. Process goals include continuing to get in flow/on the same page on offense (myself and as a team); continuing to refine decision-making with the disc and execution when I do throw; and dominating on defense, both when guarding players and once we get the turn.

Been feeling great lately (minor bout of shin splints at week’s start notwithstanding). First track workout (why so late?) last week, been focusing on core strength a lot so I can keep my power stable and directed. We’ll see if the fifth gear is fully back this weekend, and keep working to get that sixth one too…

Via Jim Biancolo, interesting research claiming ibuprofen (taken chronically, for endurance athletes) paradoxically contributes to MORE inflammation.

I always view prescriptive articles based off of one study with skepticism, but it’s worth considering–I have heard before of ibuprofen’s disruptive effect on muscle rebuilding/recovery, and there are some health risks associated with (very high, sustained) usage, so be wary of treating it as a vitamin, despite the joking reference.

Check out some details on Dr. Thomas Crawford.

Sounds like he’s got some great experience growing an online presence and as a former US Olympic Committee member (Director of Coaching) he’s certainly got experience working with organizations for sports similar to ours.

Time will tell how he turns out, but at a glance he seems like a solid selection by the UPA!

Congrats to team USA on bringing home the gold! I can only imagine how great it must feel.

The Huddle has a great link roundup of all the related info, with pictures. Looks like they updated the site’s regular picture rotation with World Games shots too; as good an excuse as any to go back through the archives!

This Wired article about why we sometimes slip up and do the things we’re trying so hard NOT to do hints at the power of the human subconscious and its relation to sport. It’s definitely worth a read, especially if you’re a Neuroscience/Psych nerd like me, and points at two big takeaway points for ultimate.

Wired.com: It doesn’t seem practical to say, “Don’t try to think about not spilling wine on the carpet in a stressful situation,” when being at the party in the first place is stressful.

Wegner: Sometimes you’re stuck. The great leveler is making these processes automatic. In sports, people do things over and over until the action is automatic. It becomes so automatic that you don’t have the same mental process to engage. The whole thing has become unconscious. That only comes with practice.

The person who wants to avoid saying awkward things on the first date — well, by the 30th date, they’re not doing it anymore. They have to just brave it. In sports we know this, but we don’t think of social life the same way.

There’s one big takeaway–you need to hone your skills to the point that you stop thinking about them.

The other takeaway? How you phrase and frame your efforts (more particularly, how you talk and how you think) has a huge effect. Going into a game thinking “I can’t drop a disc” means you’re gearing your subconscious to think about dropping a disc and stopping it–all it takes is a tight moment, some extra stress, to engender exactly the outcome you’re trying to avoid. Thinking “I will catch every disc” doesn’t generate those same connotations. Talk in positives.

For those of you who’ve been away from RSD of late, it’s worth noting that Jim Biancolo has thrown together a Greasemonkey script, “Toadless,” that filters out some 70% of RSD, for better or worse (I imagine more than 70% of RSD readers would claim for better).

Check his guide for full instructions.

If you’ve yet to discover it, the The Eternal Battle of Love and Hate is churning out a fair bit of women’s content of late relating to nationals.  Nice to see blogs like this and Movin’ On Up pop up to fill the coverage void.

We need more people to step up and contribute their coverage, and more importantly we need to consolidate it somehow so it presents a cogent view of our sport.  I’m not quite sure how to go about this short of the emergence of another news site with dedicated staffing; my ideal vision has something less rigid and more web 2.0, open and collaborative.  I’m willing to help put in some of the work but at a loss as to what direction to channel efforts into.



Any readers out there have ideas or visions?  Should we just continue to wait for somebody else to blog or write about it, and remain in the dark?