State of mind plays a big part too, we can use our emotions but we have to be in control of them.

Our lesson on Saturday involved a demonstration using tennis ball being thrown as hard as possible at the floor in two different ways. Using technique instead of just movement the ball went twice as high.

The same goes for anger (or other emotions) if you can hold it in and release at the right moment, say at the end of a punch it is much more powerful focussed. This is why we yell at the end to release everything in one go.

As you know, every action we take our busy little brains are either 1) predicting or 2) associating. If we are pissed off every time we lift, we are associating this with movement. Not the best idea.

As you talk about above, don’t confuse anger/aggression with focus (or sub one for the other).

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com

I’ve been trying to get in better shape since my extensive surgery three years ago, and my doctor thinks physical therapy will help make me stronger, so I can go back to a normal level of exercise.

BTW, I hate PT; they boss you around and hurt you.

It’s funny because I think as a surfer I could relate to rituals. But what’s funny is I actually don’t have any pre-surfing rituals that determine how I will surf that day. If I’m in the wrong state of mind, I usually completely forget it when I paddle out. If I get pounded by the wave it’s because I’m thinking about something else.