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Prospective Control of Action

This is a re-post from the Point1 Facebook page; because frankly Facebook is a horrible medium for longer, dribbling narrative! Enjoy.

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So, to carry on from Friday’s yip-yap on Posture and Technique…

One of the relationships (some were trade-offs) listed was

Pre-Reaction~Reaction

The first term above being a misnomer – deliberate at the time. The correct term in fact would be, I think,

Prospective. Prospective control.

And as is becoming very clear in my own development as a coach, the relationship of qualities, traits and sub-systems within the athlete (rider) is of utmost importance, this must be respected & understood.

Relational thinking TRUMPS categorical thinking….always. When we speak about performance improvement at least.

“Prospective control refers to the means by which actors (read: rider in our case) adapt behaviour in advance to the constraints and behavioral opportunities afforded in/by the environment” ~ Fajen, Riley, Turvey; 2009

Prospective control is thus ESSENTIAL for the emergence of skilled actions. Without it all you would do is react to what the trail/race-track is giving you. But as we all know, reaction is after the fact, it is, no matter how “fast” too late. Too late for you the rider to successfully navigate each distinct section of trail in such a way as too link up distinct sections into fast, flowing, effective riding.

So when you see your favourite, rider, athlete or celebrity carry out some reactive “eye-hand” co-ordination drill in the gym, remember that reaction is too slow; and regardless most of the “reactions” we make, when riding an MTB well, are somatic reflexes, not reactions…and once that gym “drill” is learned then it would be the prospective control of posture, position that would allow for faster “reaction” to emerge. So again, full circle, relational thinking; reaction to a stimulus is much faster with better prospective control!

Greg Williamson performs at the UCI DH World Tour in Leogang on June 12, 2016

So in the immediate term what does this mean for you if the whole notion of prospective control is new too you?

– Posture = Prizes; the whole reason the “attack-position” bares so many hallmarks and similarities (attractors if you know Dynamical Systems) among good riders is. That that position/posture allows for joint angles, muscle length~tension relationships, peripheral nervous system function, afferent control & force production to operate within an optimal bandwidth to deliver the required technique on trail in the fastest way possible. Prospective control of posture given the trail affordances means “skill” emerges to perfectly match speed. This in essence is “trail efficiency”!

So what can we do to improve our potential to always display usable posture regardless of the trail demands? A shortlist only below….

1. Cultivate & Maintain adequate control, mobility, proprioception, strength and stability through all joints and movement patterns.

2. Develop adequate and ever evolving strength of your “hip hinge”; both eccentric and concentric muscle action, with a stable spine achieved through excellent function of all torso musculature from hip to shoulder (and likely more)!

3. Identify “rate-limiters” to postural maintenance and re-setting. These could be anything from foundational physiological qualities like aerobic metabolism to very specific characteristic qualities like your interaction with a particular size bike, with a certain tyre pressure on certain gradient of terrain!

4. Given the minute detail of the last point above it becomes clear that developing, year on year, season on season, a large physical/physiological buffer of foundational qualities that support good posture on trail will reduce the likely hood of poor mechanics or characteristic rate limiters cropping up under duress/fatigue or emotionally demanding situations.

5. True sport form and improvement in Prime Postures can only be viewed, refined, quantified and understood if enough training takes place in the environments you race in...so that means shredding your bike like fuck in the mountains, up the mountains, down the mountains etc… sounds like fun!

To wrap up a quite abstract post; prospective posture allows for prospective position on trail and that allows for fast, smooth, efficient technique application on trail; which will look to the observer like skill. This is basically all we want as a rider – as skillful navigation of long sections of trail reward us with a sensory and neuro-endocrine response that trumps many experiences in life.

Do this often enough and you get that “flow” feeling…and that leads to intrinsic motivation to shred, removing the space for strange extrinsic motivators like health, weight-loss or victory and in there you find endless drive to improve and a near total lack of anxiety.

So as I said above – relationships of qualities; not categories of qualities please!

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Recipe: Fig & Banana Bars

Friday Freebie at it’s finest! Here’s a simple, fast and tasty recipe to have in the “recipe bank”. Perfect carbohydrate packed bars to bring on rides or snack on about 1hr pre-training if it’s gonna be a tough one!

As always the recipe can be modified based on needs and availability of ingredients, but sticking give or take to teh ratio of “wet” to “dry” ingredients is important.

Bananas and figs make this one nutrient dense and taste filled. So you’ll have no issues with hammering all ride long and longer term health and robustness will be taken care of a little with all the minerals, vitamins and trace elements packed into this package!

Ingredients
2 cups of rolled oats
2 tbsp ground flax and/or chia seed
1/2 + cup chopped figs
2 very ripe mashed large bananas
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup/honey mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or real vanilla pods
1 teaspoon cinnamon/nutmeg mixed
1/2 teaspoon salt

How To

  • Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  • Add your honey, mashed/blended banana and finely chopped figs to saucepan.
  • Heat over a low heat, stirring regularly until everything is nice and runny and gooey, you may have to presoak the figs or even blend and heat separately if you want a very smooth texture.
  • Be careful not to burn the honey/banana as it won’t taste so good if you do.
  • Once happy with your texture transfer the wet to the dry, mix well to combine.
  • Transfer the mixture a baking paper lined oven-tray.
  • Pat it down using extra baking paper or a large, flat spatula! The thicker you lay the mixture the chewier and softer your bars will be; too thin and you’ll have rock hard bars. not ideal for the trial.
  • Bake in a pre heated fan-oven at 180c for 18 to 20 min

 

Bingo.

 

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Point1 Snack Block

1 Recipe – 2 types of protein packed snack block; multiple uses!

Snack, Travel, extra calories

or

Recover and Re-Build

The Base Recipe 

  • 65g whey isolate protein powder (flavour of choice)
  • 100g ground almond meal
  • 35g desiccated coconut
  • 95-125ml  milk of choice (unsweetened almond or hazelnut or cow’s milk)
The base ingredients, mixed, rolled and blocked!
The base ingredients, mixed, rolled and blocked!

The add-ons, add-ins and changes for your needs

Recovery Bar: So if you want a recovery bar substitute the Whey Powder for a Whey based recovery powder! The chocolate bars pictured used High5 Recovery Protein Powder. If you need or want even more carbohydrate in the mix then add some honey, maple syrup or break all the rules and sprinkle in some cane-sugar!

Orange/Chocolate Bar: I’ve added cocoa powder (the real deal) and orange zest, then substituted some of the milk with fresh squeezed orange juice to make an unreal tangy block! Chocolate-Orange with all of the gainzzz!

Vegan bar: For those who ain’t keen on tasty animal products then you can easily substitute the Whey for a Rice or Hemp Protein! Job done!

Travel Bar: If you want these guys to pack an even bigger nutritional punch or need them to be even more satiating for travel then add in some chopped goji berries, chia seeds and nuts of choice like brazil and walnuts! You’l have to adjust liquid to dry ingredient ratios though!

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Protein Block , cut and ready for the fridge/freezer

How To:

  1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
  2. Measure out or weigh your milk of choice
  3. add a little liquid and start to mix, things will seem very dry at first but the dry ingredients will absorb the liquid slowly and start to bind
  4. have patience, adding and mixing slowly
  5. you should get a pretty workable and dry mixture after a couple of minutes
  6. roll the mixture into a log, sprinkle with almond meal so it is easy work
  7. roll it out and cut into discs; shape those discs into blocks as pictured
  8. refrigerate for up to 1 hr
  9. they are ready to roll at any time, but once out of the fridge you can coat with dark chocolate or a chocolate and yogurt mix and it will set fast
  10. The base recipe is key – you can go wild with modifications to suit your needs

This recipe makes about 6 to 7 blocs – double or triple as needed!

Freeze, refrigerate for up to 1 week! These go great as a quality snack after training with a coffee, in the back pack for the long missions or rides (perfect after the 3hr mark) or as a travel stop-gap when jammed with seeds and nuts!

Imagination is only limitor!

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Out of the fridge and ready for dipping in chocolate or eating!

 

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Hhmmmm Protein, Fat and all dem nutritious nutrients
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Point1 Chilli

Winter’s on it’s way! Nothing better than a massive bowl of ohh so very nutritious chilli to fuel you up after training and keep the immune system rocking.

Honestly there is so much awesome in this pot it’s mind-blowing. You’ve got some pics below and then the recipe with full nutritional breakdown in PDF form for you guys to download, print, share, save and use!

This chilli can be served anyway you like – I usually go for “lettuce-wraps” with homemade buckwheat and seed crackers for pretty much the most tasty nutrient dense feed any man, women, man-child or wee-man could ask for.

Enjoy! Sorry about winter.

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http://point1athletic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Point1-Chilli-2.pdf

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Point1 – Veggie Burger Deluxe

Varying your source of protein is a pretty good habit for sticking to a successful, tasty, performance enhancing diet! Variety, colour and texture are all pretty key parts of keeping yourself eating like a champ day in, day out!

It  seems to me that males in particular often go two ways – polarised opposites – either all out vegan or all out dead cow! Both approaches are the different sides of the same coin. Riders frequently think that depriving themselves of certain things will =equal success, like total sacrifice is needed to achieve your nutritional goals or similarly the total #NFG approach of I’ll eat what I want and just bury myself into the bars/pedals/weights twice as hard! Well neither approach is going to be optimal.

So that’s where tasty alternatives to the same old meals come in handy. Step in the Point1 Veggie Deluxe! A protein, nutrient and taste pack wee patty of awesome.

Once again, simple to make, cook and above all else performance enhancing tastiness. Each patty has decent amounts of protein, a moist but crispy texture and can form part of a variety of main meals or snacks.

 

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Ingredients:

500g of canned Chickpeas – drained, washed, re-washed and then soaked in some water and apple cider vinegar for at least 4 hrs!

Small Handful of grated Cheese, old, matured, raw milk awesomeness – aim for good stuff not plastic

35g Rolled Oats

35g Quinoa (about a quarter cup)- Red, black or white

1 Egg – Beaten

1-2 Tsp Wholegrain Mustard

1-2 Tsp Paprika

Pinch of Chilli Flakes

2 Tsp Cumin

1-2 Tsp Curry Powder

1 Tbs Herbs of choice

Sea-Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper – ‘cos that’s how we roll in the Point1 Kitchen!

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How to:

Mix Mustard and Egg together in a cup, combine all other ingredients in a large salad bowl. Mash bowl ingredients with a potato masher! Add in the Egg and Mustard mix, continue to combine/mash as you see fit until you obtain a nice mixture. If things seem a little moist then you can add in a little buckwheat flour to soak it up!

Make Patties in any thickness, shape or size you see fit. But round, plam sized ones about 2cm thick cook the best!

You can “cook” the burgers on a pan with some olive oil or walnut oil, on the BBQ or like I prefer under the grill. Cook until nice and golden on both sides, but not so long as to dry out all the ingredients!

Enjoy as you see fit, but hopefully for your health and performance you won’t be eating them in a filthy, industrial, nutritionally void white burger bun, but instead with a huge side salad, sweet potato fries and hummus!

Feel free to add in other beans/pulses instead of the 500g of chickpeas (as-long as they are well washed/soaked and prepped), I’ve used the same recipe with kidney beans, white haricots, lentils, extra cheese, no cheese, tons of Quinoa and split peas just to name a few!

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Plated Up!

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