Form Over Reps

"Form over reps."

-Some really wise dude or dudet 

     As I read a segment from Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett with Glen Cordoza I couldn't help but feel like this principle is neglected not just in athletic training and performance and life in general. This principle is called task-priority blindness. To show you the context that I was first learning about this, I'll share a little excerpt from the book where Kelly explains this principle with quite whimsical humor! 

"The third and most notable problem with our current thinking is that it continues to be based on A model that prioritizes task completion above everything else. It's sort of one or zero, task done or not, weight lifted or not, distance swim or not mentality. This is like saying, "I dead lifted 500 pounds, but I herniated a disc," or, "I finished a marathon, but I wore a hole in my knee." Imagine this sort of ethic spilling over into the other aspects of your life: "Hey, I made you some toast! But I burned down the house." (Kelly Starrett, Becoming A Supple Leopard, page 21, paragraph 5)

     The basic premise of the concept is quality over quantity. In the end of the excerpt he kind of hinted at the consequences of this concept leaking into other parts of our lives. As I look at my own life I realize that it is already happened. Not just in my athletic training but in other aspects of my life. 

     For example, running volume. Me personally, I have a tendency of over training. As I've been training for my Spartan Races that I will be doing later this year, I've noticed that when i've tried to raise my running volume that the stiffness and tension in my legs have gotten worse, as well as in my lower back. These are obvious latent signs that the quality of my running is not where it should be, if I'm going to have the running volume that I want.

     Another example of task-priority blindness in my life is studying for college classes. I also have a tendency to over studying for exams. I know that I am over studying for an exam when my eyes are glazed over, and I'm just reading the words and not absorbing the information that I need. I noticed that I retain information better if I have small study sessions spread out over a long period of time. These kind of small study sessions are of higher quality than my cram study sessions.

     I notice that these quality over quantity issues are more widespread than we like to admit. Especially in the United States, I see a lot of people worried about hitting the numbers they've projected for themselves instead of doing something the right way. It's probably because doing a proper squat 5 times is not nearly as sexy as doing 50 squats. People are also this way with people. If you have 10,000 friends on facetagram you are better than a person with only 10 friends on facetagram. We are so focused on the quantity of our social group and not the quality of our social group. Being as we are the sum of our five closest friends, I think quality should take priority over quantity. This will help enrich our lives with the quality we need to LIVE NOW and find that fulfillment we're looking for! Thanks for reading, and I hope you fill your lives with the people, places, things and activities of the highest quality! Talk soon!