Monster Yourself

Z posted something about “Proprioception,” which I’d never heard of, although I’ve encountered related concepts like kinesthetic learners, spatial awareness, situational awareness, “body sense,” etc.

That and some recent thinking about how to train for some very specific physical objectives got me thinking…

And please bear with me, because I haven’t figured this out yet… actually I might not even be able to figure it out.

But.

I think everybody knows that, at least in theory, you could train up and become a better runner, you could study a martial art and learn to fight better, you could study or practice social interaction and get better at it… you could walk a tightrope and develop better balance… you could dedicate yourself to (the ever popular) Parkour training and learn ways to more efficiently move through space… you could study behavior modeling… you could learn “Psycho-Cybernetics”… you could learn early on how to learn better and use that knowledge to study other things… you can learn techniques to help yourself compensate for lack of sleep... you could study psychological techniques that would allow you to control other people…

(Simple example… stand to close to someone on an elevator – you will elicit the response of them moving away in a direction of your choosing… in other words you’ve controlled their behavior.)

Etc etc. Or in other words I think everyone, no matter what it is they actually do to try and improve themselves, realizes that they could do something else that would enhance their capabilities and that we end up making trade-offs (kind of haphazardly) and that the overwhelming menu of things out there kind of leads to some things just being forgotten books on your bookshelf.

You know, you could do 30% of the stuff the character Batman did in his various incarnations and at the end of it – no, you wouldn’t be Batman. But that’s not the point. You’d be *something.*

We live in a world where most, if not all, of the principles for practical training to make yourself better (in a huge variety of ways) are just sitting there on the internet available with a few mouseclicks. Sure… mastery of that stuff isn’t so easy, but knowing what to practice to master it is VERY readily available.

You could be the real life Remo Williams [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinanju_(martial_art)]. But to approach maybe 12% of that (which would make you genuinely “super” in my book), the first thing you’d have to do is figure out what you’d have to do.

And in this case the information is basically free, so your “budget” really comes down to time, when you think about it.

So…

Let’s figure out what we can do, not to study specifically how to fight, how to run faster, how to more effectively problem solve, how to learn more efficiently, and so on… but instead let’s figure out what we can do – in practical terms – to elevate ourselves. I have this inkling that once we identify it it’s going to turn out to be so simple as to be almost ridiculous.

So let’s throw some things out there and try to figure this out.

And let’s agree not to have any of it include expensive equipment, difficult to obtain nutrients made in centrifuges in Kyoto, etc, but to keep it simple and doable. I’ll throw something out now and, you know, pick it to pieces and maybe identify what, if anything, from the concept belongs in a holistic super badass training program for being an epic human being that hasn’t been figured out yet.

My proposed idea: do 100 hours of standup comedy, because it will teach you to lead people, work crowds, think differently, have confidence in yourself, swagger on demand, and a lot of other stuff I don’t know yet.

So is that worth someones time in some kinda universal sense or is punching a bag more important, why, why not, etc? Let's say we have... an hour a day average to play with? Or will people devote more time than that?

You could build this whole concept just like building an iron man suit, except since it’s free you could build a working model in a week and start doing it. In a year you could be on that never-ending path toward being some kinda Nietzschean superman (like the kids these days like to say).

I called this “Monstering Yourself,” because it’s an informally used interrogation term turned inward. Some guy said “You have to get up in their face and monster them” and somehow it ended up in a book.



Does this make sense to anybody?

I've got ya. I often joke with people that if I had a superpower, it would be adaptability. When I'm interested in something, I obsess over it and watch the experts until I can get the skill up to a reasonable (read:far from expert) level. I think this is something most people are capable of, since that's how the human race survived in the first place. Right ballpark?

(Re read my post and just to clarify, I didn't mean I watch people then go out and whoaholycrapirock, I go out, attempt, fail, watch and alter technique until it clicks.)

I always heard that photographic memory can be a trainable skill, but I am skeptical. What do you think?

once upon a time during my teen years someone said to me "If you stand against society, you will only present yourself as a target to be crushed." That seemingly innoculous statement sorta clicked on a light for me. Since then I have been able to "percieve" what someones true intentions are simply by talking with them.

If someone is being less than honest with me I know it immediately. If there is any darkness in thier hearts I know it. Before I met my wife I could tell if there was any future with whatever barfly I was talking to. And yes I could see a future with my wife when we first met. I dont think its a super power but it is definately something that very few people do on a regular basis.

I think of it as a sorta quantum calculator. Whatever the current situation is, I can tell very accuartly what the outcome will be. All this is because of perception of the details. In my younger days I called it "awakening" because most people seem to be partially asleep when you talk to them. they are not fully aware of what is happening. Did you ever have a moment of clarity when for an instant you can understand the whole universe? Lots of people do. now try to hold on to that understanding all the time. Thats what its like for me. sometimes it gives me a headache.

I agree with you Artisteroi. I think of it as "just knowing stuff," except sometimes it's been knowing things that it would be difficult to explain rationally without some long list of factors... the unconscious mind is really powerful, particularly because it can't second-guess itself.

Drock... yes and no. You can't train yourself to literally have an eidetic memory IMO, but it's well documented that you can train to remember more efficiently and quickly. Basically you create and use mnemonic systems.

I think I remember reading about this somewhere on here, but I can feel when other people are are around without being tipped off by sound. I always felt like it was a subtle change in the air. I don't believe it's any kind of mystic power, maybe something left over from our past as hunter and prey. Which reminds me of something I read on a parkour forum, 'everything in parkour is stuff your body already knows how to do, you just have to make it remember. ' Thoughts?

Personally, I have never met someone with true photographic memory. This doesn't mean I don't accept the idea, I have just never seen it in action and if I've never seen it in action, I don't know how possible it is for an average Joe to achieve. However, if you know anything about music, some people are born with perfect pitch. It is very possible with dedication to train and recognize exact pitches by sound. So in theory, it should be very possible to achieve, if not something just like or similar to. (Also, exercise, watching what you eat and sleep do wonders for a memory.)

I saw a documentary on the human body last year maybe? Anyway they mentioned the photographic memory thing durning the show. They said there are only 3 people in the US with a photgraphic memory that were officially on file and registered. They were studying them to see how they do it (2 guys one girl) and to see what they have in common. in 2 years time the labs hadnt found any connections. like its some sort of freak thing that just accidentally happens to you. maybe it is a superpower.

Right... from what I've read about it it sounds almost like a neurological disorder. Can't remember what they were, but people with actual "photographic memories" tend to have some associated difficulties in life, too.

right like some of the wiring in your head was wrong. like a birth defect. I remeber in the documentary one of the men was color blind. not just red green like most people. he couldnt see red, green, blue or purple. could only see in greys and yellows. freaky. And the girl was really tall for a girl. close to 7 feet.

There's a lady somewhere who can remember everything.. literally. She's can recall exact things from dates all throughout her life. She has difficulty coping with it though, can't remember exactly why.

Eidetic memory is 'photographic memory' guys.
We had to research that for one of the games we wrote.

Edit: go read about Kim Peek, the inspiration for Rain Man.
He had eidetic memory, most likely as a result of the absence of the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers which allows both halves of our brain to communicate and coordinate. It is speculated the absence of the cc caused his brain to make other, unusual nerve connections which enhanced his memory.

AKA "Total Recall."

I brought up proprioception because it's really the first thing to enhance within yourself before being able to really excel at any physical activity. I grew up without much physical skill, but once I simply concentrated on my spatial relationship to objects, and efficient ways to move and perform tasks, I found that pretty much any physical learning was not only possible, but pretty easy.

It's very much on my mind -- I haven't discounted it. I was thinking maybe to start working with a Bosu ball, but I'd rather rig something up for my small backyard because I'd use it more often. There's also taking some kind of class... like dance, but classes like that always want to become your whole life instead of conveniently being something you do when you have the time.

I'm also honestly not completely sure I understand proprioception. It's not totally baffling me either, but I get the idea it's something more than I'm getting from looking into it.

What's really kinda buzzing in my head about it is that trying to improve that way reminds me of physical therapy to recover balance... in a similar way to how the use of mechanical extensions to gain additional capabilities reminds me of prosthetics to regain lost functions. It's kinda weird that turning these kinds of ideas toward improvement, rather than rehabilitation is such a radical idea... but it seems kinda radical. But when you have guys breaking speed records on prosthetic legs... it really shouldn't be.

Unfortunately I think I'd have to take a vacation just to come up with an imperfect version of the kind of training program I want. Ideas are cheap, but like tomorrow my big plan is "run a little" and not the crazy holistic warrior monk thing that is theoretically possible to come up with. Training should be fundamental, but it's getting to the point where I'm seriously thinking of taking a step back and just training and planning for a while without doing much of anything else RLSH-wise.

There are a lot of good people in this community, as in decent-hearted people, but it's kind of significant that training is rarely discussed in real life and the "training" thread is rarely commented on. Anyway.

Actually, I learned about proprioception from my lady...shes a personal trainer and a dancer by trade, and she's wicked sharp when it comes to the body and it's potential. She's also kind of a ninja when it comes to movement, so she's been helping me work my stabilizing muscles and core to achieve maximum movement senses...

She also has an interesting contact list for further training, which I will DEFINITELY be utilizing in the near future, to add to my regimen of Systema and Close Protection training.

I'm with you Mega. I will have some extra free time over the next few months. I will still do some rlsh stuff, but cutting back to focus on self improvement.

I'm going to be doing lots of physical training and conditioning, body conditioning for fighting, martial arts/self defense, surveillance and investigative studies, I may take some fema college courses as well.

The average human can hold a single breath for approximately one minute without trouble. A professional oyster diver can hold a single breath for two and a half minutes without trouble. The way they learn to do this is simply by practicing.

Being able to more efficiently make use of available oxygen can have incredible benifits in all areas of physical endeavor. So much so in fact that this may be a start point for any physical improvement program.

=AP=

AP, I saw a documentary recently about dolphins. There was a researcher who would swim with them as a member of the pod. He would swim like 10 miles 4 times a week. Stay at see for 6 hours at a time, and dive down under the water with the dolphins 40 feet deep. No gear accept flippers. And could hold his breathe for 4.5 minutes. Watching the film I was more facinated with him than the dolphins. And he was in his mid-50's

There's something to that, Gadgetastic. A number of systems recognize breath control or breathing properly as the foundation for improvement. Even the military has seen fit to invest in classes for soldiers about how to breath to reduce combat stress.

Yep. Everything from martial arts to medicine recognizes that it all starts with breathing. Through proper breathing one can control pain, increase effective strength, be more lucid, aid healing, resist temptation, and more.

Gadgetastic!

Here's a nifty article that seems to fit this thread.

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Gadgetastic!

From reading that it seems like the thing to do would be to work on improving the contractile speed of the muscle fibers in your legs somehow, perhaps leg presses.

But I'd be more interested in knowing specifically how Usain Bolt trained, because his sprinting speed was demonstrated in reality, rather than being theoretical.

All I do along those lines now is sprints once a week, some uphill runs, and "Fartlek" runs. Thinking of messing with Parkour again a bit...

Muscle confusion exercises might help with this.

Linear workouts and simple reps get you gym muscles. To get fighters muscles you have to fight. To run faster you have to work all supporting muscles so your snap is more powerful and doesn't rip anything from overexertion. Once your body learns to trust that it won't get hurt, it will allow itself to exert more and more.

This is why some people are able to do incredible things in situations of heightened danger. All the capability is there, you just have to do the work for your body to realize what it's capable of, and then convert that into muscle memory.

Oh btw, Mega... keep forgetting to ask the lady about proprioception exercises... what else was I supposed to get for you? Too much to do lately.

Except for open-ended stuff like talking with Zimmer about making a Northstar device once we narrow down the specs for it, I think that was about it, actually.