I get the feeling a large portion of this story can be classified as learned helplessness.
Several studies(google for cal newport) have shown that base talent has little effect on how good you can be at something, the real variable is deliberate practice, pushing the limits of what you can handle a tiny bit to slowly keep improving. ( obviously your swimming example does have harder limits imposed by the limits of your body, this does not seem to apply to fields outside of sports though and in sports like boxing there are different classes because of the differences in bodies)
When I learned about grade signalling I started making mistakes on purpose to lower my average (which was around 9.5 at the time). That was a terrible tactic in hindsight and it still causes selfdoubt on exams today.
and in sports like boxing there are different classes because of the differences in bodies
That doesn’t necessarily make all body types equal, either. I recently started taekwondo, and based on what my instructors have said, I don’t have a great body for that either. The weight class structure, and the fact that taller fighters have a major advantage because of leg reach, means that tall, thin girls have a big advance, and I’m neither–my natural body type tends towards chubby/muscular depending on how hard I exercise. Most competitive taekwondo fighters in my weight class would be significantly taller. (In terms of cardio, I’m in better shape than most people at my current level, because I do a lot of exercise outside of class, and I was already quite strong before I started...but I seem to be genetically set to have slow twitch muscles instead of fast twitch muscles, i.e. good endurance and comparatively little explosive power. And I have slow reaction times.)
Then again, other weight-class sports, like boxing, might rely less on the leg length and more just on strength, fitness, and technique. In which case I might be better off.
Also be careful not to overstretch if you are stocky. I did. It sucks. More specifically don’t strain so hard to stretch you end up stretching the wrong thing.
Also if you want to improve your reaction time i’ve found that video games as well as just plain old reaction time tests help (as will sparring). My reaction time has improved a lot with practice.
As a response to the grandparent comment, weight class limits just remove “size” from the pool of stuff you can have a natural aptitude for. The pool of stuff is still very large. I also tend to think of natural obsessiveness/liking for something as a type of talent that aids training rather than directly effecting performance.
Funny story… We were having a discussion of our goals at a LW meetup and I said I wanted to start doing martial arts. There was a guy (his username is Cyan, I think) who had done a lot of different martial arts, so he started talking about the particular benefits and downsides of each. I said I wanted to work on balance and flexibility (these are areas where I’m pretty bad, swimming didn’t do a lot for either), and he recommended TKD. I signed up within a week. Overall I’ve liked it.
Also if you want to improve your reaction time i’ve found that video games as well as just plain old reaction time tests help (as will sparring).
This is literally what my instructor told me to do. Unfortunately, I find video games pretty tedious. I grew up reading books instead… On the bright side, I love sparring, and that along with my good cardio fitness seems to outweigh the disadvantage of reaction times–especially if we do multiple rounds, I’ve actually beaten black belts in training before because after a while they get too exhausted to resist.
I also tend to think of natural obsessiveness/liking for something as a type of talent that aids training rather than directly effecting performance.
I definitely had that for swimming! Probably the reason I went a lot further than anyone suspected I would.
I get the feeling a large portion of this story can be classified as learned helplessness.
Several studies(google for cal newport) have shown that base talent has little effect on how good you can be at something, the real variable is deliberate practice, pushing the limits of what you can handle a tiny bit to slowly keep improving. ( obviously your swimming example does have harder limits imposed by the limits of your body, this does not seem to apply to fields outside of sports though and in sports like boxing there are different classes because of the differences in bodies)
When I learned about grade signalling I started making mistakes on purpose to lower my average (which was around 9.5 at the time). That was a terrible tactic in hindsight and it still causes selfdoubt on exams today.
That doesn’t necessarily make all body types equal, either. I recently started taekwondo, and based on what my instructors have said, I don’t have a great body for that either. The weight class structure, and the fact that taller fighters have a major advantage because of leg reach, means that tall, thin girls have a big advance, and I’m neither–my natural body type tends towards chubby/muscular depending on how hard I exercise. Most competitive taekwondo fighters in my weight class would be significantly taller. (In terms of cardio, I’m in better shape than most people at my current level, because I do a lot of exercise outside of class, and I was already quite strong before I started...but I seem to be genetically set to have slow twitch muscles instead of fast twitch muscles, i.e. good endurance and comparatively little explosive power. And I have slow reaction times.)
Then again, other weight-class sports, like boxing, might rely less on the leg length and more just on strength, fitness, and technique. In which case I might be better off.
I had a vague impression that a low center of gravity is an advantage in aikido, but it looks as though body type is neutral for aikido.
why tae-kwon-do?
Also be careful not to overstretch if you are stocky. I did. It sucks. More specifically don’t strain so hard to stretch you end up stretching the wrong thing.
Also if you want to improve your reaction time i’ve found that video games as well as just plain old reaction time tests help (as will sparring). My reaction time has improved a lot with practice.
As a response to the grandparent comment, weight class limits just remove “size” from the pool of stuff you can have a natural aptitude for. The pool of stuff is still very large. I also tend to think of natural obsessiveness/liking for something as a type of talent that aids training rather than directly effecting performance.
Funny story… We were having a discussion of our goals at a LW meetup and I said I wanted to start doing martial arts. There was a guy (his username is Cyan, I think) who had done a lot of different martial arts, so he started talking about the particular benefits and downsides of each. I said I wanted to work on balance and flexibility (these are areas where I’m pretty bad, swimming didn’t do a lot for either), and he recommended TKD. I signed up within a week. Overall I’ve liked it.
This is literally what my instructor told me to do. Unfortunately, I find video games pretty tedious. I grew up reading books instead… On the bright side, I love sparring, and that along with my good cardio fitness seems to outweigh the disadvantage of reaction times–especially if we do multiple rounds, I’ve actually beaten black belts in training before because after a while they get too exhausted to resist.
I definitely had that for swimming! Probably the reason I went a lot further than anyone suspected I would.