Ask Better Questions

In this short blog post we will explore a little bit about how to be a better student and learner - as well as addressing what physical qualities we desire most.

At Plexon, we use a decent amount of partner work and games in training

They can be used in a rehabilitation context to great effect, as well as for performance and athletic development. They are wonderful modalities.

There is a game we play that can be scaled down to something that looks like ‘tug-of-war’ or scaled up (in complexity) so it looks like freestyle wrestling. We call it ‘Rope Wrestling’ - it was developed as mix between some work from Fighting Monkey Practice, Ssireum Training and Grappling Sports.

When I teach this game, most of the time, people fall into one of two camps: Desperately people are striving to win; Or they have low expectations of themselves so they don’t try properly. And after a little bit of back of forth I usually have to intervene. A few sentences is usually enough:

“Don’t try to win all the time, try to be a good partner: Notice what your partner needs in order to be challenged. Try again.”

The game changes. Aggression mellows and passivity fades. People get better at paying attention - and a lot of it happens subconsciously - it is too fast to stay ‘conscious’ we learn to work through reflex and automatic processing. It is still competitive - but aggressions happens is carefully timed ‘bursts’ where timing and positioning are key - rather than overwhelming force.

This simple change puts us in a place where ‘being right’ is somehow less important than learning to observe better. Where winning is less important than learning to ask better and better questions.

In a simplistic way, we can apple a Perception-Action model to this:

Our physical exploration facilitates the observation 9and detection) of meaningful information by sampling our environment. This sampling process informs and updates our predictions. Further driving us to explore those predictions by physically exploring the environment again.

What do we mean by ‘meaningful information’? It means that information that holds ‘meaning’ to that individual in that context. Example could be in a sport noticing an unmarked player during a football game - this is an affordance: An opportunity detected in ones environment. What is key here is that it is only really ‘meaningful’ if you can use it. If you do not have the ball, or you have recently injured your knee you might not be able to ‘use’ that unmarked player - so it is not something you dwell on.

A high level climber might detect an edge as an affordance, others might overlook it ,because the high level climber has the finger strength to utilise the hold.

We learn through doing. And we learn through feedback. We need to have a mindset of exploration to detect opportunities by sampling the environment in our current context - without being scared of ‘failing’.

An example is ‘projecting’ in climbing. Rather than trying, failing, and going to something different or easier. We explore. We try to understand the positioning needed, the angles, when to be elastic and dynamic and when to be static. How to relax and when to relax. This happens through exploration and trying.

Approaching training like this allows you to confront what you are actually learning. How do you refine your searching for weak links and habits? How does your partner respond to novelty? How do you respond to questions you don’t have answers for? Can your body juggle the qualities demanded of it?

And this leads us to the physical body - what we want it to be able to do. Bruce Lee famously said ‘be like water’, which is nice and all - Udo Neumann has as more interesting version: ‘Be like Oobleck’. If you don’t know - Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid. It does not obey Newtons law of viscosity. When you smash Oobleck - it act rigidly like a solid. And when no external force is exerted - it moves like a liquid.

In physical activity one might need to be rigid and brace the whole body, one might also need to be elastic and rhythmic or flow softly without tension. Or to move in a relaxed state then suddenly explode with movement. These qualities can be seen in different sports or activities. Some sports focus heavily on ‘tension’ - powerlifting, strongman. Others on explosion - weightlifting, shot put. Other have a very broad qualities required - climbing, combat sports.

In games like rope wrestling, we can demand a wide array of qualities from our partner. We might need to go everywhere from rigidity, looseness, explosiveness and selective tension. Even moving into elastic energy storage, strength and speed.

From one simple game, we can see two foundational traits for physical (and mental) development:

The ability for the body to adjust itself both in reaction to external stimuli and to direct our own intentions.

The capacity to explore, learn and grow based on our exploration and sampling. And to continue this process in order to improve. And to facilitate the growth of those around us (This is teaching, this is communication).