A Year in the Life.....

This blog post offers no teachings, it is just me over the past 12 months.

Queue music, for right now it's 'A Day in the Life' by The Beatles......

"I read the news today oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade...."


So the past year, in my mind at least, I have made the grade.... I saw in the New Year with a large cigar and an even larger glass of Southern Comfort (which was following a considerable amount of other beeer and liquor), sat in a good friends back yard. I gradually moved from vertical to horizontal and well, there was not so much motion for a good while there, as I star gazed, and then closed my eyes on the world.

Coaches and Captains; the U25 World Championships, CA

That motionlessness didn't last...this year saw me travel to USA, Canada, Israel, and Germany. It saw me help coach the GB Women's Wheelchair Basketball team to a Gold medal at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, UK, and a Bronze medal in the European Championships in Israel. We also took a young team to the Under 25's World Championships in Canada, where we got another Bronze medal.

As well as some success in coaching, I watched my twin sister get married this July, and then announce her pregnancy over the Christmas period! I'm going to be an Uncle!! Awesome!!

I also (finally) got published this year, with a flurry of articles on resistance training, as well as further articles that are currently in review. This was a great process for me, as one of the publications was essentially something I'd be working on for a while, and lead to some other work for the Mike Mentzer website, and contact with some world leaders in exercise and physiology. I also settled in a steady position as a Senior Lecturer in Sports Conditioning and Fitness, at Southampton Solent University, which might help see me finally grow roots.

On top of all of this I sold my motorbike (sad face), and bought a stand-up paddleboard (very smiley face). But more than all of these incredible experiences; I learned SOOOO much. I moved to a (kind of) palaeolithic diet (which kinda means low-carb), learning from ancestral nutrition and improved my body composition and health substantially (although I felt like there wasn't that much to improve on). I read in the region of 46 books, (see previous blog for a list) (I'm currently working on "Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman". An autobiographical book of stories by the great physicist Richard Feynman.

Moel Famau, North Wales, UK

And then there's the little things....on boxing day I walked up Moel Famau with my eldest sister. I live a couple hundred miles from my family so don't get to spend so much time with them these days. This was a really nice day for me and my big sister to catch up and earn some good food afterwards.

Then there was walking through Bournemouth one evening, when a girl sat in a doorway with her hand out complimented me on my hat. I stopped at the chip shop up the street and took her back a cup of tea and some chips. As I handed them to her I felt the need to apologise. Perhaps for not doing more, or for being more fortunate. I'm not sure.

But you know, all in all, for me; it's been a pretty amazing year, whether it be humbling experiences or moments of excitement. For another thing, I kept the blog going all year, getting near 1,500 hits in one month, and hitting over 1,000 hits for a single blog post. Whoever is reading this nonsense; thank you.

This has been a year of ups and downs, as is every day, and as will (no doubt) be every year. But I think that the success of the year lies not just in the ups but in learning from the downs. Something I hope I do more and more as I evolve.

Ultimately all is well in my world. And I hope all is well in your world.

In a final cliché let me leave you with this:

"The sun will rise and fall tomorrow.

Everything in between is up to you."

I normally sign this off 'Be Well'. But don't just be well, be great.

JF

Loyalty and Winning; A preaching about basketball

With the start of the NBA season just around the corner, and a few interesting trades that might make for a few exciting games, there's a conversation I had recently that I've reflected on which I wanted to discuss.....but to clarify; if you don't know basketball, read on anyway, it will all make sense....

Loyalty and respect
In basketball, the comment I passed is that you must have it to truly be a champion, you must have given your all to a team and to team-mates and to a coach as well. You must have given that bit extra. It all comes in the light of the Chris Paul move from New Orleans Hornets to LA Clippers. Don't misunderstand me, I don't necessarily disagree with the move but I'm just commenting. The same is true of Lebron James and his movement to Miami Heat from Cleveland Cavaliers, he was there, he was the franchise player, he was the man they would build a team around, and they would have. I feel like making that move becomes something of a short cut, it becomes a quick fix.

I know that in the modern world we like more instantaneous gratification but it isn't so simple. I think to Michael Jordan and the years he worked to become the championship player. And in a similar sense the same is true of Kobe Bryant, especially after Shaquille O'Neal left the Lakers, he had to learn again, to evolve. And whilst it pains me to say it (I am not Kobe's biggest fan) - he is one of the greatest players of all time. But not because of who he is, because of what he does for his team. I always think back to Kevin Garnett, one of my favourite players, and how he stuck with Minnesota for so long and they failed to surround him with the right players to turn it into a championship franchise. But in the same sense I remember his $100 million plus contract in the late 1990's that essentially led to the last lock-out! How was his team going to afford the players he needed whilst he's being paid that much!?!?

In all of this my loyalty comment makes a nice playground analogy; that if you lose a pick-up game, you don't ask to change the teams, you should ask to play again, and this time improve or play better. Work harder. Work together. I always say basketball has to be about more than winning and losing games. A team can play well and lose, or play badly and win. I don't see the kudos in a lucky win. It has to be about always respecting the team, the players, the opponents and the game.

In coaching a game recently I am embarrassed to say that I did this. I lost that respect, and fortunately we lost the game. Whilst we had been up by 19 points at one stage, we were outscored by 20 points in the final quarter, and we were right to be. I do not take all the blame for this; I was, after all, on the sideline. But I did not lead the team the way that I should have done, and that carries significant weight. Had we won we might not have taken the lesson away that we did. Or that I did, and that I hope the players did.

I have spent previous blogs talking about the number of books I have read this year, and I am currently finishing up 'The Winner Within' by Pat Riley, and have recently finished 'On the Art of War' by Sun Tzu. Everything I read now is applying to basketball, is applying to success and to coaching, and to improving the team to their potential. I hope some of the players will read this and take the time to think about everything they need to do to give THE TEAM the best chance it has to win at 2012. I guess when it comes to loyalty and a national team it has to be about making sure you give your all, you commit your heart to being the best you can be. In doing so you make the team better that fraction. If everybody does that then the team gets better by a larger fraction. It might not get you selected on to your team for your sport, but if it makes someone else work harder to be selected and thus perform better, perhaps you have done enough at your stage to help the team win. I know that is a hard approach to have but to me it has to be that way. It has to be everything.

I read 'The Lombardi Rules' earlier this year, and a quote stuck out in my head. So much so, in fact, that it is the signature at the end of my email:

"Practice does not make perfect;

Perfect practice makes Perfect"

To me this means more than just working that hard all the time you're training, and having the discipline to know that you must train your weaknesses to be strengths and your strengths to be stronger. But knowing that  someone else is out there doing it. Your opponent is on a court right now, working on their left, perfecting that post up shot that you missed in the last game. Are you happy knowing that whilst you're watching TV? Have you done enough today? This week? This month? This year? This is a team sport, when you go out there it's not about letting yourself down, it's about letting your team down, and them letting you down if they haven't done enough.

When you're at the highest level; in everything you do, every action you have you need to ask yourself:

"Will it help my team win"

Of course, the likeness here to business, or departments, faculties, etc. are hopefully obvious.

At some point or another, Life is a team sport.

Be Well, and have a great Christmas and New Year

JF

Learning to Learn and How (and Why) I read 40+ books in 2011

Firstly I wanted to start with a massive THANK YOU. Somehow I had nearly 1200 hits on this blog last month alone. Not bad going since I only did 4 posts!

As for this blog....

Well here's my truth....I've always been a bit of a geek. You don't become a lecturer in a science without it, and whilst I competed as a swimmer at a high level through my school years as well as basketball and track and field, amongst other things, I was also on the chess team, and went to some inter-school Mathematics competition. You can laugh if you like but I like to think of it as making me a well-rounded individual something like the 'intelligent warrior' (e.g. clever and sporty).

Not my bookcase, though ideas for my next one!

Anyway, something happened at the start of 2011, I turned over the New Year already pages deep in a couple of different books, and the more I read; the more I wanted to read. I couldn't get enough. Seriously. Have you seen Phenomenon, the John Travolta film where he reads at an exponential rate? It felt like that! (Of course if you haven't seen the movie then I appreciate that comment makes absolutely no sense at all, for which I apologise).

In this blog I'm going to list every book I've gotten through from January to December 2011. I've categorised them in the best way I can think of. They are not in order of which I read first, although you'll recognise commonalities between them, and in many cases reading one book led me to reading another two or three in a similar area. If you know the titles then you'll recognise recurring authors (Richard Dawkins, Tim Ferriss, Richard Wiseman). Interestingly (for me at least) I had no intention of reading so many books. I think I was some way in to the year when the number of books I'd read was piling up and then I figured to do a count and keep a record of them.

Anyway here goes:

Sports (including basketball, surfing, doping, coaching)
Juiced
The Big Book of Basketball
The Art of a Beautiful Game
The Jordan Rules
Saltwater Budha
Riding the Magic Carpet
Dunks, Doubles and Doping
Eddie Would Go
The Lombardi Rules

Nutrition, Healthy Living, Philosophy and Lifestyle
The Immortality Edge
Lights Out
The Paleo Diet for Athletes
The New Evolution Diet
The Diet Delusion
The Paleo Solution
Four Hour Body
Way of the Peaceful Warrior
The Virtue of Selfishness
Four Hour work Week

The book I would most recommend to
ANYONE and EVERYONE.

Entertaining Science
13 Things that don't make sense
Quirkology
How to drive a Tank
Placebo
Sleep Thieves
A Briefer History of Time
:59 Seconds
I Used to Know that
The Talent Code
The Genius in All of Us
Bounce
The Drunkards Walk

Evolution / History
The Greatest Show on Earth
The God Delusion
The Ancestors Tale
A Little History of Time
War of the World
On the Origin of Species

Biographical
Life and Laughing - Michael McIntyre
Confessions of a Conjurer - Derren Brown

Travel
Long Way Round
A Walk in the Woods

It's been an absolutely amazing experience; I've read in most places you can imagine staying still from finding the seat with the best lighting in the house to lounging on a bed in Israel, flying over Canada, or on a coach in Germany,  on a beach in Boscombe, and on a cliff-top in Dorset. I just took to it. For a few weeks I would ride my motorcycle up to a place called Highcliffe and sit and read, rain, wind or sun. Some of the books are BIG and took a considerable time to read. Others not so big and due to their addictive nature took less than 24 hours (I'm not going to tell you which one!)

I started a few others that have returned to the shelf for the meantime, but the other thing I learned is to keep buying them; to accept that there is so much more to know, that there is someone else's experiences or opinions to consider. Amidst all of this I haven't kept count of how many scientific journal articles I've read this year. But the more you read, the more critically evaluative you become because of underpinning theory or difference of perspective.

I guess the point in all of this is that I realise so many students get to, or worse; go through, University without having learned to learn. I've spent so long reading coaching books and exercise physiology or psychology journal articles. In fact it's not that those readings have dropped off, I just hit that point where I wanted to learn more. A lot of it started with Nutrition, and Palaeolithic Diets, which led me to Evolutionary books, I always found time for anything on Surfing and Basketball and, well, I guess I can't explain all of this to you. It's something you have to do for yourself.

A lot of the books have been discussed in blogs, and whilst I have not outlined favourites, etc, there are some I would recommend way ahead of others. If you're interested on my opinions on specific texts then message me. Otherwise, buy a book, put it down and pick it up and take it in, word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and page by page until it's done. Then start all over again. And enjoy.

Be Well

JF

NB. I am currently 'involved' in 3 other books which look likely to be finished soon. I'll post a final tally at the end of the year.