Binging as night settles.
My seductive drug of choice.
Pitch black beach dirt back road crunches. Battles crickets.
Climbing, 12 seconds at a time
Speedballs.
Zero visibility, angry waves my eyes, an epic fix.
Sobering thoughts of a dangerous Hawaiian crash, steer clear, caffeine
Another hit? Another hill.
No heart rate variability
A passionate love affair with breaths too deep and solitude
Or infatuation with a degree of silence and a pavement Buccaneer
Welcome back to our open thread. Let’s get straight to the action.
M. squared writes:
Kap-
How often are you eating meat per week?
Any cardiovascular concerns..?
Have you ever flushed this out with a heart doc?
Today you spoke of a planned indulgence… Were you referring to the bun and beer? All of the other stuff seemed within scope (grass fed ground beef, sweet potatoes, Guac). Did I miss something?
If by “meat”, you mean red meat, I eat it daily, sometimes several times a day. A fair average would be 7 meals or snacks per week that include or are mainly red meat.
Regarding the cardiovascular concerns, here’s what I wrote in a previous post:
Dr. Stephen Sinatra says: “We’ve long been told that foods high in saturated fat are bad. But the fact is saturated fats are the good guys. They help to raise beneficial HDL cholesterol, improving your triglyceride/HDL ratio—a key marker of cardiovascular health.”
Put simply, consumption of fat (even saturated fat) has never been shown to be linked to heart disease.
While I’ve never consulted a heart doctor about this, I’ve read and researched enough to make a well-informed, trustworthy opinion. It works for me, but I certainly would not decide for another. I always suggest taking responsibility and making the ideal decision for you.
You’re spot on with your assessment of my planned indulgence. The bun and beer were the only ingredients outside the scope of my regular grubbing routine. Don’t get it twisted though; they were essential to my overall experience. Is there anything more satisfying than an ice-cold beer and a burger?
Rhetorically,
Kap
Y’all know the drill. Comments, questions, thoughts – it’s all fair game.
Here at Morning View, concrete lions provide sanctuary on either side of the road. The freedom fighter wanders the middle. Peculiar. A snails pace’s the sweet spot. Just far enough away; she’s not too loud. Still close enough to smell her. 50 years ago, the old man walked this path. Wandering. Dreaming. … [Read more…]
We often discuss mining the answer to the question “why?” I believe in this concept wholeheartedly and can’t overstate it.I’m also fascinated by human behavior. You know my distaste for small talk by now, but I love to learn about the people I meet and connect with. I want to know why they do what they do. This is especially interesting to me when a conversation partner … [Read more…]
We talk all the time around here about the value of rest and recovery. We know how critical time off is to emerge with stronger muscles and healthier tissue. We also know what the optimal recipe is – stop training, sleep, eat.We grasp that philosophy for recovery from physical exertion, but what do we do to recover from mental exertion? Our recipes for recharging from our … [Read more…]
22 (my nickname for my fourteen year old, Dane) left me in the kitchen before embarking on a short journey to Boston to meet his friend. As is our standard hello and goodbye, we first slapped our right hands together. That sting feels amazing. Never losing contact, we gather our fingers together in a strong embrace and subsequently and in unison, bring our fists down towards … [Read more…]
Green can’t fade the blue, 1/2 the world from Red. The bottomless and dark.Too tame, too warm. Tepid. Tropical.Music and volume immaterial.She can move her hips, tango or slam. No stranger to a mosh pit.Pacifists needn’t apply, claims Venice ShorelineTravel north, beautiful baby to the left, a moon mirror.Still angry, thrashing. A shining, slashing … [Read more…]
Ask most folks if they speak Spanish (or any other foreign language), and you might hear them say, “I understand more than I speak.”
I’ve always called bullshit. Before now, that usually expressed to me one of two things. Either they speak more than they understand, or they speak and understand very little.
This occurred to me as I was on a plane back from the Dominican Republic. I’ve spoken before about my intent and desire to improve my Spanish ability. I came away from this trip with the realization that I may be able to speak enough Spanish, but I don’t understand it particularly well.
This isn’t uncommon. Most language educators focus on the goal of getting their students to start speaking as quickly as possible. Being able to speak a language does give us the feeling that we are are making progress. Additionally, it certainly assists in learning to think in a different language – we need to be able to have quick recall in order to come up with the next word when we’re talking.
However, this can give the illusion of mastery. In order to a carry on a conversation, I need to not only speak, but listen as well. When I was in the DR, I could usually get my points across using some strange variation of Spanish, but when my conversational partner begins to reply in their native tongue, I get lost. This is a frustrating series of events and can be embarrassing. I did a little research out of curiosity.
Turns out my thought that it was all BS? I’m wrong. Separating recall vs. recognition is a good start.
It’s the cognitive quirk that explains why you might not be able to list a lot of the people you went to high school with, but would be able to name them if you saw their photos. Recognition is easier than recall, and in language this translates to the many levels of understanding specific words:
- ignorance
- recognition (you’ve seen it but don’t know what it means)
- recognition with comprehension
- tip-of-the-tongue effect (you know there’s a word that fits the bill but can’t think of it instantly)
- ability to instantly recall and use in speech
To do do well on the verbal portion of the SATs or be able to read fluently in another language, for example, you only need to recognize a word and its definition. But to be able to speak it, you have to be able to recall (and conjugate) the word instantly.
Writing, reading, speaking and listening in any language all require different sets of skills. Much of speaking is real-time imitation – we use the same vocabulary and structures of those around us. By contrast, reading and writing give us a broader base of words and grammar. We’re not simply copying, but actually creating something in a different language. The practice with different structure and combinations allows us to more fully engrain the essence of the language into our minds. Then, to speak it, we transfer our understanding from our “slow memory” to our “quick memory.” The combination of slow and quick allows us to comprehend more of the speech around us.
Ultimately, conversing in a language requires a lot more than just memorizing nouns and conjugations. True understanding requires practice not only speaking but listening as well.
Mente fuerte,
Kap
Running on the beach has its virtues and its downside. Tailor the activity to meet your personal needs.
A few times a month, I take my sprints to the beach. Fall and winter mornings are especially quiet in north Malibu, as the tourists have split and only the hardcore surfers remain. Zuma beach provides a breathtaking landscape, particularly when the beastly waves come ‘round.
Regardless, I come for the training, not for the surf. Getting the most out of my sprints is important to me. I want to be certain that I’m not losing much optimizing for the sand over the road. From runnersfeed.com:
According to a study performed by The Journal of Experimental Biology, an athlete running on soft beach sand expends close to one and a half times more energy than an individual running on the road. Vacationers who want to sustain some level of fitness but who also want to decrease their training time while they are on vacation may like the idea of soft sand beach running as an efficient calorie burning workout.
Psffttt. I’m not on vacation, I’m at home. Because I’m able to partake in the activity regularly, I need to know it’s safe to strike the uneven surface with my bony bare feet. Truth be told, I’m not the least bit concerned, but I know that someone out there might be. So here you go:
According to a study called “The Dynamic Loading response of Surfaces Encountered in Beach Running” performed at Griffith University, barefoot running allows pronation to both occur earlier and end later in an athlete’s landing. This applies more pressure on the ankle and knee joints leaving them more susceptible to injury than if an athlete were running on even ground. Athletes who run on soft sand, because the sand allows for increased pronation, experience posterior shin pain (shin splints) more frequently than road runners
I’ve personally never encountered any of these issues. Maybe that’s because I have no calves and therefore my shins have less to support? Just spitballin’. Anyhow, there are studies that suggest otherwise:
A Griffith University (Queensland, Australia) study concluded that landing on soft sand increases the “collision” time, or the time during which the foot sinks into the sand, and therefore reduces the overall stress of pounding on the lower extremities.
These Aussies like their contradictory studies, huh? I’m good with balance. Plus, y’all know I’m not an endurance guy. I’m hitting quick bursts and am not quite as concerned with pounding. I’m more focused on muscular development and the maintenance of lean tissue. The more recruitment of fibers, the better:
The increase in collision time on soft sand also indicates that sand has less rebound than pavement, which forces the quadriceps, hip flexors and gluteus muscles to all engage more than they do on a normal run.
Now that’s what I’m talking about. Looks like you’re going to need take the very scary step of deciding for yourself. Will you brave the beach and take the shin splint risk? Will you see the upside of potential muscular development? Is the scenery the deciding factor? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Don’t come all at once. I like my beach quiet.
Kap
I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials for the pills and gels promising to reduce the symptoms of “low T.” “It’s just a number,” they say, then promise increased muscle and bone mass, elevated mood, more energy and a whole host of other benefits. Sounds appealing.
Perhaps you can skip the pills. I have an alternate solution.
Red cabbage.
I’ve got your attention now, right? From mensfitness.uk:
Cabbage is rammed with indole-3-carbinol (IC3), a phytochemical that increases your testosterone according to a study at the Rockefeller University Hospital in New York. The study also found that when men were given IC3, their levels of the female hormone estrogen reduced by 50%.
This is probably a good time to remind you that adding cabbage to your diet of Oreos and Doritos won’t make you ripped. However, at Kaplifestyle, we are all about adding value at the margins. If, over time, we find that we can sprinkle enjoyable foods into our already strong nutritional repertoire, eventually we become a fortress of good health.
If you’re happy with your testosterone levels, don’t pass on the cabbage. You didn’t think I’d ignore the female half of my readers, right? Fromwhfoods.com:
The rich red color of red cabbage reflects its concentration of anthocyanin polyphenols, which contribute to red cabbage containing significantly more protective phytonutrients than green cabbage. Interest in anthocyanin pigments continues to intensify because of their health benefits as dietary antioxidants, as an anti-inflammatory, and their potentially protective, preventative, and therapeutic roles in a number of human diseases.
We can all use a little more color in our diet. Red cabbage also doses you with Vitamin C (so you can stop with those powders to “prevent colds”), Vitamins A and K and lots of fiber.
I know you’re on board at this point, so let’s talk about how to eat it. I’m crushing it on an airplane as we speak. Sure, you may get some funny looks when you savagely bite off a huge chunk of a ball of cabbage on your flight. Your flight attendants and fellow passengers may laugh at you, but you’ve been here before. Supreme health requires a strong shield of thick skin.
I know, you want a more socially accepted method. Start simple by shredding cabbage and adding it to your salads. I dig kale, spinach, arugula and chard, but my veggie mixes take flight when I add red cabbage. No disrespect to the greens, but they lack the subtle sweetness provided by the vividly hued leaves. Dressed lightly with hummus and paired with a grass-fed steak leaves me feeling nutritionally drenched.
If you’re struggling with the taste, you can add it to juice or, better yet, smoothies. Stronger flavors like apple, lemon and carrots will mask the cabbage while still providing nutritional benefits.
There’s no getting around it, folks love shortcuts. Supermarket shelves are packed with supplement options that offer upside similar to what you might find from a cup or two of shredded purple cabbage. You can take a multi vitamin or you can just eat the veggie. The former is a processed pill and the latter a cruciferous vegetable with endless health benefits.
See you tomorrow when we discuss lettuce (kidding).
Kap
I want to work with people who flag problems and then offer up solutions. Whistle blowers, tattletale, and rumormongers are a dime a dozen.
If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out… Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier. – Randy Pausch
It’s certainly important to identify a problem. If we are perfectly content with the status quo, we don’t need to take any action. Once the issue has been clearly defined, however, our thoughts should turn to addressing it. Typically, concerns are easy to spot. But when you’re part of the creative process, in a room buzzing with fresh ideas, don’t be the man or woman who says, “Yeah, but here’s the problem,” without the follow of, “and here’s how we will overcome.”
One way to ensure that we have a strong process in place is to first see opportunity for growth in issues. From philosopher Karl Popper:
“All life is problem solving.” I’ve often contended that the best leaders are the best problem solvers. They have the patience to step back and see the problem at-hand through broadened observation; circular vision. They see around, beneath and beyond the problem itself. They see well-beyond the obvious. The most effective leaders approach problems through a lens of opportunity.
Merely identifying problems is a stagnant mindset. The message is, “this is hard, so let’s not do anything about it.” I’m not suggesting that we blindly rush into action without considering risks or hurdles, but solving problems instead of merely listing them is the only chance for improvement.
Nobody said this would be easy. Particularly if we’ve been in challenging environments and around especially challenging people, we’ve all become accustomed to the default setting of judgment. That doesn’t make us bad or unsavory, it just makes us human. In a courtroom, a judge will come to a conclusion, but it’s always accompanied by a course of action. In our day to day lives, we tend to only tackle the first part of the equation.
In my home, my older son Chase has developed a habit of frying eggs late at night. I love this. Most teenagers grab a carton of Rocky Road, this one crushes local eggs. Can’t complain. Upon waking in the morning, I’ve been finding his pan, in the sink, covered in dried egg yolks and redolent of chili powder (the kid gets it). He and I select the same pan, so when I go to cook, I am perpetually washing first. Suppose I approach him with, “Chase, you’re always leaving a dirty pan in the sink. It’s annoying,” then walk away. Feels like an attack. I’ve identified a problem, but I’ve explained nothing, taught nothing. Instead, I say the same thing, but follow with a course of action.
“Chase, after I cook eggs, I put a little water back in the pan, heat it to a boil quickly, then wipe it down and put it back on the stove so it’s clean for the next time. Let’s get in the habit of doing that for each other.”
My core belief is that if you’re complaining about something for more than three minutes, two minutes ago you should have done something about it.
Note that none of this is suggesting you are required to be blindly optimistic about every circumstance you face. When coupled with action, even irritation and annoyance can drive progress. Without looking for solutions, however, we become pessimistic fatalists, staying passive in the face of problems. Often, people push back or criticize out of defensiveness. They feel they should have taken action earlier, but didn’t out of fear or laziness. They have something to prove; if no one else can solve the problem, then they were right not to try. The more we sink into defensive mindsets, the less able we are to ask questions and improve.
Strong Mind,
Kap
Motivation comes in all forms. There’s no cookie cutter formula, and there’s no one right answer. Some folks sponge intrinsic desire to drive them forward, others look to outside forces for their inspiration. In the world of athletics, we can strike a healthy balance.
You may remember our discussions surrounding doing good work simply for the reward of doing good work. I am personally wired like this. A deep, thought provoking conversation where the person sitting next to me and I each learn can feel like crushing a satisfying meal. It’s satiating in itself. Others look forward to the reward of a decadent dessert. Athletes need both in aggregate to be the best versions of themselves they can be. From the Association for Applied Sports Psychology:
Extrinsic rewards are central to competitive sports; athletes receive publicity, awards, and money, among other things, and college level athletes obtain scholarships for their talents. Extrinsic rewards, when used correctly, can be beneficial to athletes. However, athletes in highly competitive levels of sport may experience decreases in their intrinsic motivation because of the increasing use of extrinsic rewards offered by the media, coaches, and parents.
There is no disputing the power of an ego boost derived from the right accolade. Handled correctly, these rewards are powerful motivators that lead us to seek even greater highs. Interestingly, they seem to land much better and be monumentally more impactful when they’re deserved.
In 1999, I was awarded, “Detroit Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Tiger Rookie of the Year.” There were only a few rookies on that club, and I went home after that baseball season believing that I sucked after less than desirable surface numbers. That particular reward did not feel earned. It didn’t serve as a motivational force. The only thing that did was the intrinsic motivation from incubating what I saw as an embarrassing performance.
On the contrary, in my late teens, I worked my ass off in the weight room and nutritionally. The combination of the internal reward of the work itself and the external gift of actually witnessing muscles and cuts develop served as a powerful, perfectly mixed cocktail that encouraged me to keep pushing.
We discussed educating others yesterday. When coaching athletes, whether professionally or simply supporting a child playing t-ball for the first time, our choices have a significant impact.
So how can you affect motivation – especially intrinsic? As a player only you can decide to what level you want to do something, but this can be influenced by others. The best motivation for anyone is success – if you achieve at something it is a positive reinforcement and you are more likely to attempt to repeat the behavior. As a coach you can have an effect on this by reinforcing desirable behaviors (such as effort and near misses) with praise and positive feedback. However, recent trends have indicated that too much praise or the wrong kind of praise can have a negative effect on motivation: praising ‘natural ability’ more than effort.
In other words, saying “wow, you’re so fast” will land with little impact. Praising an innate talent encourages the mindset that our abilities are fixed and immutable. If the only things that are recognized are what we cannot change, then there is no reason to push ourselves harder or strive to be better. Psychologists refer to this as “learned helplessness” – as we believe that we lack control over the outcome, we simply give up and stop trying. By contrast, when the variables that we do control are rewarded, we are more likely to repeat those behaviors and feel empowered to change our lives.
In the end, we can’t control how much natural talent we have. We can control how much energy we dump into getting better. Acknowledgment and validation of that effort tends to feel authentic…and we feel fueled to keep pushing.
Strong Mind,
Kap
I’m on the road right now for World Series pre- and post-game coverage with my FOX team. Travel can present unique challenges to our well-being, so I work harder to stay on point when I’m away from home.
How often do you travel for business and find yourself eating meals in your room or the hotel restaurant? Perhaps you wake up, hit the fitness center, hop in the shower and head to your meetings. Those might be in the lobby or the convention center. You could easily spend the entire day inside the walls and windows of the building and never feel what the town has to offer. Do this frequently enough and you’re missing opportunities to experience a richer life.
Finding a restaurant on the road and walking there from your hotel is the ideal way to explore the culture of the city, get some exercise and simply be outside. From Harvard Health:
Light tends to elevate people’s mood, and there’s usually more light available outside than in. Physical activity has been shown to help people relax and cheer up, so if being outside replaces inactive pursuits with active ones, it might also mean more smiles.
I’m sitting and typing at Room 39, a Kansas City café, roughly a 30 minute walk from our hotel. I’m crushing a summer frittata that I most certainly could not get in the hotel 
restaurant. Its eggs come from local Missouri farms. The feta cheese provides a rich, salty, creaminess in every other bite, while the winter squash balances the dish with its mild, dense, sweet flesh. The dish included local greens and wild mushrooms. I left pleased I had ventured out into the streets to explore.
Now, I’ll find a gym and train, then walk a bit more to finish out my morning. When I arrive back at the hotel and begin my workday, I’ll be satisfied and perhaps even more focused. From psychcentral.com:
Even if you don’t have hours to spend outside, taking 15 minutes to step outside and take a few deep breaths can greatly help clear your mind and relax your body. Being in the sunshine, even if only for a few minutes, helps the body absorb vitamin D from the sun, which is known to help improve the mind.
We can’t always find sun, but we should be able to find our way outdoors and have a healthier, richer life experience.
Think you can beat Room 39 for breakfast? I’m open to suggestions.
Kap
Educating others is exhausting, but also fulfilling and one of the most worthwhile endeavors we can pursue.
It is well-documented at this point that we care deeply about mining for value at the margins around here. In our day-to-day jobs, we may be ultimately responsible for hundreds of people or just a few. Whether we work in baseball or football or on a line in a restaurant, we are met perpetually with opportunities to impact the lives of others and help them become the best possible versions of themselves by sharing what we’ve learned.
For me, these conversations tend to center on health and well-being. The folks I correspond with are consistently hunting for answers to questions about power, speed and strength if they’re athletes, body composition improvements if they’re not. These chats center on food, weight training, acquisition of sunlight, moving around and being productive. You may notice confluence of these themes and those of this blog.
This isn’t an accident. I work with baseball men in particular. This population sample isn’t always ready to hear the core of a message the first time it’s delivered, myself included. Perhaps it’s not the right time or the right format. That isn’t a reason to not have the conversation. It may sink in on the 5th delivery, or the 20th, or the 200th. If the message is strong, it will become food for thought. Over time, the seed takes root in the mind and gives us the opportunity to dive deeper or provide inspiration for thought.
We know that adolescents and young adults make poor decisions. Ultimately, we are never responsible for the choices of other human beings. Years ago, a player came to me. He had gained 15 pounds over a very short period of time. He was full of excuses – the food on the road was poor, games ran late and options were limited.
These points may have all been true. They likely were. Yet, underlying them was a clear message – he wanted sympathy and excuses for the choices he made. I didn’t offer them, though I didn’t berate him either. Instead, my response was clear. “I can and will support you, but you are responsible for your decisions.” Fine, I may have been slightly more direct in messaging (wink).
Not only will the message eventually sink in, likely when you least expect it, but it is the courageous step. Most individuals will participate in the shifting of responsibility, because it’s simpler to not call people on their bullshit. A good partner steps up to the plate and firmly resists the siren call of the easy way out. We’ve all failed and gone in the opposite direction. I recognize the significant challenge.
This is the way we demonstrate true care for others. As a parent of two young men, my job is not done after the first lesson. Like all teenagers, there are many more interesting things than cleaning up after themselves or eating spinach in lieu of vitamins. As we have discussed previously, I don’t lecture. I do consistently attempt (I often fail) to model behavior and take the opportunity for educational moments that pop up throughout the weeks.
We demonstrate care through the willingness to continue having the conversation. It’s not about the content. Rather, your listener knows that you care enough to work through the boring patches, the mundane moments, the continual monotony of teaching the same lesson. The recipient may not be ready to absorb it initially, but over time, it will land as usable information.
It is frustrating when we continually reach out to offer education to the unwilling. It gives us an excuse to stop providing it (coaches of difficult players, take note). You feel like you’re beating a dead horse, that you’ve already said the same thing a hundred different ways. Our resentment and irritation pulls us off course. The long term value is in staying the course.
Strong Mind,
Kap