Yes. Exactly. And there is a lot of value in the activity. I’m very curious and game to try just about anything. As a result, I’m “pretty good” at a lot of stuff. Not elite level at anything, but I still derive a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from the effort.
Good training and/or mentorship are like a force multiplier. You can learn to do things on your own, and if you have exceptional aptitude, you might even become pretty darned good at it. But good training and mentorship can raise your ceiling.
Then if exceptional aptitude is rare, most people can't rely on that. I know I can't.
The original post you made was about whether or not someone needed a "driver" to become a "real fighter". People need a coach yes, but they don't have to be any sort of inspirational person or mentor beyond teaching them the mechanics. At least if their goal is to learn how to fight.
Well going back even further we started discussing nature vs. nurture, some comments about genetics being a dominant factor vs. things like dedication, motivation, parenting, etc. Personality, that's a can of worms all to itself.
I'm not sure we actually are disagreeing on anything here. My whole point with the example with my brother was that to pretty much everyone, he seems elite in piano playing. It's only when you reach that 99.x% that you can see he's not. And where you need to have all the ducks fully. Up until that point, and what most people will be impressed by, you can be missing/lacking in some of those factors and still be good.
Yes. We need someone to push us to level we did not know we could actually reach ourselves. I used to get that once a day. Go to the top end of the dojo and get my "medicine". in Japan we call this Uchidachi. To initiate the action and govern the tempo keeping oneself just above the level of the student.
I have done this professionally for years in Japan. We do our best work when we are dog tired. To educate the body that speed/success does not come from strength. To squash that subliminal message that associates aggression with strength and tension. Done on a daily basis. If I remember it took me around eight months practicing ten times a week before things started to drop into place.
Off Topic for most,
Not enough to become elite. But probably enough to become competent or better.Then if exceptional aptitude is rare, most people can't rely on that. I know I can't.
Even if they think they can, Gerry just pointed out, dedication isn't enough.
Actually, there is not. The egg was first. An egg laid by a near-chicken can hatch a chicken. But the chicken cannot exist prior to that egg being laid.
That's why they call it evolution. It existed a lot earlier than logic. Do genetics rule the future, with regard to strength training? Or is it something else. Genes are sauce for the goose.
As with most things, the answer is yes. Because both matter.
I can. I just need to kick him once first...
Again, it depends. I am not going to outrun a Greyhound, but a Corgi? I think I have a pretty good shot. And I'm totally confident I can outrun a Chihuahua.
There definitely is some strong evidence for the heritability of some kinds of genius. It's complex (I can't dredge up the right terms in my brain at the moment) - almost certainly multiple chromosomes/alleles involved. I can't see any reason to suspect that's not true of sports, as much as it is for music.
Let me clarify, as you (and probably others) may have misunderstood what I meant. Heritability doesn't mean genetics is the dominant factor, much less the only factor. It just means it is a factor. Heritability is measured on a scale of 0-1, where 0 means there no genetic involvement in the trait, and 1 means the trait is entirely determined by genetics. Many personality traits have heritability between .3 and .6, so some are mostly developed (with significant genetic influence) while others are mostly genetic (with significant environmental influence).
The research shows there are some traits that are mostly determined by genetics. Oddly, where environment matters, it's mostly about what you and your siblings (for instance) experienced differently, rather than about what you experienced similarly. I have trouble wrapping my head around that.
Give it time, Gerry. This will change!
Oh, it did. Sometime after I broke my leg at 41. That downtime, and less time spent in the dojo, got it started. I'm still pretty lucky, compared to what other folks have to deal with, though.Give it time, Gerry. This will change!
