Develop Your Core

My client was at the gym weight training his major muscles groups – useful for maintaining bone density and ensuring his lean tissue development. Ironman finisher and television’s ‘The Bachelor’ Dr Andy Baldwin wrote me that weight training, vitamin D and calcium were necessary for those athletes over-40 years if age. He followed this up with about 20 minutes treadmill running, and a core stability session. In the latter, he performed the Plank, Side Plank and static Lower Back Raise (akin to the Cobra Pose in yoga). I understand that he does his core stability work everyday, mainly using the Plank and one session of yoga every week; he has never receive rehabilitative prescription nor incurred a serious sports injury before. He learnt about core stability from his colleague.

My assessment is that his core strength is superb. His form is impeccable and he appreciates functional strength and stability. His lower flexibility is healthy and to be envied at his age. His disciplined approach to developing his core and translated gracefully into better mobility and a freer posture. In other words, he is likely to perform better physically in sports with less risk of injury. He still swims regularly and he is very confident about his competency in the water.

Likewise, you should consider developing your core competencies further. Competencies can lose their resilience through time unless we continue to beef up our skills. Instead of isolated skills, focus on integrated skill-sets. Like exercise, each set comprises several repetitions. Repetition is the way to learn, ensuring muscle memory and permanence, provide you practice the correct technique. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practise your skills occasionally to keep current and confident.

Applications and Applying Your Skills

‘High-tech, low-touch’ is the way many of us are going with interpersonal communications. If we can replace face-to-face interactions with a text message or e-mail, we will. Why trouble ourselves unnecessarily with sensory onslaught and assault on the senses? We have to actively track non-verbal cues and be active in our listening. For many, this can be too much work and a waste of time gathering information for comprehension. Are hard skills or technical skills hard to learn? Or, are soft skills flaccid and easy to grasp?

Are soft skills a waste of time? Are interpersonal skills worth avoiding? Can we ignore the training of service staff in retail outlets and in hotels? Can we afford to leave sales professionals along and let them figure the closure of sales through intuition and common sense? Is experience reliable, when this is not backed by knowledge and skills?

In the last two days overseas, I have enjoyed casual but rich conversations with taxi-drivers and hotel staff. I have communicated and taught in Mandarin, English and Hokkien (equivalent to Taiwan’s main native language. It is interesting how a tourist can express and articulate himself like a local. In effect, it has taken me most of my life to learn, practise and apply my language skills. I read, write and speak my foreign languages. Familiarity and the flirty come with acquiring mastery of any language. Your appreciation of language and culture is intrinsic and intertwined. It also makes eaves-dropping such a fascinating process; you can never be bored again!

Computer applications are only useful when you use these downloaded content. Otherwise, they take up space (in our digital devices) and become redundant and devalued through time. Use it, or delete it. With soft skills like languages, they become wasted through our own negligence and ignorance if we fail to keep them intact through conversations.

Hard or soft – give your learnt skills your best shot!

*****

Three weeks to go to my marathon and the tapering process has begun. After two days of rest, nursing my tight Archilles tendons with regular deep massage and loads of stretching, I ran a hill intervals program on the treadmill. It was an easy day however the elevation change made it challenging. If you allow your calves and Archilles tendon to be tight, it pulls on your heels and makes it tender to run or walk. Be careful when you increase your mileage suddenly and procrastinate on your stretching.