March 8, 2015

Numbers, Angles, Rhythm, And Symmetry

This Is Really Just A Game Of Numbers, And Angles

Super Bowl winning coach, and NFL analyst, Brian Billick has popularized the phrase, ‘professional football has been and always will be a game of numbers, angles, rhythm and symmetry’.

Numbers in this case refers to the matchups and mismatches on the field, such as when 3 receivers are lined up on the same side of the field, with the defense showing zone coverage with 2 deep safeties (the safety on the far side will presumably be unable to make a play on the side of the field that the 3 receivers are lined up on, unless leaving his position, and a huge portion of the field wide open). This would be considered a very favorable matchup for the offence to take advantage of. The numbers are the first key to running a successful play.

But all the numbers in the world, in terms of advantages in personnel, are meaningless if the receivers don’t take advantage by running routes that place themselves between the quarterback and the closest defender. If the defender is able to identify the route and place himself between the targeted receiver and the quarterback, the likeliness of the play being broken up, or worse yet, intercepted, is heightened dramatically. Therefore, the angles are the second key to running a successful play, as they enable the offence to take advantage of the numbers/mismatches.

Billick is natural statistician, and goes on to say that over the course of a given season, the offensive and defensive units will run about 1,000 plays per season. Of these 1,000 plays, roughly 45% of them will be first down plays, with roughly 20% being third down plays. 14% of plays will be within the ‘red zone’ (AKA within scoring range by most accounts), with 2.5% of plays from the goal line. These numbers heavily influence how much time is spent practicing specific situations, and with good reason – why would anyone invest a lot of time into practicing a situation that you’re only going to face 2.5% of the time? You have to get to the goal line first, and if you can’t do that, there’s not much value in practicing plays from there.

This is where symmetry comes in, as it refers to the amount of time spent on the demand of the situation – since third down plays occupy only 20% of the situations that will be faced, more time is spent practicing first down plays, which occupy 45% of the situations. Time is spent on addressing and practicing for the situation that requires the most attention, and will make the greatest impact on the outcome of the game. This is the third key to being able to successfully run a play – practicing the numbers and angles.

Rhythm is developed as a result of the symmetry, which in this case refers to successfully running plays – as situations are practiced and dealt with, and success is seen in the physical form, momentum begins to form, and things come together more naturally. As a team’s ability to string together successful plays improves, confidence is built, and more time can be spent on addressing other situations that require it the most, in the hopes of creating the most complete team as possible.

March 1, 2015

Bodybuilding - A Simplistic View Of How You Should Train To Build Your Body

A lot of people who get into bodybuilding, or who train with the goal of building their body (which pretty much defines what ‘bodybuilding’ is), fall into the trap of focusing on the wrong things like external cues. Building your body is an ‘experience’ that YOU are central to, not the result of doing things that are written down on a piece of paper, or on your smart phone.

External cues like how much weight you’re using, how long you’re resting for/supposed to rest for, and how long you’re supposed to follow a program completely remove YOU from the experience – and YOU are ‘supposed’ to be central to which all those variables are based upon.

If you want to build your body, you must understand YOUR BODY, and also know what you want to get from your body through your training. Then, from there obviously it would help to know how to go about taking your body from where you’re at, to where you want to be. But before you can take your body from where you’re at, to where you want to be, it’s probably a good idea to understand what will prevent you from getting there, so you can account for that beforehand.