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How I progressed through the 3 stages of learning in Lifting!

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How I progressed through the 3 stages of learning in Lifting!

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I was introduced to lifting when I was in High School. I remember starting out in the YMCA weight room and having no idea what I was doing. This was when I was in the cognitive stage where I was relying heavily on mental skills to perform lifting movements. I had to think through the plan on each movement I was trying to do. When I was benching, one rep would be good and then I would lose activation of my chest and my next rep would be all arms. It took a while to see progress not only in my reps but my actual muscle gains. It wasn't until I found my first gym bro aka lifting buddy did I start to making real progress. This was when I entered the associative stage or the second stage of learning. I was beginning to establish motor programs for each body part and the exercises I was working on. With the help of my lifting partner, he provided feedback and advice on each set and rep and really helped me improve my form. During this stage I still relied heavily on feedback from my lifting partner and would always ask him questions and he would provide comments on my consistency within each movement and on things I'm doing well, and not so well. I was in the associative stage for many years but after really paying attention to the science behind my gains, I eventually was able to become my own teacher. This was when I entered the autonomous stage, because all the skills I developed in the gym were basically automatic at this point. I didn't have to think about doing it, I just did it. If I did have a bad set, I would know instantly what went wrong and how I can correct my form for the next set. I love this stage because I can just pop in my headphones and smash a workout without overthinking each step of the process like I did when I was a beginner.
Here is a video showing a montage of me lifting, doing some parkour, and having some fun!

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I love climbing!...I just can't explain how to do it.

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I love climbing!...I just can't explain how to do it.

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I have been climbing things my entire life. From a young age, this was something I just loved to do! In class we learned that procedural knowledge refers to the knowledge of how to perform or operate and declarative knowledge refers to facts or information stored in our memory often able to be verbalized. My entire life I have been climbing up things and is a skill I have stored in my procedural memory. When it comes to explaining the act of climbing, I'm not so good at it. I wouldn't know the right terms to use and I would often find myself just using hand motions rather than words when trying to verbalize the movement. Thankfully, I have no ambition of becoming a rock-climbing instructor or teacher of any sort. On the other hand, I have found having the skill of climbing stored in my procedural knowledge to have benefitted me in my first obstacle on the Titan Games. After years of preparation my procedural knowledge finally was put to work...When it was time to climb, I climbed!
Here is a video of my first challenge on the Titan Games.

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Jack Kwan Soars 30 Feet in 8 Seconds in Lunar Impact - Titan Games 2019

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My experience with Piano and how different forms of feedback have helped me improve!

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My experience with Piano and how different forms of feedback have helped me improve!

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I have been playing piano ever since I was a little kid. I grew up taking lessons from a teacher just a couple houses down my block. Throughout my piano playing experience I was exposed to both intrinsic and augmented feedback. When it came to learning difficult classical pieces and performing for recitals, I received mainly augmented feedback from my piano teacher. Augmented feedback became a crucial part in me getting ready for recitals. For example, I would play a section of the piece and then my teacher would provide feedback on what notes I need to play better. this form of feedback increased my skill acquisition over the years and greatly increased my level of performance. For intrinsic feedback, it took me a while to be able to coach myself. Eventually after a couple years of playing, I would practice and critique myself. I would use intrinsic feedback to see what scales or notes I could improve on, or if I met the proper tempo of the metronome. This ability to use intrinsic feedback without an external teacher became very useful when trying to learn pop music pieces by myself.
Here is a photo of me concentrating very hard while using intrinsic feedback.

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Importance of Vision in Successful Soccer

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Importance of Vision in Successful Soccer

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When I was in High School I played for the varsity team as a striker/forward. Having vision to process not only the defenders around me, but the entire field as to where my center-midfielders were and my left and right midfielders were in relation to me was essential. Whenever I had the ball, my main purpose was to score a goal, which was really hard without the use of my teammates. Which is why when I was attacking, I would switch my attention very quickly when under pressure to see if my midfielders have stepped up and allowed me a new passing lane to relieve the defender on my tail. If they were quite caught up field I would look out wide for a right or left mid to pass to. Even when our team doesn't have the ball and we are defending, I'm switching my vision from who has the ball to who might receive it. And in any case I am looking to block the passing lane and/or intercept the pass. The strategy of switching my attention and focus has been built up through years of playing the game and being coached. I remember when I was younger, I would just try and dribble the ball all the way to the goal and score, but as I've grown up I learned the different elements of attacking and how I can utilize the players around me to help score a much more efficient goal. I think this speaks to the fact that when your a beginner in the sport you don't focus your attention on cues that can help efficiently improve your play, and as you get better and became more of an expert you focus your attention better on cues that help your play and end goal.
Here is a photo during my senior varsity season in high school!

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A key aspect in parkour is having great coordination between your body and the external stimuli around you. Whether it is flipping off a tree or jumping off a bench, there a great recruitment of proprioceptors used. To start for the tree-flipping example, you must be able to run at the correct velocity towards a tree while keeping your core tight, once your first foot starts to touch the tree you want to simultaneously lower both arms and keep your head still in order to reduce the chance of messing up your takeoff/rotating flip. Second, you are pushing off the tree with your second foot (dominant) and simultaneously throwing your arms up and backwards while rotating your pelvic area and core towards the motion of your arms. This will generate torque and naturally rotate your body backwards away from the tree as you combine this with the push of your foot. All these actions need to be done within a small window of time in order to perform the wall-flip correctly. This requires the user to have coordinative structures so that the brain can send signals to the structures in order to perform the movement. Lastly, after you combine these two movements you want to make sure the whole time that your eyes are focused on where your arms are, especially when you swing up and backwards. This requires the user to have a strong vestibular-ocular reflex so that their eyes do not move away from their leading arms as the body shifts upside down. All these moves will contribute to a successful wall-flip and can be practiced over and over again, until mastered.
Here is a video showing a montage of parkour skills and tricks!