All posts tagged: sports performance

What if practice doesn’t make perfect?

17 July 2019
by Jen Martin
comments 2
Anthropology / Myths / Psychology

You know the saying: practice makes perfect. But how much practice? If you believe the ‘10,000-hour rule’, you can become an expert at most things with 10,000 hours of practice. What’s the catch? Grand Masters Think about a skill you’d love to master: maybe chess, soccer, cello or speaking Spanish. What would it take for you to be truly exceptional at your chosen activity? Is raw talent essential? Perhaps early nurturing of natural talent makes […]

It’s not all in the mind

3 June 2015
by Jen Martin
comments 6
Health / Myths / Psychology

Want to build more muscle, play sport more skillfully and heal better after injury, all without lifting a finger? I’m talking about <em>visualisation</em>: imagining your body doing something before you actually do it. Rather than an urban myth, it turns out there is lots of science behind the power of mental training.