1. Encouraged you to keep trying, saying something along the lines of “practice makes perfect.”
2. Suggested that you tried really hard and perhaps this activity was not something you were naturally talented at, so it would be best to give something else a go.

Well interestingly, there appears to be merit in both of these responses. Nature and nurture seem to be so interlaced in any realm of athletic performance that both training and natural talent will determine expertise. For years, sports scientists have been involved in modern genetic research in order to determine just how much nature contributes to athletic performance and how much nurture or practice does.

Nature Versus Nuture

Talent can be defined “as any feature of natural endowment that has one or both of the following effects: enhancing training and enhancing performance.”⁴ Interestingly, there doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of supporting evidence that solely talent makes a person an expert at sports.

David Epstein, in his book The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance, discussed how complex becoming an expert actually is. In general terms, he found that both nature (biology) and nurture (practice, hard work) interact at almost every step of the way to develop elite athletes.

For example, from a nature perspective, people vary widely in the size of their heart and lungs and the amount of red blood cells they have in their body. Genetic makeup also determines how our physiology responds to training for sports, such as the gaining of muscle mass and improvements in aerobic capacity. Therefore, a training regimen that works well for one person may not work as well for another. There are also variances due to genetics in regard to how hard individuals can push themselves in training, which of course, can have a huge impact on end results.

The 10,000-Hour Rule

But Epstein, through the analysis of extensive research on both sides of the coin, also discussed various studies around the importance of practice. For instance, in 1993, Anders Ericcson, a Swedish professor of psychology widely recognized as one of the world’s leading researchers on expertise, came up with the 10,000-hour rule. In his paper, called The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance, he discussed research conducted by a group of Berlin psychologists in numerous competitive areas, from music to the Olympic Games and international chess competitions.

With this research a common theme was discovered – that people at the top of their fields all tend to complete at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. To further support the nurture debate, you also have the growth mindset, first named by Carol D. Dweck, which suggests that qualities are malleable through learning and not fixed by genes. And even earlier than this was the research done by sports expertise researcher Janet Starkes who carried out occlusion tests that found learned perceptual expertise is more important than raw reaction skills. Hence, that accumulated hours of practice were in fact masquerading as innate talent.

Give Deliberate Practice a Try

Your position on this nature versus nurture debate probably depends not only on these points and other reading you have done, but also on your own experiences. Perhaps you are someone who felt you did not possess the natural talent to excel at sport, but through hard work and training, managed to rise to the level of those who were initially more talented. Someone like Michael Jordan is a good example of this. Or maybe you were the gifted athlete who found that with minimal training you could outperform most of your peers in a range of different activities. In this case, you might disagree with the whole theory around practice.

No matter where your beliefs lie in this interesting area of research though, if you really do want to become a better runner, a stronger weightlifter or a more refined tennis player, then deliberate practice and hard work sure won’t set you back. Although sports science has worked out that performance is the result of a cluster of physiological, psychological, and environmental traits, hard work is certainly a key part of this equation and can be the difference between victory and defeat.

So why not try deliberate practice over time and see how well you do? It may not come easy, but think about how rewarding it will be when you have put in those hours of training and you perform better than you ever thought you could. I have seen my boyfriend learn guitar over the past twelve months, putting in hours of practice and attending lessons every fortnight and he is a prime example of the theory of practice. He will be the first to admit he was not born with this musical talent, so instead he has persisted and it is starting to pay off. I enjoy listening to him and you can tell how much he enjoys playing, as with each hour it becomes more effortless for him.

Where do you think you fall on the scale of nature versus nurture? Do you have a goal that will involve deliberate practice in order to get better? Please post your thoughts and goals to the comments below.

References:

1. David Epstein, The Sports Gene (Current Hardcover, 2013).

2. K. Anders Ericsson, “The Role of Deliberate Practice in Acquisition of Expert Performance,” Psychological Review (1993).

3. Mauro van de Looij, “What is Talent: A Growth Mindset,” TheSportinMind.com, last modified July 21, 2014.

4. Ben Marks, “Talent: The Invisible Phenomenon,” TheSportinMind.com, last modified May 24, 2013.

5. “Nature vs nurture / Talent vs work: What determines sporting success?” The Science of Sport, last modified January 7, 2009.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Perfect Practice Makes Perfect – Or Does Nature Trump Everything? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Exercise Makes You Feel Sexy

When you are consciously looking after your health and your body, you cannot help but feel sexy. Imagine training regularly for six months, eating well, losing weight and feeling more defined than ever before. You’d surely want to turn the lights on and get down to it with your partner! In fact, numerous clients of mine over the years have commented on feeling more attractive to their partner as they have increased their levels of exercise.

Flexibility Leads to More Options for Sex

Ever wondered why people joke about the benefits of being bendy when it comes to sex? It makes complete sense, as the main areas of the body used for sex are the shoulders, hips, and entire back. If these areas are tight, sex will not be comfortable and you may be a little limited in the positions you can try.

Regular Physical Activity Can Lead to Enhanced Arousal

During exercise feel good chemicals called endorphins are released, and this same release happens during sex. The more frequently you can trigger this endorphin release via sex or exercise, the easier it is to become sexually aroused.¹

Women in Their Forties Can Have Better

In a study of over 5,500 Finnish women in their forties and fifties, statistically significant positive associations were observed between strenuous exercise and orgasm experiences for women in their forties.² Strenuous exercise examples include high-intensity interval training, such as sprints and Tabata training, an intense gym or boot camp class, or challenging weight training session.

Men Are Less Likely to Have Erectile Dysfunction

At the 2010 meeting of the Urological Association, Erin McNamara, MD, of Duke University Medical Center presented findings that stated: “Men who were moderately active – walking briskly just thirty minutes a day, four days a week, or the equivalent – were about two-thirds less likely to have sexual dysfunction than their sedentary counterparts.” This is a fairly convincing reason for men to get away from their desk or the couch and get active.

Exercise Strengthens the Cardiovascular System and Improves Circulation

Aerobic exercise increases circulation, can reduce stress, rejuvenates the body, and can fill us with renewed energy for the bedroom. It also tends to improve blood flow, including to the genital regions, which leaves you more primed for sexual activity.

Key Exercises for More Satisfying Sex

Obviously being fitter and healthier overall will go a long way. But specific types of exercises can also improve your strength, flexibility and stamina in bed. 

Pelvic Floor Exercises (or Kegels)

These exercises are done to strengthen the pubococcygeus (or PC) muscle, which contracts during orgasm. Women who strengthen this area by doing pelvic floor exercises report better and more consistent orgasms and for men it can lead to stronger and more long-lasting erections.³ Start with holding the area (as if you are stopping urination) for five seconds and then work up to doing ten second holds up to three times a day.

Core Strengthening

Strength in your abdomen, pelvis, middle and lower back is what “core strength” refers to. A couple of good exercises to improve core strength are abdominal crunches and alternate arm leg raises. Alternate arm leg raise is where you begin on all fours facing down with knees bent, and then lift the opposite arm and leg at the same time. Hold this for a few seconds and then swap sides. Not only will this be good for your core, it will also work your shoulders and glutes, plus help with balance.

Upper Body Work

Any sexual position where you have to support yourself using your arms (such as missionary for the man) requires strength in your upper body. Key exercises to help strengthen are push ups, which work the chest and triceps, the rowing machine in the gym, or using free weights to do various upper body sets, such as bicep curls, tricep push backs, and shoulder press.

Flexibility

The next time your personal trainer encourages you to stretch out your lower back, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors, or suggests you go to a few yoga sessions, it isn’t just going to assist in recovery and range of movement in your next training session. It will also loosen you up for having a pleasurable and perhaps more adventurous sexual experience.

Cardio Training

Walking, running, cycling, swimming, and rollerblading are just some examples of the cardio fitness you can do a few times each week to improve your performance and stamina in the bedroom.

Summary

Obviously, as a personal trainer, I am an advocate of exercise as a consistent habit for all people, because of the many proven benefits it provides. However, keeping fit and healthy to improve your confidence, sexiness, desire, and performance in the bedroom is a standout benefit. Wanting to have sex and being able to satisfy your partner then leads to other benefits such as higher self-esteem, positive emotional connection and therefore relationship well-being. So if you’ve been feeling lackluster when it comes to sex and think you need a boost, then make a change today.

References:

1. Hamilton, L.D., Rellini, A.H., & Meston, C.M. “Cortisol, sexual arousal, and affect in response to sexual stimuli” Journal of Sexual Medicine 5 (2008): 2111-18.

2. Ojanlatva, A., et al. “Sexual activity and perceived health among Finnish middle-aged women.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 4 (2006): 29.

3. McNamara, E., Alfred-Thomas, J., & Freedland, S.J., “Exercise Correlates to Higher Sexual Function Scores in a Cohort of Healthy Men” (paper presented at the 105^th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association, 31 May 2010).

4. His and Her Heath. “Smoking, Lack of Exercise Impacts Sexual and Urinary Function.” Accessed 09 May 2014.

5. Freeman, S., “10 Exercise Tips for a Better Sex Life.” 09 November 2010. HowStuffWorks. Accessed 08 May 2014.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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