Much in life is outside of our control. As a Major League Baseball player, I learned the importance of taking charge of areas within my control. Small adjustments can have major impacts.
Baseball is a game of centimeters. Let’s look at a recent example.
Jordan Zimmermann tossed the Washington Nationals’ first no-hitter on Sunday. Steven Souza Jr., brought in during the late innings as a defensive replacement, made a tremendous catch, laying out, fully extended, to preserve the no hitter and 1-0 victory. If Souza travels an inch less, is slow to his jump by a millisecond, or allows his head to bounce violently as he runs, the ball drops, Zim gives up a hit, and the Marlins conceivably end up tying the score.
Souza was called upon theoretically cold and asked to shine. He responded admirably, and was able to do so because he was at his peak, mentally and physically. For a baseball player, a game and at times a career hang in the balance. The playoffs are here. Games will be won or lost based on an outfielder’s vertical leap, the flexibility of a first baseman or the endurance of a pitcher’s mind. For you, it may be workplace success, academic prowess or a personal record with the weight bar. When you’re called upon, will you have taken the steps necessary to dazzle?
We cannot control when those moments will come or the circumstances when they do. We can and should control how we prepare and care for ourselves.
In baseball, everybody warms up, right? Wrong. There is a famous anecdote about Ken Griffey Jr. that circulated in nearly every team stretch I took part in. As one teammate decided to slack off during team warm-ups, another would inevitably bring up a story where Griff says to another man, “Ever see a cheetah warm up before catching his prey?”
Cue club laughter. Griff was a physical freak. Like everyone but him, I can remember days when I neglected to warm up properly and was stiff for an at bat or two. I have no doubt that I prepared as adequately as anyone to be ready to play, but I could have been better.
No one has a perfect plan for well-being, and we aren’t robots. The small choices we make, like whether to properly warm up, have major impacts at the end of the day. From a study, Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis:
Thirty-two studies, all of high quality (6.5-9 [mean = 7.6] of 10) reported sufficient data (quality score >6) on the effects of warming-up on performance improvement. Warm-up was shown to improve performance in 79% of the criterions examined. This analysis has shown that performance improvements can be demonstrated after completion of adequate warm-up activities…
This isn’t about Kenny Griff , and it’s not about warming up. It’s about making an impact at the margins. What if Derek Jeter was a step slow the day of the famous cutoff? Imagine Pedro Martinez’s arm being slightly better conditioned in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. The course of history is changed by the minutest details.
You may not be expecting to make a big presentation to your boss at work, but you’ll undeniably perform better if you’re not groggy at the office after a drink too many with dinner the night before. It is imperative to identify what we can control and devote our limited mental bandwidth to those high impact areas.
I know there are a few players reading this blog. Men, how important are these details to your career earnings and your club’s wins? Exactly.
Kap
Preparing your body for what it’s about to face only makes sense. Warm ups should include the movements and ranges of motion you will be encountering when you need to perform. That’s why we include warm up sets before we load all the weight on the bar.
Nothing taken away from the Great Ken Griffey Jr., but maybe if he had warmed up more, he wouldn’t have had so many injuries.
Ha, perhaps.
Kap, good of you to bring this up as this has to do with lifestyle philosophy and how an individual carries themselves. Somebody, (Confuscious?) (Chester?) said “Expect nothing, be prepared for everything.” This is a sheepdog’s, rather than a sheep’s philosophy on life.
I think there are no blanket rules for an individual’s preparation; all of us in life do not work at a Toyota factory in Japan where stretching and calisthenics are a workforce ritual. Some individuals however probably work and live better, when they do have their rituals, be those self-imposed or under instruction by others.
Souza was prepared under the circumstances of game on the line, no-hitter on the line, he knew what he had to do. And even though the catch was fun to watch, you know damn well it was a fun catch to make — he’s probably still smiling and it was likely a huge confidence boost. And if he had a ritual prior to the game or inning, he will likely go back to it.
Anyway I will keep this short. Thank you for this interesting provocative post.
Toyota factory reference. Nice.
Also — details are as important the first week of the season as they are the last week of the season.
Indeed.
Makes me think of the saying that goes something like ‘Luck favors the well-prepared’
Correct, Bill.
I’m not a playa I just crush a lot.
Good read, everything I learned from playing sports has helped me professionally off the court/field. The little things end up mattering the most.
I don’t get it — you’re not a beach (playa = beach in espanol)?
I miss Big Pun.
Be prepared and pay attention to details and you will successfully at life
Thanks, Darby.
Trey says
Funny you bring up the cheetah story Kap. We just went over this cliche misconception in my exercise physiology class. While us humans have Type I, IIa, IIx fibers (slow twitch, and mainly two different fast twitch fiber types) cheetahs have almost exclusively Type IIx fibers (explosive fast twitch). Which equates to them taking off at extreme rates, but their bodies require extensive time to recover. It has even been documented in the wild where a cheetah did not posses the ability to defend itself or young after an extensive run, because the recovery system was depleted. As your research shows, humans benefit greatly from dynamic warm ups pre competition. I know that is a bit nerdy, but definitely a fun fact for the next time you hear the old cheetah adage.
One of my favorite comments ever, Trey. Nice work.
My favorite quote on this topic is from Hamlet
“Not a whit, we defy augury. There is special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to
come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—the
readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is’t
to leave betimes, let be.”
Had to reread it, but now dig it. Thanks.
Matt Dorsey says
I watch my son’s hockey team warm up and it drives me a little nuts. He is a goalie and they do very little to get him prepared for a game. Often the first time he might be called on to be explosive is in the game. I stress to him all the time that he needs to make sure that is not the case, even if the team warm up doesn’t address it.
That sounds like a great approach with your young man, Matt. Nice work.
I can’t believe you referenced “the cut-off”…
Killin me Kap…. Killin me.