{"id":6259,"date":"2014-01-16T17:06:29","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T16:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/180.211.110.195:8082\/biestmilch\/?p=6259"},"modified":"2016-04-30T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T09:30:01","slug":"about-body-perception-or-a-bike-is-a-bike-is-not-a-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/16\/about-body-perception-or-a-bike-is-a-bike-is-not-a-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"About body perception or a bike is a bike is not a bike, part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_9274\"<\/a>You may have experienced how difficult it is to change a once acquired technique or get adjusted with a new technique or a new device without the losing the bodily balance or at the least be tremendously irritated for a certain\u00a0period of time. All these\u00a0phenomena are related with the body perception.<\/p>\n

Body perception is a very critical subject that can range from feeling balanced and well to going totally astray. Individual experience and self-observation are\u00a0of utmost importance to drive our body perception to an effective reliable sensor for fitness and well-being.
My thesis is that, when the gap between the goal – in the case of an athlete the performance level – we envision, and the actual condition we find ourselves in closes, our body perception should signal us a condition of wellbeing. To achieve this state requires motivation and practice.<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take an example. As a child we learn to ride a bike, because we would like to move faster and more independently, or because others do so. As an athlete the relation to our bike changes.<\/p>\n

\"bike<\/a>\"bike<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We want to ride quicker with the least possible strain. The bike and all its technical details are therefore analyzed and deconstructed and so is the process of riding itself.<\/p>\n

Wheels, pedal position, frame size and handle position are all given their own importance. The motion cycle is analyzed and the perception from the child age is taken apart and put back together and improved until a new perception emerges \u2013 a new oneness between us and the bike has then developed.<\/p>\n

\"bike<\/a>\"bike<\/a><\/p>\n

This procedure does not always work. It requires a lot of training and experience. In the best case you melt into one with your bike. You move as safely as on two legs. You do not even notice it anymore: the bike becomes a part of you. But if the structure of your bike changes, this process begins anew.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

The changed incoming stimuli patterns change your perception of the bike and interrupts the movement pattern, that run automatically, until a new balance is emerges through practice. Countless examples could be named here such as surfers, sailers, climbers, skiers and their devices etc.. The same applies to such simple objects as the shoe. Whereas shoes are especially stubborn companions. A shoe that does not distort your body perception is worth a lot. The smallest changes to the sole, a body part very sensitive to wellbeing and body perception, can give you the feeling of being impaired and in pain. Therefore: be careful in changing a winning team. This applies to things as well as humans. One can hardly believe it!<\/p>\n

Changing is hard work and may kick us out of our equilibrium<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goals and the techniques we apply as an individual may vary, but the process is always the same.\u00a0Coaches and trainers may permanently whisper into your ears that you should listen to your body for optimizing the performance, a process that initially is very demanding as it needs self-observation. But what, when and how to observe? And how to interpret the observations? Over time we find the cues and collect enough data from our observations that may allow us to draw conclusions and initiate the required change of behavior, lifestyle, movement pattern or technical devices to reach the next performance level. The new will turn familiar and will unconsciously be converted into action. Body and mind and in fact the respective device form an entity again.\u00a0Until this point is achieved keeping the body in balance can be a tricky task.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

Devices interacting with our body and mind may be socks, pants, shoes, bikes, saddle, pedal positions, watches, watts, water etc…\u00a0
Despite all scientific efforts we are still left to our own devices, if it comes to finding out, what it is like to be in a state of balance with our mind, our body and the devices we use.<\/p>\n

Deeply ingrained movement patterns as our swimming or running technique are hard to change. Why that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"change<\/a><\/p>\n

Patterns of stimuli or signals trigger our movements and behavior. That happens all the time. What we do, happens first and foremost unconsciously. Only if we face a problem, if the intended actions do come to an halt due to an obstacle we were not aware of, then we start analyzing on a conscious level.\u00a0Then we start looking for a solution to our problem.\u00a0
After this analysis that makes us assume we found the cause-effect relation for our problem we do the next step. We initiate the change of a certain habit that obviously didn’t lead us anywhere anymore. The scary thing about this may be that we can\u2019t tell in advance whether we drew the right conclusions from our analysis and therefore took the right choices.\u00a0
Have we been \u2018practicing\u2019 the proper technique? Did we choose the right nutrition and training scheme? Nobody can tell us until we have practiced the new approach for a while and got our return on investment confirmed by an improved performance level or improved well-being.<\/p>\n

The computer as a metaphor for the organism\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I chose this picture to avoid confusions originating from the different perspectives mingling (biology, psychology, naturopathy, sport science, exercise physiology, sport medicine, nutrition science, personal experience)\u00a0on this blurry subject.
If applying the computer for explaining the body, then it may appear in somehow a little bit clearer what signal-processing and changes of signal patterns mean for the body. Signals from the outside are processed inside the computer following the\u00a0languages of the\u00a0programmers who have been at work to define the rules for the special tasks, and thereafter the machine executes the input signals accordingly.\u00a0
Of course, a computer is far more rigid than an organism. Nevertheless, living organisms too have in-built programs that outlay behavior and movement patterns.
Computers are processing the input signals they get. They are run through a multi-layered matrix. If nothing goes wrong, the result is the required output. Otherwise, if collisions and misunderstandings occur the system crashes and needs adjustment. The same procedure can happen in an organism. This kind of break-down forces us to think and consciously change our way of doing things.<\/p>\n

Signal processing under the condition of routines and changes\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bigger the difference between a body state we are used to over a long period of time and the condition we wish to obtain, the more demanding are the processing efforts of the body. Training is nothing less than practicing these processing operations. Exercises must be repeated until for example the paths of nerve connections are established which then enable a stable channeling of the impulses. Whenever well trained signal constellations (sensory stimuli, impulses from our senses to the spinal cord and brain) are existent, they are automatically processed into the desired movement pattern without even touching our consciousness, and that occurs even under extreme stress. It might sound rather trivial to those, who had to relearn the skills of speaking after a stroke, to a child that had to learn eating by the spoon, or to an athlete who wanted to improve his\/her running or cycling performance by changing either technique. It is all about reiterating and spacing a stimuli pattern.<\/p>\n

\"and<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no way of gaining knowledge about whether your training is adequate without giving the body some time. Unfortunately, impatience is a constant companion of many athletes. Changing training methods or devices too often and too early may spoil your build-up, but who can tell you, when it\u2019s time to change. It\u2019s only your experience that can tell you this.<\/p>\n

Feeling good is the most complete body parameter telling you about your fitness condition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris McCormack \u2013 IRONMAN World Champion 2010 \u2013 says that the whole trick is to know what it means to feel really good. Only under such circumstances it is possible to peak on time and remain uninjured. Training and becoming tired, reaching limits without wrecking yourself, is an art that only few can master. We still cannot measure the body perception of feeling perfectly well, even though we got so many devices for measuring. There are tools that can guide our way to wellbeing such as heart rate, lactate, urea, creatine kinesis, oxygen consumption, electrolytes, micronutrients, inflammatory parameters etc., and there are the indirect methods such as being healthy, not suffering from injuries, sleep disturbances, mood swings, pain or infections etc. But in the very end, we have to decide by experience when we are really feeling well. Body perception is the result of all\u00a0stimuli processed in the body, an emerging\u00a0phenomenon most complex including all senses.<\/p>\n

Within the next few weeks we shall launch the “body perception experiment” with the BIEST BOOSTER<\/a>. We think that it can be of some support to discover yourself.<\/strong>
We would be very glad, if you gave us your cues for assessing your body’s actual condition. It may really inspire us to put together the experimental set-up. Thank you!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may have experienced how difficult it is to change a once acquired technique or get adjusted with a new technique or a new device without the losing the bodily balance or at the least be tremendously irritated for a certain\u00a0period of time. All these\u00a0phenomena are related with the body perception. Body perception is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2294],"tags":[370,85,27,1331,1322,1330,1009,60,1325,855,1328,769,1326,897,1335,1329,431,273,786,1327,1323,1333,1334,1324,49,1332,337],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6259"}],"version-history":[{"count":73,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6370,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions\/6370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biestmilch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}