Rev Up Your Workouts with Dynamic Warm-Ups

Rev Up Your Workouts with Dynamic Warm-Ups

Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.

Today at a Glance:

• Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet

• The Best Warm-Up Is a Dynamic Warm-Up

• The Productivity Frontier: Can You Get More Done Without Making Sacrifices?

Cognitive Bias Cheat SheetBuster Benson

Lights, Camera, ... Do you ever feel like your brain is working against you? You're not alone. We all have cognitive biases - mental shortcuts that help us process information quickly but can also lead to flawed thinking. Luckily, a comprehensive list of these biases exists and can help us recognize when our brain is playing tricks on us. Grouped by the four problems they address - information overload, lack of meaning, the need to act fast, and figuring out what needs to be remembered for later - these biases are fascinating and relatable.Action!

• Keep these four types of biases in mind to notice your own biases more often. Choose to apply them to your current thinking and actions when helpful or discard them when not. Refresh your mind on these biases every once in a while (complete list here).

  • When experiencing information overload, take a step back to conciously identify important information. This will avoid noise becoming signal.

  • When encountering a lack of meaning, question assumptions and seek additional information. This will avoid inaccurate gap-filling and any signal becoming a story.

  • When needing to make a quick decision, pause and consider all available information. This will avoid jumping to conclusions.

  • Intentionally review past experiences and challenge your recollection of events to combat the effects of memory bias.

The Best Warm-Up Is a Dynamic Warm-UpCindy Kuzma

Lights, Camera, ...Long gone are the days of static stretching before a workout. Nowadays, a dynamic warm-up is the way to go, as it prepares your body for exertion by increasing agility, speed, and overall performance while reducing the risk of injury. These controlled, up-tempo movements involve a series of drills and dynamic stretches that take joints through their full range of motion, producing a thixotropic effect that makes muscles and tendons less viscous and more fluid. Plus, they activate muscle spindles, which help your mind and muscle communicate and make your muscles more responsive. The best part? Dynamic warm-ups don't have to take long, making them a great way to upgrade your workout routine.Action!

• Prepare for your workout by doing dynamic stretching for about 8 minutes. This increases exercise readiness and reduces risk of injury.

  • Begin with lower-body movements to generate more heat.

  • Then match your warm-up to the specifics of your workout. For sports or activities that involve fast changes of direction, include agility-based and side-to-side movements. For activities with an overhead component, such as basketball or climbing, include quick movements that activate your shoulder complex.

• Use the following basic routine to get started with your workout. Do each movement for 15 to 30 seconds and repeat two to three times.

  • 1. Straight Leg Marches

  • 2. Forward Lunges

  • 3. Hip Cradles

  • 4. Lateral Lunges

  • 5. Side Shuffle with Overhead Reach

  • 6. Thoracic Spine Rotations 

The Productivity Frontier: Can You Get More Done Without Making Sacrifices?Scott H. Young

Lights, Camera, ...Are you struggling to balance productivity and leisure time? Pareto efficiency can help you decide whether you're making the most of your time. Just like designing a car for speed and safety, you can assess the trade-offs between getting things done and having time off. If you're below the frontier (i.e. the outer edge between getting a lot done without time off or vice versa), you can improve without making sacrifices, but if you're on the frontier, the only way to improve is by accepting trade-offs. By being explicit about your priorities and shifting them as needed, you can make the most of your time and enjoy the perfect balance between productivity and leisure.Action!

• Determine if you are on the productivity frontier by checking for signs such as having read and applied a lot of productivity advice, not having a lot of easily cut activities on your schedule, or experiencing setbacks in other areas of life when trying to do more.

  • If you're not on the frontier, focus on optimizing by treating each element of your life in isolation and improving it. For example, reorganize your work schedule to get more done or cut out waste to spend more quality time with family.

  • If you're on the frontier, improvement requires making trade-offs. Identify what you care about most and what you're willing to sacrifice, and be clear about what you're downgrading in importance to fill the gap as you shift priorities.

TOOL TIP

Focusmate: A free online tool that let's you find a virtual coworking partner so that you can keep each other focused, productive, and accountable. This technique was also recently dicussed by Tim Ferriss and CEO Coach Matt Mochary at minute 38:20 of the podcast.

FUN FACT 

At a buffet, the cheapest food and the largest serving spoons are at the beginning, because 75% of customers eat whatever is in the first tray, and 66% of all the food consumed at a buffet comes from the first three trays. Low cost items like potatoes get big spoons, and high cost items like meat get small spoons.

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.