{"id":21510,"date":"2019-12-02T12:33:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T12:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=21510"},"modified":"2020-01-05T16:12:08","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T16:12:08","slug":"dansmagic-2-training-your-instincts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/dansmagic-2-training-your-instincts\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan\u2019sMagic 2: Training your instincts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The second chapter in Dan BC’s 4-way manual…<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Perris Fury training their instincts at Skydive Perris, by Craig O\u2019Brien<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Training ourselves to stop\ntelling our bodies what to do <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Few concepts are less understood than that\nof trusting your instincts. We all get the idea. But isn\u2019t it something that\njust happens by chance? Something only exceptional athletes can do? And what exactly\nare our instincts anyway? Is it really possible to actually TRAIN to trust\nthem? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep inside us all, the innate ability\nexists to \u201ctrust our instincts\u201d. We were born with it. Given the fact that it\nexists, it is also possible to train and groom the \u201cskill\u201d of trusting our instincts.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To become a natural athlete that can\ninstinctively perform at the best of our abilities without obvious thought or\neffort, we must do two things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. We must train our athletic skills to the point that they become instinctive muscle memory. <\/li>
  2. We must retrain the ability, the actual instinct to trust our instincts,<\/strong> that we had as small children. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    We may be genetically built to accommodate\nthe skills necessary for certain sports but we are not born with athletic\ninstincts. Athletic skills are acquired. Only after much actual repetition and\nextensive visualization do such skills become instinctive and happen automatically\nas muscle memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When our mind is calm, undistracted by outside thoughts and focused only on the task at hand, trusting our instincts and our best performance happens automatically. In that moment nothing else in the world exists except the next move we need to make. We aren\u2019t aware of physical pain and don\u2019t feel fear or emotional anxiety. The only thing in our world is this basket, this pass, this stroke, this move, or the freefall formation we are doing right then. When we stop \u201ctrying to think\u201d how we do a move, and just do it, we are allowing our instincts to take over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Perris Fury trusting their instincts over Skydive Perris, by Craig O\u2019Brien<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    LEARNING THE SKILL OF TRUSTING YOUR INSTINCTS <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For the purposes of this conversation\nplease accept these two definitions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Athletic instinct \/ muscle memory – The\namount of a move, or a skill, that you have trained to the point that it\nhappens automatically without the need for additional conscious thought.\n(Putting one foot in front of the other when you are walking.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Trusting your instincts \u2013 Trusting your\nbody to do the amount of the move, or skill, it knows by muscle memory on its\nown, without conscious input from you. (You don\u2019t think about how to walk, you\njust walk.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You don\u2019t think about how to walk, you just walk”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In Formation Skydiving we can most\nefficiently train our individual flying skills in a Wind Tunnel, incredible\nmachines that are freefall simulators. In the same way a golfer spends a great\ndeal of time slowly and smoothly working out the body mechanics of a perfect\nswing, in a wind tunnel skydivers can practice the exact physical input\nnecessary for aggressive, precise moves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With enough practice we eventually learn\nthe technical skill. It\u2019s not perfect but we understand how it is done. We do\nit slowly because it requires us to think through every part of the move in\norder to coordinate all the participating body parts so that they work together\nas one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At this time the skill is not yet trained\nto the point of muscle memory. We are capable of performing the move, but to do\nit correctly our bodies require many reminders from us in the process. Consequently,\nwhen we follow our instincts they will naturally tell us to slow down and think\nthrough each part of the move one step at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With enough repetition and visualization\nour body begins to develop some degree of muscle memory. The muscle memory\nallows us to think less because our body knows more. The more of a move our\nbody knows as muscle memory the fewer reminders it needs from us during the\nmove. If we relax and trust our instincts we will naturally allow our body to\ndo what it knows how to do, while only giving our body the additional\ninformation it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The ultimate extension of this is when we\nhave executed and visualized it so many times, that the entire move happens\nwith minimal thought or none at all. We recognize the need to make a specific\nmove and it happens automatically, instinctively. There is no need for a single\nthought so we don\u2019t give it one. We just do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is a long road from the time when we\nmust think through each part of the exact physical input necessary to do a\nparticular skill, until the time when that perfect move happens automatically,\nwith little or no thought at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This raises the question: If during this learning process the amount of conscious reminders we need changes, then how do we know how much we need to think about at any given moment? We don\u2019t want to be mentally lazy and not think enough. But we also don\u2019t want to \u201ctry too hard\u201d by thinking too much. Every athlete knows how crippling thinking too much or over-analyzing can be. Over-analyzing is the opposite of trusting your instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n


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