I found this article through the Twitterverse and the lovely Jen Sinkler, fellow RKC attendee and curator of the Survival of the Fittest community on Facebook. It highlights how when challenged by an avatar, cyclists will perform above their perceived previous best efforts.
A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit
This reminds me of a great talk given by Pavel at the RKC. He asked people to give a full effort, in the case of his example, at a hand squeeze. Then he asked them to give a 50% effort, then an 80% effort. In every case, when they gave the 80% effort the actual hand squeeze was HARDER than the "full effort" squeeze. What does that mean? Well, it definitely seems to mean we underestimate ourselves pretty frequently, but it also means that language is a key part of getting the maximum effort out of clients and athletes. I've used percentages in running drills before, I'll make sure to integrate them into my other training into the future!
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