Muscle Memory Managing Part 3

 This Blog is hard to compose because it is important to consider the audience which is mostly Lawn Bowler Elite or athletics and the incident shown here come from a similar sport. Petanque, the french "Lawn Bowls" game.

This blog which deals a bit with management of our "Void" or "Zone" (empty thought) entry and exit is more a warning than instructions.  Although. most of us will  only be in the "Zone" for a few microseconds and the return to the conscious mind will be uneventful. This absence of thought or mind, even for a few microseconds, can cause  anxiety. Why? Because you were awaken from this mindlessness state bysomething or by a method of which you have not developed an awareness or become accustom. Let say that your return to conscious mind was caused  by a surprising  noise.  One would say that having developed a good concentration would not allow that noise to interfere. But remember that if  we are not consciously in control of our reactions or feelings, (while being in the Zone) this interruption can take the form of a danger.

This human body and its creation is amazing when we.

 think we are totally in control of our actions. But are we ?? In an earlier Blogs I discussed the Conscious and Subconscious mind and how it works together for each of our actions. We learn that, we first "think it", AND, we then  "do it"  and how we allow the mind to remember the muscle actions.

In an earlier blog of this series we saw how Muscle memory is important to the Alley Bowler and for this reason I study the Blogs stats to understand what followers are reading,

A subject like Muscle Memory or being "In the Zone" as explained in a December 2012 blog. This idea may be new to many lawn bowls athletics and these topics of how to use and develop Concentration . We often think Concentration means strong thinking of what you are doing so that other thoughts or sounds do not interfere. But we continue to see that beside have a mind clear of distraction during a Bowls delivery we are sometimes fighting to make our actions the best they can be while under our control.

 Only now we are be told that you must stop thinking and go into an emptiness or "void of thought" (The Zone) and let your Subconscious mind perform that work. In the above  December blog on "In the Zone,  I wrote  "Things like Performance arousal or performance anxiety should be understood as a conflict with letting the subconscious mind take control and attempting to maintain control (by conscious mind)".  Now I will attempt to show how this happens and maybe later attempt to show how we must work to prepare our self for the false information we might receive during our time coming out of this mindless state void.

In a December 2012 blog, called Previsalization and instinctive I explain how I tricked a student into thinking something had happen which did not really happen.  To understand this we must look at a youtube video of a Petanque player practicing his takeout shot. In this 2008 video Mark Vildeboer is shows his previsalization with his tell.  Watch his left toe as he visualizes his shot several times before actually throwing the ball.

The Paint photo at left has the jack (Yellow ball) placed as it would have been when Alex was working at shooting what is called " a hidden jack" (behind the ball hidden from view, as in this photo) While he was walking back to the shooting circle to do his practice of "Hit the jack" shot,  I tricked him ( and his mind) by removing the jack as he walked away toward the shooting circle (mat of Petanque) and would attempting to do the shot. Done properly, his thrown ball would have gone over the ball on the ground and hit the jack. .On the second attempt, he made the  expected shot and  would have hit the jack  if it had been there, (Most important, he had  thought he had hit the jack and the subconscious had filled in all the necessary images needed to see what happen)  But remember I had removed the jack from the original place but his subconscious and mind did not know that the jack was not there). 

Because he had seen it fly out from behind  the Petanque balls many times before when he had done this shot  in the past, he thought that he now saw the jack fly this time too.  He told me where it had gone and we both went there looking for it..After a few minutes of serious looking I showed him the jack was in my hand and   I explained that all the time the jack had been in my hand and that the mind had substituted a memory to create this false reality."

The purpose of this training exercise was to show the strength of the subconscious mind and not to show the false information. At the 8 meters shooting distance, the mind had detected not only that the shot was done with proper precision, but also that it was just a bit to the right of the center of the jack.(Yes the subconscious was able at 8 meters approx 25 feet detect a difference of a few millimeters or 1/16 of an inch) So the mind shows an image of the jack flying to the left as if hit. We went to look for the jack where Alex and seen it go (to the left as Alex had seen the image in his mind) This feedback ability of such precision is important in understanding the subconscious mind and this was Alex's lesson. Alex at those years was doing his sport at World Competitions and this understanding was important.

We find, as we understand Muscle Memory that with experience,the mind has remembered previous actions done many times and performing them  with you only needing to think of the expected result. ("the bowl delivery there to the left" )  We discover how hard it is to switch from "Conscious thinking Mode" to "Subconscious mind Mode". We learn that being in control (consciously doing the action) only creates an interferance with the  "Auto-performance Mode" call Muscle Memory.

 This weeks stats show a heavy following from all over the world of the earlier blogs on this topic and therefore I will use this opportunity to show how an experience of last month can create a health danger when  the subconscious mind simply " lose it" when switching back to the Conscious mind..

May 2019 Stats 

In a precious blog,   I showed that the subconscious mind  had insert  its own conclusions into its (the minds) evaluation of  the occurring events  and in the subconscious effort to fill in the gaps of missing information has provided false information. In the following incident I was switched into panic and anxiety mode as I exited "the zone" and my blood pressure took 15 to 20 minutes to return to normal..

A study of the speed of our eyes ability show that our television and earlier movie Camera work at a speed of 60 Hz or 60 frames per second. So a 60 hz monitor give an image which is perfectly steady for our viewing. This is half of the 150 fps (frames per second) which studies show that the eye can detect. Above this 150 fps the eyes provides information so that what the eye don t see it assumed that it sees or has happen. Like the mind assumes that there is a continuation of action.( in the same direction) will give that result expected. . Here I should mention there are two other aspects of vision which help us see our world. First, the eye can retain an image on the retina for a small time after seeing it and we can even analysis that image. Look at the window in front of you and then close your eyes and see the burnt image on the retina. Analysis the image to see how much of curtains, winder frame or even outside images you still can see. Secondly we have a subconscious mind which fills in information not seen or analysis ed. This subconscious mind remembers from previous experience what happen and will attempt to defines the results of a sudden unexpected event. This is what happen in the above Petanque story.


Sometimes this subconscious creation of events which did not occur but which becomes a problem. Especially in Crimes where witness may have memories of things they did not actually witness. The following event created a false event which put me into a panic and anxiety mode and required at least 15 to 20 minutes for blood pressure to return to normal.. That is why, In this Blog I will attempt to show this danger.

 Being in "The Zone" which allows the subconscious to take control of muscles may be different in different sports. In golf it will perform a perfect swing and return to conscious to show you the flight of the golf ball as you exit "The Zone". However if your conscious mind is returned  to consciousness with what it thinks  was danger and events that had happen during previous practice or events; it will follow thoughts you had  before going into the subconscious void or "the Zone"

. As an example, We have the automatic response to brake the car during danger ;like an accident,  however if  the individual in their return to reality has a delay following the accident; as sometimes happening.and awake somewhere else like in an hospital bed; they will need time to accept and adapt to the new reality of events.

. This is a unique experience which must be lived to be understood but until reality does clicks into prospective we will relive those  fears and anxiety of the moments which we missed..  In  some Sports and especially Combat action sports; to have an automatic response or subconscious action at a time of danger can creates emotional baggage of the empty mind "In the Zone" action.   In such cases, the missed reality which occurs when the mind become aware and conscious  control  returned from the subconscious; can become unsettling or hard to handle.

. We will see that it can be a game changer because afterward you will be afraid to return to "The Zone" or allow Muscle Memory performance for fear of it happening again.. Management of these reactions to allowing and using the subconscious mind  must become a developed skill of expectation and calm which will allows you to pass quickly through the  anxiety.

After many years of sports and coaching, I find blogging an exciting study of thoughts as I attempt to continue my interest in the topic of the Zone in Sports. At 74, I am doing less club coaching and although still actively participating in competition; I no longer work with students which need the teaching of this  topic. Blogging about Muscle Memory or Performance from within the :Zone" are aspects of my own personal experience.

Muscle memory is best defined as " a continual repetition of our practice and performance movement which eventually creates a memory of how that muscle works with other muscles"while we are involved with this action or task. Eventually after much practice, we unaware of our actions allow the subconscious (mind) to perform these muscle movements either by danger or intentional tand without interferance of thought we create a perfect  action.

Or in Lawn Bowls a Perfect Delivery of weight and line. and thereby rolling a bowl to a certain distance. In the previous blog about changing the muscle memory we saw an alley bowler video and how hard it is to change the various areas of movement and muscles that you use in your perfect performance. Eventually we are so developed of this action that we have now allowed the subconscious to perform those actions when we trigger the transfer of mind to the subconscious..

 In my last social game I discovered what I call a panic or anxiety due to the void created by allowing the subconscious could take control of your actions. In previous blogs concerning muscle memory I explain that it was necessary to allow the body to perform the action that it had been trying to. 

However when you are allowing the subconscious to perform your movement and the muscle memory you are placing your mind (concentration) in a void or zone. In a previous blog we had a video where the great golfer Tiger Wood said that when in this Void or "The Zone" He does not have any awareness of what he has done. How he is not aware of anything for several micro seconds and his swing and hitting the ball is just a "Doing it".

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