The Pleasure of Small Motions

philly

philly

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After a over 40 year layoff I am back in the game about 18 months and have gotten to where I was before, if not a little better. I am finally at the point where it has become mostly mental to take it to the next level. I just got the book "The Pleasure Of Small Motions." Anybody read it and did it help you at all?
 
Read it and learned a lot. How we learn to control precise movements has fascinated me since I played ball as a young child (how do we throw a ball to wherever we look was something I thought about ... strange child I was).

Dave
 
It helped me only by how completely wrong he was.

I say skip it and read or re-read 'The Inner Game of Tennis', then move on to 'Sports Psyching'.
 
I second "The Inner Game of Tennis". If you've ever had a session where you were just "in the zone" and couldn't miss, this book will help to explain that phenomenon, and also teach you how to get there more often.
 
I'm about 1/2 way thru the book and it's very interesting. Seems like a lot of good knowledge for your psyche in there so far. There are topics that will improve anyone's mental game. One of the key points is not to think too much when playing. I remember this from my college days "study long, study wrong".
 
philly said:
After a over 40 year layoff I am back in the game about 18 months and have gotten to where I was before, if not a little better. I am finally at the point where it has become mostly mental to take it to the next level. I just got the book "The Pleasure Of Small Motions." Anybody read it and did it help you at all?
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I think it's a good book to understand why we feel pressure. Knowledge is power.

Lou Figueroa
 
ElCorazonFrio said:
It helped me only by how completely wrong he was.

I say skip it and read or re-read 'The Inner Game of Tennis', then move on to 'Sports Psyching'.
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I think the probem some folks make with the TIGoT is that they think they can just get up, let go, and suddenly play well. What many miss is the fact that you need to already have done the roadwork and have the skills in place so that if you decide to let go, you have the skills to do to.

"Well, learning to play tennis requires certain physical attributes and years of training. Self 2 can want hit a great topspin Xcourt FH, but without the training and reps to get the muscle memory, it's not going to happen."
Timothy Gallwey

Lou Figueroa
 
did not find it helpful for pool
my tennis game did improve..:smile:
 
lfigueroa said:
I think the probem some folks make with the TIGoT is that they think they can just get up, let go, and suddenly play well. What many miss is the fact that you need to already have done the roadwork and have the skills in place so that if you decide to let go, you have the skills to do to.

"Well, learning to play tennis requires certain physical attributes and years of training. Self 2 can want hit a great topspin Xcourt FH, but without the training and reps to get the muscle memory, it's not going to happen."
Timothy Gallwey

Lou Figueroa
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An apt observation. The inner game is best for those with the skills who haven't figured out how to put them together completely. This book was recommended to me by the former world's #1 female foosball player (RIP, Moya). She read it about once a year, including right before her historic win playing forward in mixed doubles, a feat that no woman had ever accomplished.

The whole point of self one and self two is that self one is still useful, but needs to be ignored or turned off at the correct moment. One must listen to self one during every shot, but not while shooting. Self one evaluates, plans, figures out what needs to be done and what to do, but self one should never tell self two HOW to do it. Self one is the coaching staff and self two is the star athlete.

When I was playing foosball I got to where I could listen to self one while I was set up for a pull shot and reading defense, figuring out where and when to shoot, but once I decided I would turn self one off and let self two shoot the shot. To put this in perspective, I had a total of 15 seconds maximum to have the ball on my rod. Generally shots are set up and executed in around six seconds. I don't know how fast the lateral speed of my shot was, but most non-competitive foosball players commented that they couldn't see where the shot went. Standard 32 frames-per-second filming couldn't give a clear visual of my shot (proviso, while I was fast, I wasn't world-class fast).

I was switching between the two mindsets, turning off the analytical brain and turning on the lizard brain, in a matter of milliseconds.

The point I am trying to make is that the two selfs have to work together...almost like scotch doubles, if you will, where one has no control over the other. Self one knows what self two can do (maybe even better than self two does--this produces those one-in-a-million performances where the person probably couldn't repeat what he did, but was completely sure he would succeed when he did it. Self two listens to self one...always. This is why all you can allow self one to do is plan and coach. Self two, the lizard brain, must be allowed to do what was decided without influence.
 
I really don't think a book about a midget working for an escort service has anything to do with pool, but......I beg your pardon? It's a book about the mental aspects of pool?
My bad. Carry on. :smile:
 
philly said:
After a over 40 year layoff I am back in the game about 18 months and have gotten to where I was before, if not a little better. I am finally at the point where it has become mostly mental to take it to the next level. I just got the book "The Pleasure Of Small Motions." Anybody read it and did it help you at all?
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I thought the book sucked. Gave it to someone and got hate mail and a death threat . Save your time and read Mad Comic. I learned more from that. You shoot good pool. Work close with an instructor and you'll bump up. Greetings from S.Florida. Hope you're well and having fun...enjoy the holidays. Frank
 
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Book Recommendation

I recommend "Success is a Choice" by Rick Pitino.

In a nutshell, Rick explains how a person can become a champion by putting in hard work. The hard work instills deep confidence because the contestant knows in their heart that they have done all they can to prepare for the competition.

You will rise to the next level if you can understand and apply even a small part of what is in this book.

I use the principles in the workplace and am one of the best in my field.

Back when I played serious pool, I was tough to beat because I believed, deep in my heart, that I had read more, watched more, played more, etc. than any opponent I was facing.

Just get the book.
 
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philly said:
After a over 40 year layoff I am back in the game about 18 months and have gotten to where I was before, if not a little better. I am finally at the point where it has become mostly mental to take it to the next level. I just got the book "The Pleasure Of Small Motions." Anybody read it and did it help you at all?
Click to expand...

I read it recently but didn't like it. "Zen Golf" was much better in my opinion.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
I really don't think a book about a midget working for an escort service has anything to do with pool, but......I beg your pardon? It's a book about the mental aspects of pool?
My bad. Carry on. :smile:
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I just wish I were as funny as you are.

Dale(sometimes funny)
 
I read it. I haven't read many pool books, but I thought it was great. It definitely helped me. The notions taught in it are easy to forget to implement in practice though, you might need to read it 2 times to get a good grasp. I can say confidently (topic covered in the book ;) ) that I have improved by reading this book.
 
I have read the Pleasure of Small Motions and the Inner Gamer of Tennis. They both helped me. They helped me so much that when a buddy asked if he could borrow them, I cheerfully lent him my copies, and that is the last time I saw those books. They were good though. I guess my old buddy thought so too.

kollegedave
 
BillYards said:
I recommend "Success is a Choice" by Rick Pitino.

In a nutshell, Rick explains how a person can become a champion by putting in hard work. The hard work instills deep confidence because the contestant knows in their heart that they have done all they can to prepare for the competition.

You will rise to the next level if you can understand and apply even a small part of what is in this book.

I use the principles in the workplace and am one of the best in my field.

Back when I played serious pool, I was tough to beat because I believed, deep in my heart, that I had read more, watched more, played more, etc. than any opponent I was facing.

Just get the book.
Click to expand...


I think there's one more wrinkle there worth noting: when you have worked hard, studied hard, you develop confidence borne out of the fact that you have learned to executed well as a result of all that work. So when you go out and compete and are staring down a tough shot you know you "have" that shot because you are prepared for it.

Lou Figueroa
 
philly said:
After a over 40 year layoff I am back in the game about 18 months and have gotten to where I was before, if not a little better. I am finally at the point where it has become mostly mental to take it to the next level. I just got the book "The Pleasure Of Small Motions." Anybody read it and did it help you at all?
Click to expand...

The Pleasures of Small Motions is an awesome book. It taught me more than any other book on the mental game (including books on the mental side of golf, tennis, etc.).

WARNING: Make sure you understand and USE everything that is being said. I think that many who didn't improve after reading this book simply READ it and didn't APPLY it's concepts (or at least not all of them). It talks about the importance of feel, rhythm, focus, allowing the subconscious do its job, and PRACTICE. The last one is the key. You must practice feel, rhythm, etc. using drills.

I was a very good position player when I read the book back in the '90s, but I wanted to improve my stroke and shotmaking. I set up a long-straight-shot drill where an object ball is in the exact middle of the table and the cueball is a foot or so from a corner pocket. The shot is as long of a straight-in shot you can have on a pool table with a decent bridge. I worked on feeling how a straight stroke feels; rhythmic practice strokes and hitting the cueball exactly on the established beat; clearing my conscious mind before and during the shot; and the feeling of a rock-solid head during practice strokes, back stroke, and all the way through until the ball went into the pocket. I started out attempting to make 10 in a row every day. After about a month, I had built myself up to 50 in a row!

My play improved tremendously during this period. And whenever I was having a bad day on the table, I would go back to feel, rhythm, etc. and things would almost always turn around.

I'm not saying that you or anyone else should do this particular drill. What I am saying is the book tells you how to practice, what to practice for the mental game, and why. Practice your weaknesses with feel, rhythm, etc. and you can't help but improve.

Just as a side note, one of my favorite practice regimens is Bert Kinister's 60-Minute Workout for 8 and 9 Ball. This workout combined with the concepts in The Pleasures of Small Motions is very powerful.

Good luck!
 
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