Fullscript for WiseAthletes

Exercise is not the same as physical activity. Wise Athletes must continue to use all of our physical skills to retain them long into life. Instead of investing in carefully planned strength training, cardio training, balance training, mobility training....just get out into nature and use your body in ways that are unpredictable...that challenge your brain.

Dr. Scott Grafton, Distinguished Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, directs the Action Lab, which works on the neuroscience of goal-directed movement. Professor Grafton is also the author of Physical Intelligence: The Science of How the Body and Mind Guide Each Other Through Life.  

Dr. Grafton shares how ‘physical intelligence’ works, what you can do to hold on to old physical skills as well as learn new fun things to do, and why it’s so important for all of us as we age.

Physical intelligence is the brain's ability to figure out how to perform physical skills better and better. It learns by doing. 

But we forget. We lose skills we don’t use. That results in losing basic life skills if we withdraw from life. The more we pull back from activities that might result in injury the less capable we become over time. We have to find a way to stretch ourselves in what we already know or in learning new activities. 

Exercise is not enough. We need unpredictable environments. An opponent across the net. An unstable trail. Something that engages the brain in adapting skills to accommodate new information. We retain physical skills and we exercise the brain.