Realistic Lateral Thinking Problems

Lateral thinking problems are often just simple puzzles that lead you to make certain assumptions. To solve them, then, you have to look at the assumptions you're making and try to get beyond them. Let's look at an example.

A librarian used a book he had never read to destroy thousands of other books. How was this possible? This simple riddle or lateral thinking puzzle relies on the idea of a "librarian" and "never read" to encourage you assume that it is all about the kinds of books you read. Get basketball from that assumption and you might stumble upon the solution - that he used a book of matches to burn all the others.

Such puzzles are basketball mental exercise, and fun as well, but not all lateral thinking problems are word play or simple puzzles. Many are designed to require or encourage creative thinking about more realistic scenarios. They often have many possible solutions.

You may not like the inconclusive nature of this kind of puzzle or problem - at least at first. It is common to want one definitive solution, so you know you're "right" once you have come to a conclusion. But the more open-ended lateral thinking problems are just as good for exercising your creativity, and the thinking skills developed from working on them may be more applicable to real life situations, where there is rarely one definitive solution.

Situational Lateral Thinking Problems

In these problems, there is usually a scenario or situation which is explained, and a goal to accomplish. For example, suppose you need to get a basketball out of a 12-foot deep pit that has smooth cement for the floor and walls. It is square, about four feet per side. You are alone, and have only what you are wearing, plus what is in your pockets. Using nothing else, how can you get the basketball out?

This is a lateral thinking problem because it requires you to think "laterally." This means coming at problems from other angles, as opposed to the more traditional linear or logical approaches. In this case, it means using what you have in ways that these things are not normally used.

For example, you might make a "basket" of your t-shirt, tying shoelaces to the four corners. Then you could unravel the threads from your socks to make a string that would lower the shirt. The idea would be to move the basketball onto it and then pull it up. Moving the ball might be accomplished with a shoe hung on the end of a string made of strips of clothing, which you use to "kick" the ball into the right place.

Another solution: A piece of paper from your pocket might be chewed and dropped onto the ball using shoe laces and clothing for a string. When it dries it would perhaps "glue" the line to the ball, so it could be pulled up. A tall person might "chimney" his body up and down the pit to get the ball, as climbers do with rock walls that are a few feet apart. There are undoubtedly other possibilities here.

Life itself presents us with many lateral thinking problems, at least if we look at situations the right way. For example, a judge in a Michigan child custody case went beyond the traditional thinking about how much time the children would spend at each parent's house. Instead, he decided that the children would stay right where they were in the home they knew, and the parents would move in with them on alternating weeks. That's a good example of applying lateral thinking to real life problems.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on Lateral Thinking, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com

Physiology Behind Plyometrics

Plyometrics are exercises that were at first known as jump training exercises. Plyo + metrics actually means measurable increases.

Power is a result of both speed and strength in a muscle and plyometrics link those 2 factors together. The fastest way to increase power in a muscle is through proper plyometrics training.

When you want to move a muscle, your brain sends a chemical reaction to the muscles. Some movements occur without any conscious effort on your part.

Good jumpers stay in contact with the ground for the shortest time possible. When you bend down before jumping you have energy stored in your legs and the more time you are on the ground means more time for that energy to be wasted in the form of heat.

So to teach people basketball to jump higher you must focus on being in contact with the ground for a shorter period of time. This is why plyometrics exists, to teach muscles a faster reaction time.

Bending down before take off is often referred to as the loading phase. This loading phase is crucial to jumping higher because it gives the muscle more power.

Muscles can be compared to rubber bands to an extent. A stretched rubber band will go farther than a non-stretched rubber band.

Think about when you knee tendon is tapped and your leg kicks. The tendon was stretched which caused your muscles to react with a lot of power just as they basketball in the load phase of a jump.

A muscle contracts faster when being stretched first. You can't really change the speed of the stretch reflex with training but you can change the strength of the response, which will cause you to jump higher.

For more on how to increase vertical leap and how to jump higher.

Focus on the Target When Performing to Reduce Fear!

(A young girl from New Mexico has a realization!)

One problem we all have is trusting a new stroke (or new anything) basketball there is pressure, when it counts! Why is it that, even when were getting pretty good with a new stroke or behavior, we revert to our old habits in games and screw things up?

FROM PRACTICE AREA TO THE COURSE

Golfers have this problem all the time, the difference between golf swings or putting strokes they can make on the driving range or practice green and the swings or putts that happen on the course when each shot counts. The latter is usually disastrous, with tension, fear, doubt, or all of the above interfering with the result.

MAKE THE TARGET MORE IMPORTANT!

A young girl from New Mexico basketball coached awhile back just wrote me with her discoveries in this area. The question is what can you do to perform your best in competition, in what she calls in public. Here are her words:

Hey Tom! I think I have a clue that may help me to better my shooting in public. When I was reading some things on your website, something really clicked. There was a question that a boy had that had the same weakness as myself. Your guess was lack of concentration on the goal.

I started to notice that when I am being very self aware of how I am shooting, I miss. Now that I have gotten the method down, I just need to focus mostly on the goal, and not worry about much else. Does this sound familiar? Thank you.

-- Kelly B., Springer, NM

PROFOUND DISCOVERY

Yes, Kelly, you had a really profound discovery! Thoughts about HOW youre performing in the middle of a competitive action usually lead to fear (of the future) and doubts (about your abilities), those two worthy adversaries we all have in our lives. Thinking is not in the same dimension as physical action. If youre thinking, its usually about some future outcome that youre interested in or about some failure from the past. Often these thoughts are about what did happen, what could happen, what might happen, etc., and theyre usually negative (I could miss the basket, I could airball it, I DID screw it up, I could look foolish, I could fail!).

However, if you can minimize the thinking and return more and more to the present moment, to the action thats happening, and be more with feel than with thoughts, you will perform better. Thats been my experience. Its tough to do when the doubts and fears get really intense, but with practice you can get better and better at this process, like you are doing.

THE TARGET -- A GREAT FOCUS!

One wonderful focus is on the target. You could focus on other things, like feeling the ball in your fingers as you shoot, or noticing when in the jump you start your Release, etc., and that focus will help put you in the present and performance will improve. Focus on the target is another place to put your attention while you perform, and its probably the most effective because it increases awareness of where youre going!

TRY IT!

Play with this and notice if you can just see the basket clearly with little or no emotion or attachment (how am I doing?) as you shoot. Just see it! Youll find your mind gets calmer and your connection with the target goes up. Trust will also go up because trust occurs in the present, not in any future or past. If youre truly aware of where youre going, theres a natural sense of trust that occurs, especially when you have a stroke that works, a stroke you can count on, which is what Kelly is developing. Try shooting this way and your experience will teach you how to do it.

TO SUMMARIZE

In practice pay attention (awareness) to HOW you do things, whats happening with your body, where youre getting your power from, your wrist and hand, height, spin, etc., but in games, when it counts, shift your attention to the TARGET, to where you want the ball to go. When it counts, keep it very simple and learn to trust your body to do what it knows to do. It wont always do what you want, but with practice and more and more trust, youll surprise yourself with how well you can perform under pressure.

Thanks, Kelly, for a wonderful subject for other kids to study and learn!

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the essence of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that its very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Toms website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.

Moving Without the Ball is a Dangerous Weapon

The worst thing you can do as a player is standing still on offense. Even worse, if you complain that nobody is passing to you. Well if you are complaining, the reason you aren't getting any passes is because you aren't moving!

A good basketball player can get open by shaking off his defender. There are two simple ways you can do this.

1. Cutting
The easiest way you can get a pass is by cutting. basketball works best if you playing wing. A basic V-cut is slowly walking down low, and then quickly bursting the other direction. Make sure when you lose your defender after the cut, to ask for the ball and give the passer a target. The power of a simple V-cut is very underrated and basketball A cut can lead to a give and go, a pick and roll, or any other play that can lead to a field goal. Another great form of a cut is the backdoor, which is just a cut that has you slowly going toward the ball and then cutting towards the basket. This is a cut that will give you a great opportunity to score, or set up a scoring opportunity. Since your defender is trailing behind you, you have so many options.

2. Using Picks
Another easy way to get the ball is having a teammate set a pick for you. Keep in mind when using a pick is to rub shoulders with your teammate. You can also cut one way and then use the pick to even create more space between your defender. In my opinion, the best pick is a baseline pick, because since it's so crowded down low, your defender will have a hard time going through traffic to stop the pass from getting you.

These two simple ways will help you in so many ways. You'll start getting more passes and more opportunities to score. And you don't even have to be a speedy person to do V-cuts and backdoors. All you have to do is fake it to make it, as i like to say. If you just cut hard enough, you'll lose your defender and get the pass. If you can master moving without the ball, you'll have possess a weapon that you can utilize to help you out on offense.

For more great basketball tips and NBA news, check out JM NBA Source.