(Kalista Noegroho, Kalista.dara@gmail.com)
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Argument: Practice Makes Perfect
Many of us have heard that practice makes perfect. Supposedly, if you keep on practicing, you are bound to get better. Many of us also don't believe it because we've practiced, yet we don't seem to be improving. This leads many people to believe that not only do you need to practice, but you need to have that special gene to help you excel. According to Ericsson, this is not true because research has "failed to reveal reproducible evidence for any genetic constraints for attaining elite levels by healthy individuals" (68-69). From this, Shenk has concluded that "nonachievers seem to be missing something in their process" (69) rather than in their genetic coding. What process is Shenk talking about? Explain what happens in the body as a result of this process towards achievement. How has the understanding of practice versus perfect practice changed over time?
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The processes that Shenk refers to is the ability of the body to maintain homeostasis. The reason "perfect practice makes perfect" is because practicing in a certain way triggers specific reactions in the body. Whenever a person engages "in sustained strenuous physical activity, they will challenge the available protection of homeostasis" (Shenk 254). The challenge put up against homeostasis triggers the body to react in new ways in order to come back to homeostasis, therefore, the more specific practice the better response the person will get. For example, strenuous exercise of kicking a soccer ball causes a build up of CO2 in the blood around the specific muscles in the legs, this will cause a response by the body to come back to homeostasis. Not only will the breathing rate increase to solve this problem, but also will "induce an abnormal state of cells" (Shenk 254). These abnormal state of cells serve as a a more efficient mechanism for the specific leg muscle cells to return to homeostasis. This is significant to the idea that perfect practice makes perfect because if the practice does not cause to right muscle cells to turn in this abnormal form, then the desired affect will not occur.
ReplyDeleteThe results due to the process towards achievement that Shenk mentions also relate to the biological theme of homeostasis. The body reacts to the process of practice by trying to maintain homeostasis of the body during the practice. The attempt of the body to maintain homeostasis at strenuous conditions causes the body cells involved in the practice to actually become abnormal. This can be scene in the way runners reach their maximum cardiac heart rate in a longer amount of time. This reason for this is because the body more efficiently pumps the needed O2 to the needed cells. The ability of the heart to pump more oxygenated blood throughout the body is actually a result of change made because a challenge was up against homeostasis. (Campbell). Further results due to the process of perfect practice can be seen in the regulation of blood glucose levels. After more strenuous practice the body can more efficiently regulate to amount of glucose in the blood in order to give to working cells. In this case the pancreas receptors are more sensitive to the loss of glucose in the blood, and are more efficient at releasing glucagon in order to break down the glycogen in the liver (www.biology-online.org) Similarly, cells associated with the muscles that pertain to the specific practice will also reach an abnormal condition in reaction to the battle for homeostasis. When the body is unable to keep up with the strenuous specific exercise these cells are able to produce "alternative biochemical products" (Shenk 255) that allow for more effective maintenance of homeostasis.
The reason why perfect practice causes the most significant change in performance is because perfect practice allows specific cells in the body to be able to maintain homeostasis more efficiently.
Joseph Hugener (jah1112@comcast.net)
“It is no longer reasonable to attribute talent or success to a specific gene or any other mysterious gift.” (Shenk 69-70) People all have the same genome which makes us alike as a species but we each have different genes that are turned on or off to make us unique. Whether or not these genes are turned on or off depend on genetic instructions passed down from your parents and the environment. Because “every person [doesn’t] have the same resources and opportunity,” (Shenk 69) everyone is unique in their own way. After all, “a typical human gene probably expresses about 20% of its genes at any given time” (Campbell 356) which leaves plenty of genes for the environment to influence your body turn on or off certain genes to help you thrive in the environment you are in. So when Shenk says nonachievers are missing a process, he his referring to the nonachievers mental mindset. Shenk quotes Ericksson in that, “biochemical states will trigger the activation [of] dormant genes within the cells’ DNA.” (Shenk 69) In other words, the person needs to push themselves in an environment that will cause the person to go beyond their comfort zone in order for genes to turn on. I do agree with what the person had written in the previous comment to answer the prompt, but I do believe his interpretation of the word process is wrong. Homeostasis is the key to building up the body stronger, but there would be no need for homeostasis if the person never had the mind set to go outside their comfort zone so that their body would need to go through homeostasis in order to keep up with the more demanding and rigorous work outs. By going outside the body’s comfort zone more CO2 is going to build up around the parts that are being used due to cellular respiration where C6H12O6+6O2=>6CO2+6H2O+36ATP. The since the glucose molecules are going to be broken up really quickly due your cells using more ATP to deal with the more strenuous workout, more CO2 is going to build up. In order for the blood to maintain homeostasis in blood pH, the diaphragm needs to contract, to get the lungs to expand, quicker to get more O2 into the body. Because CO2 makes blood acidic, your medulla oblongata and your pons sends impulses to your lungs telling them to increase breathing rate to get rid of the CO2 in the blood. This restores the blood’s pH back to normal or enzymes can denature if the pH levels get outside the optimal range for the enzymes. Your heart would also increase in strength in response to the new physical stress levels. In order to keep cellular respiration going in response to the high demand of ATP from the muscles that are going outside their comfort zone, the heart needs to pump the blood a lot faster to make sure that plenty of glucose and oxygen reach the muscles. Due to the heart pumping outside its optimal range, your heart becomes stronger which enables your body to increase its performance level. As long as a person has the mind set to get better and continues to push themselves, they will be able to compete at higher levels due to their body getting stronger by maintaining homeostasis.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livestrong.com/article/401329-homeostasis-skeletal-system-exercise/
Eric Duresa (eduresa11@gmail.com)