Rob Gray is an expert on motor learning, especially as applied to sports.

I’ve been following his research for years, as well as his excellent Perception & Action Podcast, which is one of the best sources of online information about skill acquisition for sports.

Rob is an associate professor and undergraduate program chair in human systems engineering in the Polytechnic School at Arizona State University.

Just last week he released an excellent new book summarizing his ideas: How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills. It’s a practical and highly readable summary of complex research. Highly recommended.

I had great time taking to Rob about his book and about all things motor learning, including variability, attractors, self-organization, Bernstein, and ecological psychology. We also discussed:

* why baseball players can help elbow problems by landing on sand

* how occlusion glasses can help soccer players keep their eyes up

* the problem with using cones to train soccer players

* my golf game

* why Albert Pujols struck out on three straight pitches facing an underhanded pitcher

For related topics, check out my podcast with Nick Winkleman.

Links

Rob’s new book

Rob on Twitter

Rob’s podcast

Rob’s research

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E47: Season 3 - The Joy of Actually Giving a F*ck: Exploring Kindness with Dr. David Hamilton