Why There is No Such Thing as Maximum Performance

"All maximum performances are actually pseudo-maximum performances." So says Dr. William Morgan, an emeritus professor of kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin. What is he talking about? Morgan believes that no matter how high you jump, how fast you run or swim, how powerfully
you row, you can do better. But sometimes your mind gets in the way. Jane Brody reports on the burdensome influence of our own expectations, and on the tricky problem of making a pseudo-maximum performance as close as possible to a maximum one. Since most people can do better, no matter how good their
performance, Brody tells us, the challenge is to find a safe way to push a little
harder. Many ordinary athletes, as well as elites, use a technique
known as dissociation, essentially concentrating on something other than the pain of the moment.It works great, but the problem with disassociation, says Dr. Morgan, is that athletes who use it also take a chance on serious
injury if they trick themselves into ignoring excruciating pain. There
is, of course, a fine line between too much pain and too little for
maximum performance.
Read more in the New York Times.