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Courtney Kelly (Strength Ratio | Ethos Alchemy) on optimality theory, trade-offs in fitness, and copywriting

Release Date: 07/27/2020

Todd Nief's Show

Paul Bearer is the vocalist for one of the most influential and underrated New York Hardcore bands of all time: Sheer Terror. Sheer Terror came out of the very strange New York Hardcore scene of the 80s — before the music became codified into the metallic, bouncy mosh parts we think of as NYHC today. While Sheer Terror is certainly no stranger to blending metal and punk, their sound is much more Tom G. Warrior plus Oi! rather than syncopated, single-string riffs. Nothing against bouncy mosh parts, but Sheer Terror is much more my cup of tea, personally. Paul and I talk not only about the...

Christopher M. Russo (Mercatus Center) on Monetary Policy, The Fed, and Inflation

Todd Nief's Show

Monetary policy is confusing. What even is The Fed? How do they control interest rates? Is The Fed different than the Treasury? Why do different cities have different feds? And, most importantly, do people with laser eyes on Twitter actually know anything about inflation? These are all things that I've wondered about — fortunately, my friend is a post-graduate research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and an expert on monetary policy. And, he lifted some weights at South Loop Strength & Conditioning while pursuing his education at the University of Chicago....

Spenser Mestel on Voting Rights, Election Reform, and Writing a Book with Mat Fraser

Todd Nief's Show

I first encountered Spenser’s work through his writing for the , and at some point I clicked on enough links to realize that the majority of his work is on voting rights and election reform. I’ve been a subscriber to , so I wanted to get his take on how things went with New York City’s experiment in ranked choice voting in their Democratic mayoral primary. While election fraud and voter suppression are hot-button culture war issues, there are also a lot of low-hanging fruit for bipartisan election reforms. Spenser’s understanding of the voting rights landscape is deep and nuanced, so...

Dave Bland (Full of Hell | Jarhead Fertilizer)

Todd Nief's Show

Dave Bland is one of the most creative drummers currently playing extreme music. While technical wherewithal with blindingly fast blast beats is always appreciated, the ability to adapt to the varied styles present on Full of Hell records as well as the more straightforward death metal of Jarhead Fertilizer requires much more perspicacity. I first met Dave over 10 years ago when he was a high school student who left to go on tour with Full of Hell without his parents’ permission. Since then, Full of Hell has grown into one of the best bands in extreme music, and Dave’s drumming has become...

Matthew O. Jackson, PhD on Human Networks and Microfinance

Todd Nief's Show

Humans have an intuitive sense for who is important and well-connected. We like knowing “movers and shakers,” and we regularly engage in complicated social machinations — conscious or otherwise — to position ourselves close to the seat of influence. But what about the formal study of the spread of information through human networks? Matthew O. Jackson is a professor of economics at Stanford, and his book “” is a fantastic primer on the complex dynamics of human relationships. He’s also done fascinating work on the spread of microfinance in southern India with Arun Chandrasekhar...

Kayhan Vaziri (Yautja)

Todd Nief's Show

Yautja plays lurching, uncomfortable music, so it is fitting that their new album is called “The Lurch.” I first met Kayhan back in approximately 2010 when I was on tour with Weekend Nachos and we stayed at Kayhan’s place in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Kayhan was in a band called Legion (funny enough), and since then has gone on to play in several excellent hardcore and metal projects like , , and — of course — Yautja. Yautja’s most recent record is fantastic, so I wanted to get Kayhan on the podcast to discuss how they write such weird but catchy songs. The conversation also...

Simple Solutions to Complex Problems [Solocast]

Todd Nief's Show

I’ve often spoken on the about the desire for “simple solutions to complex problems.” I figured I’d reframe and refine that discussion for a solocast based upon the , Julia Galef’s great new book “,” and some marketing intuition from years of running a small business. Over years of creating content for a fitness audience, I’ve learned that the things that resonate with people are often not the things that are actually correct. Understanding the difference between a “complicated” environment and a “complex” environment has helped me clarify what’s going on here....

Bryan James, PhD on Alzheimer’s and Epidemiology

Todd Nief's Show

At some point in the last year or so, I started listening to the . I was thrilled to learn that the host, Bryan James, is a Chicago local at Rush University — and he’s a CrossFitter at . Bryan and I recently collaborated on an article for BarBend about controlling the spread of Covid in gym, as well: . In his day job, Bryan’s research focuses on the epidemiology of Alzheimer’s disease, so I wanted to get his take on some common misconceptions about Alzheimer’s. Most of us have a family member who has been touched by Alzheimer’s or dementia, and my family is no different. Bryan’s...

James Pligge (Harm's Way) Round II

Todd Nief's Show

James Pligge is back by popular demand. This time, we talk about some of the many misconceptions that people have about James and Harm’s Way — as well as James’s ill-fated attempt to make a protein shake with Coca-Cola. To be honest, talking about making a protein shake from Coca-Cola probably doesn’t do a lot to correct any of those popular misconceptions about James… Either way, this is a hilarious conversation. James explains why Harm’s Way is more influenced by The Jesus Lizard than by Madball and also ridicules contemporary powerlifting culture. Learn more from James and...

John Caution (Weekend Nachos)

Todd Nief's Show

I feel like I say this about a lot of my friends that I have on the podcast, but John Caution is one of the weirdest and funniest people I know. I’m happy to talk to John endlessly about funny things that people we both know did 15 years ago, but, in this interview, we talk about the legacy of Weekend Nachos. We talk about the trolling instinct, the impulse to create — either in riff form or otherwise, and being in a band that defined the identity of a lot of angry but funny social misfits. I laughed pretty hard during this interview, and I laughed even harder while relistening to it....

More Episodes

Figuring out how to prioritize in any sort of complex system is really, really difficult.

We see this all the time in working with athletes.

A simple, linear mindset results in athletes trying to do more, more, more training — and expecting to get more, more, more results.

In reality, there are trade-offs involved in any sort of training plan.

These are not just the trade-offs between the zero sum competition between training time and ability to adapt, but fundamental trade-offs between constraints being imposed on the system.

If only there were some sort of lens through which we could view the process of making trade-offs between competing priorities in complex systems…

Fortunately, Courtney Kelly is a coach and a copywriter, and she has a background in psycholinguistics.

In linguistics, there is an understanding of the way that humans generate grammar and speech based upon trade-offs between different constraints.

This theory is called “optimality theory,” and Courtney wrote a fantastic article on its application to training here.

Check out more from Courtney, Ethos Alchemy, and Strength Ratio here:

Article: Performance optimization? How ’bout optimality theory?
Website: www.strengthratiohq.com | www.ethosalchemy.co
Instagram: @strengthratio | @ethos_alchemy

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Show Notes:

[01:01] A background on psycholinguistics and universal grammar — and why grammar is a lot more interesting than “just punctuation”
[14:24] So, what is optimality theory? What does the way that humans generate speech have to tell us about trade-offs in complex systems — particularly in fitness?
[28:10] A tangible example of the trade-offs involved in training for a triathlon vs building muscle for aesthetics
[34:00] Optimality theory treats constraints as “binary” — not on a sliding scale
[40:15] An grammatical example of optimality theory in action
[49:02] The importance of having a robust theory of mind for effective communication
[59:09] The practical applications of understanding theory of mind for copywriting and sales — how to understand clients’ hopes, fears, and dreasm
[01:13:32] How to know when it’s ok to “exclude” someone with your copy who isn’t a good fit for your business
[01:18:02] Learn more from Courtney, Ethos Alchemy, and Strength Ratio

Check out more from Courtney, Ethos Alchemy, and Strength Ratio here:

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