What Can We Learn About Learning from Athletic Training

Frank Shorter's Exercise Recommendations

This is the first of a series of posts on “What Can We Learn About Learning From Athletic Training”.

What I will try to convince you are the parallels between physical fitness and mental fitness. There are obvious differences, but I want to focus on first are the similarities.

Let’s start by watching a very short video by Frank Shorter — it’s less than five minutes. It’s called “Frank Shorter’s Exercise Recommendations for Older (or Younger) Adults.” At the very least, I think it will make you rethink your views about exercise by clearing up a number of misconceptions.

These misconceptions, I will argue later, also apply to learning. In future posts, I will also do a deep dive on some of the research on skill formation which supports Shorter’s recommendations.

Who is Frank Shorter? Frank Shorter is a celebrated American long-distance runner, best known for his historic win in the marathon at the 1972 Munich Olympics. This victory marked him as the first American to claim Olympic gold in the marathon since 1908, helping to ignite a running boom in the United States during the 1970s. Born in Munich, Germany, in 1947, Shorter grew up in the U.S. and attended Yale University, where he began his athletic career. Shorter’s influence extends beyond his racing career; he co-founded the Boulder Running Club and became an advocate for the sport. His contributions continue to inspire generations of runners and have left a lasting impact on American distance running culture.