Always Be Learning

Always Be Learning Welcome to abl. It is a place where you will be encouraged to Always Be Learning. Stay curious. Always Be Learning.

We want to share the journey of discovery and celebrate the sparks that are ignited within.

10/29/2019

Remember: Always. Be. Learning.

There are a number of ways that athletes have tried to artificially activate their bodies to produce more red blood cell...
04/05/2019

There are a number of ways that athletes have tried to artificially activate their bodies to produce more red blood cells, including injecting synthetic EPO and blood doping (reintroducing their own blood back into their circulatory system). These are known to be banned practices and harmful for your long term health.
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One device that has appeared on the market recently is the Elevation Training Mask, which begs the question ... ""Do they work as they are intended or is it just another 'magic science' solution to improve athlete performance?•
Priced at $50-100 (and higher) at first glance they seem to be a convenient and affordable training device to enhance training.
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The design of the Elevation Training Mask is simple, to restrict airflow (and oxygen) to the athlete while he/she is working out to create stress and trigger the body to adapt.
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Studies show that the masks do not accurately simulate the same conditions experienced at altitude. Foremost, is that the do not change the decrease in barometric pressure associated with higher elevations and as a result the masks do not stimulate the necessary physiological response for EPO to increase the supply of red blood cells.
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One of the things that the masks do have a positive impact on is the respitory muscles. By restricting the airflow you are strengthening the muscles of your respitory system (eg. lungs). However, you don't need a fancy $80 mask to do this, some scientists say you should try to restrict your airflow by breathing through a straw during your next training session and your body will experience the same effects.

Live High, Train Low•One of the challenges of training at high altitudes is that athletes are unable to optimize the amo...
04/03/2019

Live High, Train Low
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One of the challenges of training at high altitudes is that athletes are unable to optimize the amount of work put into their training regimen because there is not enough O2 to supplement an intense workout. Trainers recommend a 'Live High, Train Low' approach, where the athlete is able to reap the physiological benefits of living at a higher altitude, EPO stimulation and higher red blood cell count, and then drop down to a lower elevation for their workouts so they will not be hindered by a low oxygen supply and will be able to maximize the intensity of their effort.
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Popular locations where endurance athletes train at this elevation include Iten, Kenya, St. Moritz, Switzerland, Font Romeu, France, Boulder, CO and Flagstaff, AZ.
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Lets have a closer look at Flagstaff because it is the hometown of .
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Located on the historic Route 66 Flagstaff is an ideal location for endurance athletes to train. Situated at 6,900 ft and with a population of only 52,000 there's a good chance you will bump into high performance athletes at the local smoothie bar ( or ).
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It boasts a limitless amount of soft surface trails to keep your curious and inspired by the surrounding scenery and is only 75 miles from Grand Canyon National Park.
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The best months for training are from April to September ... ""Running in July in Arizona??"" :0 you say ... Yes! It's high elevation helps keep the average temperature range in July between 51-81 degrees Farenheit (10-27C). @ Flagstaff, Arizona

High altitude training is when athletes go to higher altitudes to experience the benefits of their bodies adjusting to t...
04/02/2019

High altitude training is when athletes go to higher altitudes to experience the benefits of their bodies adjusting to the lower concentration of oxygen molecules per volume of air at higher elevations.
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The breaths taken at higher altitudes provide less of what working muscles require. The decreased levels of Oxygen causes the body to adapt when one of the body's hormones, erythropoietin (EPO), triggers the production of more red blood cells to aid in oxygen delivery to the muscles.
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Red blood cells distribute O2 throughout the body and more carriers equals more distribution. Athletes will then go to a competition at lower elevations to take advantage of their heightened levels of red blood cells, which will only last for 10 to 20 days.
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The optimal elevation for training is considered to be 2400m / 8000 ft or higher.
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Early realization of altitude training came during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City (elev. 2,240 m / 7,349 ft) when endurance athletes were completing their events far below the Olympic standard. Interestingly, the shorter distance competitors were experiencing faster than expected times, demonstrating the difference between the demands that aerobic (endurance) and anaerobic (sprinting) activities have at alitude. The anaerobic athletes didn't have as much of a demand on replenishing oxygen supply to compete in their events, and the shorter times were a result of less resistance in the thinner air.
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Shoutz Out to for suggesting this topic and there will be more info on him and his hometown in the next post.
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Another reminder that abl is always open to suggested topics. We hope to hear from you soon.

"Lunch atop a Skyscraper" (Photographer: Unknown).•Eleven ironworkers posed for a photo 850 feet above Manhattan on Sept...
03/28/2019

"Lunch atop a Skyscraper" (Photographer: Unknown).
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Eleven ironworkers posed for a photo 850 feet above Manhattan on Sept. 20, 1932 as a publicity stunt to promote the completion of the RCA Building (now the GE Building) in Rockefeller Center.
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Ironically, in one of North America's most iconic photos nobody knows who took the photo and for almost 80 years the names of any of the 11 subjects in the photo were unknown. Two of the men, Joseph Eckner (third from left) and Joe Curtis (third from right) were identified in 2012 and the identities of the remaining 9 are unconfirmed.
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It is more than just a eye catching image, it represents layers for development and evolution of New York City. Lunch Atop a Skyscraper embodies American resilience and ambition at a time when both were desperately needed amidst the struggles of the Great Depression.
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As well, for almost 90 years the photo has served as a symbol for New Yorkers of their attitude to tackle projects that not many other cities would dare to consider, with special attention paid to the contributions of immigrant laborers and the spirit in which the buildings in Rockefeller Center were built. Immigrants in New York in the early 1900s were typically alienated upon their arrival however they worked their way into not only becoming quintessential New Yorkers they fuelled the energy for the rising the Manhattan skyline.
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The glass negative for the image, which is owned by Visual China Group, is kept in the Iron Mountain storage facility and is stored safely 220 feet beneath the surface in Pennsylvania.
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Link in Bio: A short documentary has been made about this image, hit the Link in Bio to see the trailer for 'Men At Lunch'. @ Rockefeller Center

"The Burning Monk" (Photographer: Malcolm Browne).•The person in this iconic photography is a 67 year old Buddhist monk ...
03/26/2019

"The Burning Monk" (Photographer: Malcolm Browne).
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The person in this iconic photography is a 67 year old Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc. He is burning himself in the streets of Saigon in 1963 in an act called ‘self-immoliation.’
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Browne had been given advance notice that something would be happening to protest the treatment of Buddhists by the by the regime of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
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Browne reported that seconds before this picture was taken Thich Quang Duc was sitting serenly in lotus style while two other monks were dousing him in gasoline. Thich Quang Duc lit a match and placed it in his own lap to ignite the self-immoliation. The image was run in most newspapers around the world the next day (although some, like the NY Times, chose not to include it because it was deemed to be too grisly for a breakfast paper.)
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The emotional charge within images such as this would soon pull The US into the Vietnam conflict. President Kennedy later commented, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.”
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The image is credited as drawing the worlds attention on the conflict in Vietnam and led to the overthrow of the Diem regime in South Vietnam in November 1963.
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Thich Quang Duc had prepared himself for this protest through several weeks of meditation. Following his death, Thich Quang Duc was cremated and legend has it that his heart would not burn. As a result, his heart is considered Holy and is in the custody of the Reserve Bank of Vietnam.

"V-J Day in Times Square" (Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt).•We start Iconic Photos Week looking at a black and white p...
03/25/2019

"V-J Day in Times Square" (Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt).
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We start Iconic Photos Week looking at a black and white picture taken on August 14, 1945, the day Japan surrended in WWII led to jubilation and spontaneous celebration all over the United States.
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The celebration that took place in Times Square was immortalized by Eisenstaedt. He focussed his lens on a sailor in front of him who had quickly grabbed hold of a nurse, tilted her back and kissed her. (Although by today's standards some people would argue it was a sexual assault).
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It would become one of the most famous and most frequently produced image for the 20th century.
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The sailor in the photo is George Mendonsa, who passed away in February 2019, he was 2 days shy of his 96 birthday. Eisenstaedt never got the names of the either subjects in his iconic photo. Mendonsa later claimed he was the sailor and his identity was confirmed by facial structure analysis (included 3-D mapping and reverse aging).
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Mendonsa had been walking through Times Square with a date (who would later become his wife) when he saw the other woman in a nurses uniform.
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Admittedly having a soft spot for nurses, Mendonsa said, "The joy of the moment and his admiration for nurses who had treated fellow servicemen compelled him to embrace her." He didn't say anything to her, he just kissed her. "It happened. She went her way, I went mine."
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Three women claimed to be the nurse in the photo, however many people who have studied the photo believe it to be Greta Zimmer Friedman, who was born in Austria and was a holocaust survivor. At 21 she was a dental assistant when she was immortalized in the photo.
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Of the spontaneous smooch she said, "It wasn't a romantic event kiss. It was just an event of 'thank God the war is over' kind of thing. ... It was a day that everyone celebrated because everyone had somebody in the war and they were coming home."
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Mendonsa and Friedman were reunited in 1980 and remained friends close until she died in 2016.
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Apple rewrote the rules on how to change the image of your brand in one of the most well known rebranding campaigns in h...
03/15/2019

Apple rewrote the rules on how to change the image of your brand in one of the most well known rebranding campaigns in history.
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Faced with declining sales, intense competition and low morale among its staff it reinvented the brand with the 'Think Different' campaign in 1997. It was an intentional effort to highlight a minimalist aesthetic and contrary to every other marketing strategy at the time it emphasized ideas and experiences rather than products and purchases.
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Apple's new image set a foundation for its re-emergence as a leader in the technology industry. Apple launched their new line of multi-coloured iMacs in 1998, which became one of the top selling computers in history.
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The 'Think Different' campaign helped support the successful launch of these revolutionary designed products.
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Allen Olivo (senior director for marketing) said at the time, "The ads are for people who don't care what the computer does but care about what they can do with the computer." He added,"we're going for the emotional celebration of creativity, which should always be part of how we speak about the brand.''
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The campaign featured more than 40 historic and contemporary figures including Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, Ted Turner, Picasso, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Alfred Hitchcock, Miles Davis, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart (pictured above), Jim Henson, Rosa Parks, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
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Fun Fact: A recent (2018) ad campaign for the Mac computer is reminiscent of the Think Different campaign. The 'Behind the Mac' video series includes a slide show of black and white still photographs set to a simple piano instrumental. Minimal aesthetic indeed! Focussing on the people using the Mac and how they are united as "people with passion are changing the world for the better." . (Link in Bio)
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Spotting a Carhartt flagship store in trendy shopping districts like SoHo in NYC and Le Marais in Paris may have you thi...
03/13/2019

Spotting a Carhartt flagship store in trendy shopping districts like SoHo in NYC and Le Marais in Paris may have you thinking it is another example of a out-of-touch corporate blunder, think again. Carhartt knows exactly what they are doing.
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They are exemplifying how the concept of 'work' is being redefined in the 21st Century and are adapting their brand image accordingly. Specifically, Carhartt is rebranding to closely align with the 'Maker Movement', the recent growth of independent artisans, designers and inventors.
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With its corporate offices in Detroit, historically the heart of the American industrial economy, Tony Ambroza (Carhartt's Sr VP of Marketing) called these people "the creative class of the Millennial generation." Coincidentally, Detroit is considered to be a hub city for The Maker Movement.
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Ambroza has the company looking ahead and redefining what it will mean to 'work' relative to how it is seen today. The challenge will be how to maintain the delicate balance of expanding into its new brand image with the values of it's core consumer, the blue collar worker.
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One measure that is being taken is creating this new fashion forward segment under the label 'Carhartt WIP' (Work in Progress), where the items will have a more slimmer fit and there will even be 'skinny' versions of their traditional items for the fashion tastes of the millenials.
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Fun Fact: Actor Jason Momoa (Aquaman) has a video called 'Canvas of My Life' on the Carhartt website that shares his apprecation for Carhartt products and how they shaped his childhood, career, hobbies and especially fatherhood. This 8m30s video epitomizes the new direction for the Carhartt brand. (Link in bio.)
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Contest: Count how many Carhartt toques/beanies you see in the next few days. Put your total sightings in comments below.
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Special thanks to for suggesting Carhartt as a modern example of rebranding. A reminder that our doors are always open to suggestions for future topics.
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“Look at your man, now back at me."•These words by former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa represent a pivotal moment for the O...
03/11/2019

“Look at your man, now back at me."
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These words by former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa represent a pivotal moment for the Old Spice brand and after almost 10 years it is one of the most well known examples of rebranding in modern history.
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On the shelves since 1938 the sales for Old Spice products were plagued by the stale image of making you smell like an old man. It is generally not a good business practice to have your products make you smell like a grandpa.
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Proctor and Gamble worked with the ad agency Wieden + Kennedy to devise a new campaign in 2010 to reframe the image of it's brand, in part as a response to stiff competition from Axe which a relatively new brand to the scene that focussed on how their products would attract the ladies, often times using risque humour. Old Spice wanted to tap into the segment of youthful guys that that wanted to smell great, but not take themselves too seriously.
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It was a especially challenging move because men are typically reluctant to change their hygiene routine and they were trying to sell a scent using TV.
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It was unique because it was campaign that had a dual message, both men and women could enjoy it together. The dual message of the ad repositioned the product to approach both the end user (males) as well as the common purchasers of male hygiene products (females). Always has always will.
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As a result of this rebranding Old Spice has gained a solid position of being one of the top selling brands for deodorant and body wash.
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Fun Fact: Currently the 'Man Your Man Can Smell Like' commercial is currently sitting at 56M views on YouTube. (Link in bio)
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(Rebranding is the creation of a new image for an established product or company, the goal is often to revitalize the customers perception to make it seem more relevant without drastically changing the product or service.)

Are mindsets Born with or made? There are oodles of articles on how to encourage a growth mindset for raising your kids ...
03/08/2019

Are mindsets Born with or made? There are oodles of articles on how to encourage a growth mindset for raising your kids and setting a tone for the classroom but once you leave your home or school it is important to remember that it isn't over. You can develop your brain to approach things with a more 'growth mindset' perspective.
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Here are 12 reminders of how you can develop a Growth Mindset.
• 1. Accept opportunities that push you out of your comfort zone – 'challenges are chances.'
• 2. You don't know what you don't know. Ask questions!
• 3. Appreciate obstacles - growth comes from struggle.
• 4. Mistakes are an important part of the process.
• 5. Skills are built, not born. They're yours if you work for them.
• 6. Choose learning well over learning fast.
• 7. Reward efforts and actions, not traits (Don't praise intelligence, praise perseverance, effort and improvement.
• 8. Don't be threatened by feedback and criticism - use it to support you and your learning instead.
• 9. Always reflect on what you've learned.
• 10. Actively seek out new things. The more you do, the more you learn.
• 11. Just because you haven't seen the change, doesn't mean you won't. Stick at it.
• 12. Your brain has the abilitiy to change throughout your life. Never stop.
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Growth vs. Fixed Mindset.•A 'Fixed Mindset' locks in on the belief that our own character, intelligence and creativity a...
03/06/2019

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset.
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A 'Fixed Mindset' locks in on the belief that our own character, intelligence and creativity are static and can't be changed in a meaningful way and that success will be achieved based on the already existing intelligence and traits.
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Having a belief that your abilities are carved in stone in a fixed mindset creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over and feed your thirst for self-confidence.
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A 'Growth Mindset' seeks out new challenges and views failed experiences not as evidence of low intelligence or low skill but as a launch pad towards growth and expanding our existing abilities.
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A difference between these two can be seen in how someone reacts failure - a fixed mindset dreads failure because it is seen as a negative assessment of their basic abilities, whereas growth mindset people accept failure as a realization that their achievement can improve and that learning comes from failure.
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The growth mindset foundationally believes that your basic qualities are things that you can cultivate through your efforts and eventhough everyone has a different set of traits we can all grow to new levels through application of learning and experience.
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A growth mindset creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval.
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Our own personal association with to these two mindsets develops our behavior, our relationship with successes and failures (both professionally and personally) and ultimately our ability to experience happiness.
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(Psst ...If experiencing happiness is what it is all about and learning more leads to happiness, then doesn't it make logical sense to Always Be Learning? ... Just sayin' )
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