How to Train for Anything (or Everything) - The ATSP Hierarchy

Summary

The video introduces the ATSP hierarchy, a comprehensive training system designed to enhance human performance across various disciplines. It emphasizes the importance of understanding specific attributes, traits, and skills to develop targeted training programs. The system is part of a larger 'Ability Tree' concept, which includes lifestyle and dietary advice to support overall development. The speaker also discusses the concept of 'super traits' that facilitate learning and the acquisition of other skills, encouraging a holistic approach to training for optimal performance.

Takeaways

• 🏋️ The ATSP (Ability to Train Super Performance) hierarchy is a comprehensive system designed to train clients in various disciplines and enhance human performance.
• 🎯 The system aims to create a method that can be used to train for any activity, including reverse engineering complex skills into specific exercises and training recommendations.
• 🧠 ATSP stands for Specific Attributes, Traits, Skills, and Proficiencies, focusing on both mental and physical skills, and can inform personal training programs towards specific goals.
• 🤸‍♂️ Proficiencies are particular practices or disciplines one wishes to excel in, such as martial arts, programming, or public speaking, each comprising various sub-skills and techniques.
• 💪 Traits refer to specific characteristics like cardiovascular endurance or rotational strength that are necessary for the proficiency.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Attributes are the exact physical requirements needed for those traits, such as well-developed muscles for rotational strength.
• 🔄 The ATSP pyramid works both ways, meaning practicing the proficiency can develop necessary traits and attributes, and vice versa.
• 🌳 The Ability Tree is a broader application of the ATSP hierarchy, providing suggestions for a wide range of interventions outside of training, including lifestyle advice and diet.
• 📚 The Ability Tree outlines inputs such as genetics, practice, study, training, lifestyle, and diet, which are crucial for developing skills and proficiencies.
• 🎯 The system can help identify and break down any impressive feature or ability into constituent parts, allowing for targeted training and development.
• 🛠️ The speaker emphasizes the importance of 'bang for buck' exercises that develop multiple attributes at once for the most efficient skill and trait development.
• 🔑 The concept of a 'super trait' is introduced, which includes elements like energy and plasticity that can make learning other skills easier and help gain other traits more effectively.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the ATSP hierarchy system?

The ATSP hierarchy system is designed to train clients across a broad spectrum of disciplines and serves as a guiding principle for super functional training. It aims to create a method that can be used to train a person for anything, reverse engineering complex skills to provide specific exercises and training recommendations.

What does ATSP stand for?

ATSP stands for Specific Attributes, Traits, Skills, and Proficiencies. It refers to the various components that make up a person's ability to excel in a particular practice or discipline.

How does the ATSP system apply to both mental and physical skills?

The ATSP system applies to both mental and physical skills by identifying the specific traits and attributes necessary for the desired proficiency. It can inform a personal training program towards a specific goal, considering both mental and physical aspects of performance.

Can you provide an example of how the ATSP system breaks down a skill like martial arts?

For martial arts, the system would break down the complex movements like roundhouse kicks and crosses, identify the necessary traits such as cardiovascular endurance and rotational strength, and then determine the specific physical attributes like well-developed obliques and rhomboids that contribute to these traits.

What is the significance of the 'ability tree' in the context of the ATSP system?

The 'ability tree' is a larger system that includes the ATSP hierarchy. It goes beyond just exercises and training recommendations to encompass lifestyle advice and other inputs that can enhance an athlete's or individual's performance in their chosen proficiency.

How does practicing a proficiency affect the development of necessary traits and attributes?

Practicing a proficiency and its constituent skills naturally develops the necessary traits and attributes. For example, martial artists can increase hip mobility and rotational power by practicing their kicks, which in turn enhances their proficiency.

What other inputs besides training does the ability tree consider to enhance an individual's performance?

The ability tree considers inputs such as genetics, practice, study, training, lifestyle, and diet. It provides a holistic approach to enhancing performance by addressing these various aspects.

Can you explain the concept of 'super functional' training as mentioned in the script?

Super functional training aims to develop a full spectrum of physical capabilities, such as endurance, strength, speed, focus, intelligence, and mobility. It involves selecting exercises and tools that provide a wide range of benefits to develop multiple attributes simultaneously.

What is the role of 'super traits' in the ATSP system?

Super traits are characteristics that make learning every other skill easier and help gain other traits more easily. Examples include energy, which allows for more activity, and plasticity, which requires attributes like high levels of BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor).

How does the ATSP system help in goal setting for an individual's personal development?

The ATSP system helps in goal setting by identifying the proficiencies or abilities needed to achieve specific goals. It allows individuals to work backwards from the desired outcome, selecting the necessary exercises and lifestyle changes to reach those goals efficiently.

What is the 'bang for buck' approach to workouts mentioned in the script?

The 'bang for buck' approach to workouts involves choosing exercises that provide the widest range of benefits and develop multiple attributes at once. This method aims to deliver the most efficient and comprehensive development of different traits and skills.

Outlines

00:00

💪 The ATSP Hierarchy and Super Functional Training

The paragraph introduces the ATSP (Specific Attributes, Traits, Skills, and Proficiencies) hierarchy, a comprehensive training system designed by the author to enhance human performance across various disciplines. It serves as a foundation for 'super functional' training, aiming to train individuals for any activity or to overcome fitness-related issues at any age. The system breaks down complex skills into specific exercises and recommendations, addressing both mental and physical aspects. It also introduces the 'ability tree,' a broader system that includes lifestyle and dietary advice alongside training for achieving specific goals. The ATSP hierarchy is illustrated as a pyramid, with proficiencies at the top and attributes at the bottom, emphasizing the interconnectivity between practicing proficiencies and developing underlying traits and attributes.

05:00

🌳 The Ability Tree: Expanding Beyond Training

This paragraph delves deeper into the 'ability tree' concept, which extends beyond physical training to include lifestyle, study, practice, and diet as integral components of achieving proficiency in any field. It discusses how setting goals can inform the selection of proficiencies needed to reach those goals, using the example of becoming a famous author and the subsequent need for writing skills. The paragraph also touches on the importance of improving focus and executive control through meditation and other brain training techniques. Furthermore, it highlights the idea of 'super traits' like energy and plasticity, which can enhance the acquisition of other skills and traits. The author concludes by promoting their 'Super Functional Training' ebook and program, which is based on these principles and offers a comprehensive approach to developing human performance.

Keywords

💡ATSP Hierarchy

ATSP stands for 'Attributes, Traits, Skills, and Proficiencies'. It is a system devised by the speaker to train clients across various disciplines and to guide the concept of 'super functional training'. The ATSP Hierarchy is the core of the video's theme, as it aims to design a method for training a person for anything by reverse engineering complex skills to specific exercises and training recommendations.

💡Super Functional Training

This term refers to the overarching approach to enhancing human performance that the speaker mentions. It is built upon the ATSP Hierarchy and is the guiding principle behind the speaker's method of working out and training clients. The concept is introduced as something the audience will hear more about in a future project.

💡Proficiency

In the context of the ATSP Hierarchy, a 'proficiency' is a specific practice or discipline that one wishes to excel in, such as martial arts, programming, or public speaking. Each proficiency is comprised of various sub-skills and techniques, which are necessary for mastery in that particular field.

💡Trait

A 'trait' in the video script refers to the specific characteristics or qualities that are required for a particular skill or proficiency. Examples given include cardiovascular endurance or rotational strength, which are necessary for certain physical activities.

💡Physical Attributes

These are the exact physical requirements necessary for the traits mentioned. For instance, rotational strength is dependent on well-developed muscles like the obliques, rhomboids, and serratus, which contribute to the desired physical effect in activities such as baseball batting.

💡Ability Tree

The 'Ability Tree' is a larger system that includes the ATSP Hierarchy and extends beyond just exercises and training recommendations. It encompasses lifestyle advice and other inputs that can enhance an athlete's or individual's performance across various areas of life.

💡Lifestyle Recommendations

These are part of the 'Ability Tree' system and refer to non-training inputs that can improve an individual's performance or quality of life. In the script, the speaker mentions reducing stress and increasing focus as examples of lifestyle recommendations that could be offered to a baseball player.

💡Bang for Buck Exercises

This term is used by the speaker to describe exercises that provide the widest range of benefits and develop multiple attributes at once. The speaker builds workouts around these types of exercises to deliver the most efficient development of various traits and skills.

💡Super Trait

The 'Super Trait' is a concept introduced by the speaker as a trait that facilitates the learning of every other skill and helps in gaining other traits more easily. Examples given include energy, which acts as a force multiplier, and plasticity, which requires certain attributes like high levels of BDNF.

💡Polymath

A 'polymath' in the context of the video refers to an individual with a broad spectrum of physical capabilities and skills, ready for a wide range of activities. The speaker discusses the goal of becoming super functional and mentions working backwards from the bottom of the ATSP pyramid to develop such a polymath.

💡Executive Control

This term is related to the cognitive processes involved in activities such as writing, which is an example given in the script. The speaker suggests that improving focus for writing could involve developing the executive control regions of the brain, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, which can be enhanced through practices like meditation.

Highlights

Introduction of the ATSP (Ability to Super Functional Performance) hierarchy system for training across various disciplines.

ATSP aims to design a method for training a person for anything, including reverse engineering complex skills to specific exercises.

The system can be used for any competitive sport or fitness-related issue at any age.

ATSP applies to both mental and physical skills and can inform a personal training program towards a specific goal.

Explanation of the Ability Tree as part of the larger system for lifestyle advice and training recommendations.

ATSP stands for Specific Attributes, Traits, Skills, and Proficiencies, focusing on excelling in a particular practice or discipline.

Proficiency is comprised of various sub-skills and techniques, each requiring specific traits.

Traits such as cardiovascular endurance or rotational strength are necessary for mastering skills and techniques.

Specific physical attributes are the exact requirements needed for the traits to develop.

Practicing the proficiency itself will develop necessary traits and attributes, as well as the reverse.

The Ability Tree includes inputs like genetics, practice, study, training, lifestyle, and diet.

The Ability Tree is used to break down impressive features or abilities to their constituent parts.

The system provides wider-reaching suggestions for interventions outside of training.

Goals are placed at the top of the pyramid in the Ability Tree to guide the choice of proficiencies or abilities needed.

The concept of 'super functional' training for a polymath with a full spectrum of physical capabilities.

Importance of 'bang for buck' exercises that develop multiple attributes at once for efficiency.

Introduction of the 'super trait' concept, which eases the learning of other skills and gaining other traits.

The importance of energy and plasticity as foundational attributes for the super trait.

Invitation to use the ATSP hierarchy for personal training plans or client assistance, with a request for acknowledgment.

Promotion of the speaker's ebook and training program 'Super Functional Training' with a current discount offer.

Transcripts

so this is the atsp

hierarchy a system i devised to train

clients across a broad spectrum of

disciplines

and as a guiding principle behind the

notion of super functional training

and my own approach to working out and

enhancing human performance

is something you'll be hearing a lot

more about in a future project that i

can hopefully reveal very soon

so the aim of this system was to design

a method that could be used to train a

person for

anything and to reverse engineer our

diverse range of complex

skills to output specific exercises and

training recommendations

or to help train a client from any

competitive sport or facing any issue

relating to their fitness

at any age so the system applies to

skills both mental and physical

it can also inform a personal training

program towards a specific goal

as part of a larger system that i call

the ability tree

and we'll get to that in a moment as

well so atsp stands for specific

attributes

traits skills and proficiencies in this

context a proficiency is a particular

practice or discipline that you wish to

excel in

so for example martial arts acrobatics

archery

programming surfing running baseball

public speaking singing painting

powerlifting

strongman contortion escapology

such a proficiency is normally comprised

of various

kind of sub skills and techniques for

example the martial artist needs to be

able to perform a number of complex

movements like roundhouse kick

cross etc to dodge and to maintain

exertion for long periods

a programmer on the other hand needs to

think creatively problem solve and focus

they also need to remember a wide range

of different commands and syntax rules

each of these skills and techniques

requires specific traits

a trait could mean cardiovascular

endurance or it could mean rotational

strength

finally specific physical attributes are

the exact physical requirements

necessary for those traits so for

example rotational strength

is dependent on well-developed muscles

that contribute to the therapy effect

the obliques the rhomboids and the

serratus thus in order to become a

better baseball player

like a batter we could consider the

skills and techniques that they use

and then the traits that underlie these

rotational strength hand-eye

coordination grip strength reflexes

calms under pressure traits can be

broader or more specific for example

rotational strength is a trait

but so too is strength or explosive

rotational strength

the more you can narrow down the traits

to what is specifically necessary for

the desired skill though

the more benefit you'll get from the

exercise and then with this information

we can then look at the specific

attributes that underlie

those traits so powerful obliques

rhomboids and serotous anterior

as well as fast visual processing strong

forearm flexors

shoulder mobility and even more obtuse

elements such as low levels of cortisol

and high levels of dhea now we know what

the individual needs to become to

achieve what they hope to achieve

we can prescribe therefore specific

exercises to help them get there faster

we might get the baseball player to

perform pile off presses medicine ball

throws

reaction exercises and vision exercises

important to understand at this point

is that the pyramid with proficiencies

at the top and attributes at the bottom

actually works both ways that is to say

practicing the proficiency itself

and the skills to comprise it will

develop the necessary traits and

attributes

just as the reverse is true so martial

artists can increase hip mobility and

rotational power

if they want to give their kicks more

power and speed

but likewise just practicing the kicks

will naturally improve their hip

mobility

and rotational power training does not

replace practice but should be

supplemental

and aim to enhance strengths and fix

weak points

everything filters up the hierarchy and

it trickles back down

likewise it's important to underscore

the attributes alone will not be

sufficient to develop skills and

proficiencies

there are other inputs besides training

that can enhance an athlete or

individual

at each level this is where the ability

tree comes in

which is not simply for exercising and

training recommendations

but rather includes lifestyle advice and

things like that

the ability tree outlines the following

inputs genetics

practice study training lifestyle and

diet

however it's not limited to just these

for the baseball player considering

these inputs means we can also offer

lifestyle recommendations

and even diet ideas to reduce stress and

increase focus

we might suggest particular books to

offer specific knowledge

we can now observe any impressive

feature ability and break it down to the

constituent parts we need to get there

the same is even true of career options

the ability tree is a broader

application of the atsp hierarchy

designed to provide wider reaching

suggestions for a broader range of

interventions outside of training

so in addition to taking into account

knowledge and the additional inputs

we also place goals at the top of the

pyramid here in other words

why do you want to become adept at a

certain practice do you want to win a

gold medal

become rich move abroad be happier this

then allows us to choose the

proficiencies or abilities that we need

to get to those goals hence ability tree

if your goal is to become a famous

author you first need to write a book

then the practice or ability you need

is writing want to write a lot of words

per day then we need to improve focus

and we might do this by looking at

developing executive control regions of

the brain

such as the anterior cingulate cortex

meditation is known to increase blood

flow to that area

so we might prescribe this as an

effective form of brain training in

service of that goal

using the ability tree to get there we

could also suggest a sufficient amount

of sleep and nutrition etc

we also need to consider the other

inputs at each level of the hierarchy so

learning about writing practicing

writing reading to increase the

vocabulary

the list goes on or if you don't have a

specific goal

what if you want to be super functional

ready for anything

a polymath with a full spectrum of

physical capabilities that we talk about

on this channel

endurance strength speed focus

intelligence mobility

in that case we work backwards we work

from the bottom of the pyramid

up we select the exercises and the tools

that provide the most

different attributes to offer the widest

variety of skills

to make us somewhat proficient even in

practices we've never had the

opportunity to try

this is why i build my workouts around

bang for buck exercises that provide the

widest range of benefits

that develop multiple attributes at once

to deliver the widest range of different

traits and skills in the most efficient

manner

i also like to consider what i call the

super trait and this is a trait that

makes learning every other skill

that much easier and that even helps you

to gain other traits more easily

that includes things like energy which

is a force multiplier because it lets

you do more

and things like plasticity these are

then built from their own

attributes so for instance plasticity at

least requires large amounts of bdnf

and even anabolism but we'll go into

that in more detail

in a future video

[Music]

i hope you found this video useful and

interesting guys and i hope you can find

some use

the atsp hierarchy yourself whether

devising your own training plans

or helping a client is something that's

been really useful for me myself

it's a little peek behind the curtain as

it were all i ask

is that if you use this then please give

me a shout out when you mention the

system

oh and sub and like if you want more

like this and if you want a ready-made

training program based around these

principles that aims to develop every

aspect of human performance

alongside a huge ebook that goes into

depth on all these topics

then be sure to check out my ebook and

training program super functional

training

the link for that one is in the

description down below and there's still

a big discount on right now

whilst we're all still in lockdown man i

thought this discount was going to last

like a month

i certainly misjudged that one hope

you're all safe and healthy guys thank

you so much for watching as always

and i'll see you next time bye for now