
Muscular Bonding: The power of dance and drill - feross
https://fs.blog/2020/04/muscular-bonding/
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sandworm101
>> Marching aimlessly about on the drill field, swaggering in conformity with
prescribed military postures, conscious only of keeping in step so as to make
the next move correctly and in time somehow felt good.

No. Modern drill is definitely not aimless, let alone fun. If done properly,
it hurts. For some people at basic training it is more of a workout than the
actual PT workouts. I've seen people pass out. I've seen people damage
themeselves and others with bayonets as they fall (parade bayonets are not
sharp). And all the foot-stomping and repetative motion leads to knee and back
injuries. The one thing I took from drill was an ingrained desire to avoid it
at all costs.

>>A plastic surgeon has called for a change to the way a German battalion does
its rifle drill after its elite soldiers started developing breasts. Dozens of
soldiers in the Wachbataillon unit (Guard Battalion), which performs drill
displays at official events, have complained about over-developed breasts on
their left-hand side because of the way they clasp their rifles. It is
understood the repeated slapping of their rifles against their chests has
stimulated hormones, causing a condition known as one-sided gynecomastia.

[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2267631/Germanys-
Wa...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2267631/Germanys-
Wachbataillon-soldiers-soldiers-developing-breasts-drill.html)

>> "There is a very significant link between the activity in the … battalion
and the development of the breast on the left side," Dr. Bjorn Krapohl,
director of plastic surgery at the military's main hospital in Berlin, told
the Herald. "They need to change the way they drill."

[https://www.livescience.com/26597-german-army-soldiers-
breas...](https://www.livescience.com/26597-german-army-soldiers-breasts.html)

~~~
wussboy
These sorts of comments frustrate me. You seem to take objection to drill
being described as "aimless", but clearly the author is using that term to
describe his perception at the time before going on to show how it wasn't
aimless at all. This makes me think you didn't try to understand what was
being said before attacking it.

I once heard the concept of an "Iron Man Argument", being the opposite of a
Straw Man. Let's take the most charitable and coherent interpretation of an
argument that is presented to us and try to poke holes in that. Then we will
both be better for it. Maybe this guy is dead wrong. But defeating arguments
he never made will not determine that.

Sorry to be a grump. It just frustrated me that this was the top comment.

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rogerclark
I'm a competitive Dance Dance Revolution player. nothing compares to the
euphoria of being perfectly synchronized with the music, the notes on screen,
and in an ideal scenario, the person playing next to you.

all types of dancing and synchronized movement achieve this effect. in a lot
of senses, when you perform these kinds of activities with other people, the
informational content of your minds and bodies come closer together in the
possible configurational space of brain states. your sensory input, mental
activity, and bodily sensations all line up, creating an instant bond with
another person, as you can be 100% sure that you now have common ground with
each other. the psychological, social and emotional benefits are real.

watching a movie or listening to music together with someone obviously
achieves the same effect, but without as many modalities involved

~~~
bradstewart
Thank you for this. I love music festivals, and as strange as it sounds, one
or two a year put me in a much better frame of mind. I've been struggling to
explain this to my significant other who accepts it, but ultimately views them
as just a party. To me "the psychological, social and emotional benefits are
real". Very real.

~~~
ksdale
I've always felt the same way about crowded sporting events. Intellectually, I
understand that sports are rather... shallow?, but there's something that just
seems magical about tens of thousands of people gathered in one place for a
shared purpose and being so _loud_.

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fredcy
Prior to the stay-home order my wife and I would go out line dancing three
nights each week. Dancing in unison with dozens of other people is
surprisingly invigorating. I miss it deeply.

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vpner
Re: dance. My current cardio routine is improv dancing and it's definitely a
lot of fun. Re: drilling. This applies in any domain, even programming. Pick
small problems and do variations on them until they become second nature. It's
a surprisingly effective way to learn. Gary Bernhardt has actually turned this
idea into a product with Execute Program:
[https://www.executeprogram.com/](https://www.executeprogram.com/).

I suspect there are a few untapped product ideas here for programmers still.
I'd be willing to pay for a set of drills in learning the various AI
frameworks. The theory is linear algebra + calculus which can be learned
alongside the drills for the framework and could potentially be another set of
drills.

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mdonahoe
>> This refers to a sense of euphoric connection that is sparked by performing
rhythmic movements in unison to music or chanting.

I suspect this euphoria happens whenever we believe ourselves to be
synchronized with others, even if we are physically doing very different
things.

I’ve felt euphoric on a few occasions while performing comedy/skits for an
audience before. It’s a weird sensation to feel like I understand what the
crowd is thinking and can anticipate reactions to my words.

It felt very similar to dancing, minus the exercise.

Good to know the term “muscular bonding” though. I’ll look that up for more
references.

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darkerside
This has sparked a few "connected moment" memories.

I was riding a bicycle downhill when a bird happened to fly next to me for a
few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

When my oldest child had just learned to run, and we ran across a field
together for the first time, for no reason but to feel the wind, and look over
at each other, moving as one.

There's definitely something about moving together that is wired to demand an
emotional response.

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greglindahl
The first somewhat-detailed description of military marching is in a 16th
century dance manual.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoinot_Arbeau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoinot_Arbeau)

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X6S1x6Okd1st
"The righteous mind" speaks about this at some length, I'd highly recommend
the book for anyone interested in a look at bonding individuals into groups.

~~~
wussboy
I second this. Few books have affected me the way The Righteous Mind did. I
read it once in 2011 and thought it was cool. On the second reading I became
troubled and found myself disagreeing with much of what he said. It wasn't
until the 5th reading that I understood how huge his discoveries were.

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joosymoosy
In the subjective tech tree dance is a thick branch of emotion

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ecoled_ame
skateboarding!!! surfing!!! the best exercises for intellectuals

