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Siff Space

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Dr. Mel Siff's Forum

mcsiff@aol.com

        This space contains a selection of unique educational materials conceived by
      Dr Siff as a brain-teasing resource aimed at investigating existing ideas and
      appplications of exercise science and biomechanics.  Its central feature is
      his collection of "Puzzles and Paradoxes (P&Ps) of Exercises Science" which
      encourages the use of creative methods of thinking or Propositional Analysis
      to re-examine the scientist's view of the world of human performance, in a
      manner like that of the classical Grecian philosophers..  Its aim is not so
      much to provide definitive answers, but more to stimulate one's powers of
      critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making

 

The following extensive textbooks give far more extensive details of much of
the educational material provided by this website.

Siff M C & Verkhoshansky Y V  (1999)  'Supertraining : Strength Training for
Sporting Excellence'

Siff MC (1998)  'Facts and Fallacies of Fitness'

For further information about these books, click on the button below  . . .
(comming soon)

Mel Siff is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (popularly known as 'Wits' university), Johannesburg, South Africa, where he has been on its staff for about 30 years.

He has a PhD in physiology specialising in biomechanics, MSc (Applied Mathematics) awarded summa cum laude in brain research, BSc Honours in Applied Mathematics and a BSc (Physics, Applied Math). His serious involvement with the Internet began when he devised the unique concept of electronic education in sports science based on methods of propositional analysis pioneered by the ancient Grecian philosophers. This enterprise created the well-known weekly P&P's (Puzzles & Paradoxes) and F&F's (Facts & Fallacies) which he wrote for various user groups, including Sportscience, Physio, PTHER, FIT-L, Sport Psycho and Weights.

His main teaching duties at his university are in applied mechanics, biomechanics and professional communication. Previous appointments have included Acting Headships of the Sports Administration and the Communication Studies Division at his university, the latter post having involved him in researching communication models, the visual image, human symbol systems and language processing. Besides lecturing to engineering students, he regularly lectures to physiotherapy and physical education students at several universities in his country.

He has presented numerous papers at over 100 conferences in sports science, sports medicine, physiology, physical education, ergonomics, engineering, psychology, chiropractice, communication and linguistics. He has written more than 150 papers and books in these disciplines and was author/co- producer of the rock opera 'Genesis Won'. He has addressed numerous conferences of the NSCA in the USA and Australia, as well as IDEA in the USA and the Exercise Association in England.

After several working visits to Russia, he and renowned Russian scientist, Dr Yuri Verkhoshansky, wrote the major textbook 'Supertraining - Special Strength Training for Sporting Excellence'. This extensive volume offers one of the few definitive treatises available on integrated Western-Eastern methods of sports training. His other book 'Facts and Fallacies of Fitness' has become very popular among fitness professionals and the general public.

He was the longest-serving Chairman of his university's Sports Council (1971-78) and was largely responsible for establishing its professional Sports Administration. He was Vice-Chairman of the S African Weightlifting Union, Chairman of the Weightlifting, Karate and Trampoline Clubs at his university, as well as the national Chairman of the combined S African Universities Weightlifting Association. He is also a qualified weightlifting referee.

He was manager-coach for the South African Weightlifting team (1983-84) and received many awards in Olympic weightlifting at university, inter- university, state and national level. A former Sportsman of the Year at his university, he also represented the university in karate, track-and-field, trampolining and cricket. He introduced and taught the first aerobics classes at his university, later becoming an international judge in competitive aerobics. His services to the university were recognized in the form of two Meritorious Service Awards 'for exceptional contribution to sport', as well as a Sports Council Resolution (1978) that 'This Council thank Mel Siff, ex- Chairman and more recently, Sports Officer, for doing more for Wits Sport than any other individual in the history of the university'.

He has devised and co-ordinated for many years the highly successful Continuing Education Fitness Instruction courses at his university (in Personal Training, Sports Massage & Restoration, Aerobics Instruction, Exercise Science and Seated Fitness). As a highly experienced sports massage specialist who has trained with Bulgarian, Rumanian and other Eastern European experts, he introduced the first certificated Sports Massage courses to be offered at any university in his country. He and Dr Michael Yessis co-edited the textbook 'Sports Restoration and Massage' to provide a solid scientific foundation for this and other massage courses.

He has consulted for numerous sports organizations, teams, athletes or coaches in several countries in sports including track-and-field, weightlifting, rowing, tennis, swimming, karate, American football, rugby, boxing, fencing, basketball, volleyball, baseball, hockey, squash, gymnastics, competitive aerobics, cricket, underwater sports, golf, bodybuilding, dance and cycling.

His presentation of physiotherapeutic PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) as an entire system of sports conditioning at the NSCA conference in Denver in 1989 marked the first steps of any scientist to take PNF out of the rehabilitation and stretching setting so as to provide a comprehensive system of sports training. A particular interest of his is the design of low-cost biomechanical research, training and rehabilitation devices to enable less affluent countries and institutions to undertake sophisticated work which would normally be beyond their reach. His collaboration with fellow engineering staff and senior students in this enterprise led to his establishing the first biomechanics facility at his university, as well as a comprehensively equipped weights gym and research facility at his home to enable him to extend his working day with minimal interruption. This facility also allows him to continue weightlifting training three times a week with other lifters, bodybuilders and athletes.

Currently a member of the Technical Committee of the Australian Strength & Conditioning Association, he is or has been a member of the NSCA, the Coaching Association of Canada, the US Weightlifting Federation and the Australian Coaching Council.

He is married to Lisa Ericson, an American former ice-skating professional and vivacious disabled expert in seated fitness training for able-bodied and disabled individuals. She created the well-known SMART (Seated Movement Aerobic and Resistive Training) fitness system which has been presented at many international conferences. Former Fitness Director at Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver and recipient of many fitness industry awards, she introduced the first ever Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp to South Africa which was attended by President Mandela. This led to considerable collaborative work with President Mandela's Children's Fund, culminating in his requesting her to organize thousands of disabled children for his 1996 birthday function. Mel and Lisa own another home in Denver and travel to the USA every year for conferences and vacationing.



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM YOU?   If anyone else comes across similar magazine articles filled with other F&F's or P&P's, please share them with us - they can often serve as a valuable teaching tool for fitness professionals. You can send your contributions directly to Dr. Siff at his e-mail or postal address indicated above.


This space is reserved for archives of the past issues of Dr. Siff's P & P's. Please click on the issue to view its complete contents.

MEL.GIF (8880 bytes)

Puzzles and Paradoxes
Intro-1 Introduction
Intro-2 THE PEDAGOGY OF PUZZLES & PARADOXES (P&Ps)
01  Rest Intervals
08 High Speed Training
09 Speed of Action in Muscle Fibres
10 Intensity and Volume in Weight Training
11 'Plyometric' Exercises
12 Number of Repetitions
13 Training to Failur
14 Isokinetic Exercise and Testing
15 Isotonic Muscle Action
16 Abnormal Foot Pronation
21 Use of Isometric Exercises
22 Static and Dynamic Muscle Contraction
23 Emphasis on Cardiovascular Trainin
29 Categorisation of Certain Muscles
30 Advice to Avoid Breath-holding
31 Monitoring of Heart Rate
32 'Pulling the Abdominals In'
33 Resistance Training
34 Irregularity of Heart Rhythm
35 Attention Span of Children
36 Lifting a Weight in a Straight Line
37 Fitness Testing for Novices
38 The Vertical Jump Test
39 Myotatic Setch Reflex
40 Obsession With Cardiovascular Training
41 Maximum Muscle Tension
42 Specifity May Not Be As Specific
43 Cyclic Motion in Sport
44 Newton's Laws
45 Use of the Definition P = F.v
46 STABILISING and MOBILISING Muscles
57 Osteoporosis
60 Open-Closed Chain Reactions
61 Birth Pains
67-69 ENDORPHIN PARADOX
70 Treatment of Knee Conditions
73 Periodization
75 Brain and Sport
79 Motor Qualities and Fitness Components
80 Overtraining
82 Cardiac Fatigue
83 FREE RADICAL PARADOX
87-90 CONTRAINDICATED EXERCISE PARADOX
93 Endurance Paradox
98 MUSCLE CLASSIFICATION PARADOX
101 PRIME MOVER PARADOX
108 PLACEBO & TRAINING PARADOX
120 Body mass gain or loss
122 MUSCLE PARADOX
123 ISOMETRIC PARADOX
124 BACK PAIN PARADOX
Bio1 Message to Biomch-L
2-21-00 THE EVOLUTION OF BODYMASS ADJUSTMENT FORMULAE
3-2-00 BIOMECHANICS OF CRICKET BOWLING
3-4-00 FACTS AND FALLACIES OF FITNESS
3-5-00 FREE INTERNET AND WEB MATERIAL
4-3-00 Muscle Physiology - Muscle Action
4-3-00 PILATES REVEALED
4-3-00

Reflections on The Force-Velocity Curve

4-9-00

PNF as a Training System

4-15-00

TEXTBOOKS BY M C SIFF

5-7-00

UPPER-LOWER ABS CONTROVERSY

8-8-00

Balance

9-4-00

On Power

9-6-00

On the Electrical Stimulation in Sports

 

 

Webpages recommended by Dr. MC Siff



The Scientific Method:

http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/skep_1.html
http://phyun5.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node5.html
http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/Plants_Human/scimeth.html
http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu/phy_labs/AppendixE/AppendixE.html

Method for Finding Scientific Truth:

http://www.bc.cc.ca.us/programs/sea/astronomy/scimethd/scimethd.htm

The Myth of the Scientific Method:

http://dharma-haven.org/science/myth-of-scientific-st: Responsible Conduct in

Research:

http://books.nap.edu/html/obas/

The famous physicist, Richard Feynman, on the Scientific Method:

http://pc65.frontier.osrhe.edu/hs/science/feynman.htm

Carl Sagan Baloney Detection Kit:

http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/baloney.html

Fallacies in Argumentation:

http://shell.rmi.net/~mhartwig/falla.htm

Summary of  the classic Thouless textbook, "Straight and Crooked Thinking":

http://hjem.get2net.dk/bnielsen/38tricks.html

Mission Critical (San Jose State University material on critical thinking):

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/main.html

Common Fallacies to Avoid:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sztybel/fallacy.html

 Common Argument Fallacies:

http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/fallacys.htm

 Logic and Fallacies:

http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html

 Propaganda Techniques and Analysis:

http://carmen.artsci.washington.edu/propaganda/home.htm

Conversational Terrorism: How Not to Talk:

http://www.vandruff.com/art_converse.html

Skeptics Dictionary:

http://dcn.davis.ca.us/~btcarrol/skeptic/tijunk.html

Leading Edge International Research group:

http://www.trufax.org/

Quack Watch:

http://www.familyinternet.com/quackwatch/index.html

The Skeptical Enquirer:

http://www.csicop.org/si/

Randi Educational Foundation:

http://www.randi.org/

Physics and Skepticism:

http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/vjs/

Weird Science:

http://www.amasci.com/weird/wskept.html

Junk Science:

http://www.junkscience.org/

Bad Science:

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/BadScience.html

Museum of Questionable Medical Devices:

http://www.mtn.org/~quack/

Quack Grass:

http://www.quackgrass.com/

Critical Thinking Community:

http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal:

http://www.csicop.org/

Journal of Scientific Exploration:

http://www.jse.com/

Left Hemisphere:

http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/left_hem.shtml

Myths of Skepticism:

http://www.rpi.edu/~sofkam/talk/talk.html

Alternative Health Primer

http://www.seanet.com/~vettf/Primer2.htm

Why Therapies may seem to Work:

http://www.seanet.com/~vettf/WHY.htm

The Skeptic Magazine (UK)

http://www.cix.co.uk/~philmck/skeptic/

Australian Skeptics

http://www.skeptics.com.au/welcome.htm

The Scientific Review of Alt Medicine (Journal)

http://www.hcrc.org/sram/prev-iss.html

Health Watcher (Canadian site on health quackery)

http://www.healthwatcher.net/

American Council on Science and Health

http://www.acsh.org/

The Great Health Hoax (Matthews):

http://www.sepp.org/controv/healthhoax.html

The Psychology of Sects:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/psymove.html

Here is another site that offers extensive information on all the free
Internet Service Providers that are available.  If you are interested in
saving a few hundred dollars a year, then it might be worthwhile
investigating some of the services described in this site.

http://www.forrealfree.com/fip.html

Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
mcsiff@aol.com

Internet Discussion Group for Sports, Strength and Fitness

We have started a new Internet discussion group devoted to all physical and
mental aspects of sports, strength and fitness science and training, as well
as injury and health management.  For more details of this group, please
visit the following website:

http://www.egroups.com/group/supertraining

Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
mcsiff@aol.com

 

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