Week 43: Selective optimization with compensation
This week, Tyler shares a unique way to maintain high levels of performance despite potential physical limitations.
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Selective optimization with compensation describes general principles of adaptation, which takes on a whole new meaning as we age (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). Unfortunately, the realities of aging is that our physical and cognitive capacities decline across the lifespan. Baltes and Baltes’ work describe mechanisms to which we can minimize the impact aging or decreased physical capacities have on us as we get older. This includes selection, optimization, and compensation. For practical purposes this week, I’m going to illustrate how compensation specifically can keep one mentally and physically active across the lifespan.
What is compensation? Compensation is a term to describe the intentional process one takes to minimize limitations or potential shortcomings. If you think about some of your own shortcomings, do you attempt to do anything different to minimize their impact? For me personally, running is terribly hard on my body. After running, my hips and joints are left in a lot of pain. Since I still want cardio as part of my routine, I compensate by walking or riding the spin bike. These exercises are much lower impact, yet I still obtain similar results. Another example for me is performing the exercise of upright rows (i.e., lifting a barbell vertically from one’s torso to their neck area in one smooth motion). Upright rows cause sharp pains in my left shoulder that can sometimes interfere with my workout. To compensate, I perform shoulder fly’s instead to work the same muscle. I’ve had to make these changes because I want to stay physically active as long as I can. I would be very disappointed if my daily exercises prevented me from being physically active as I aged. This is the key to compensation. It’s all about finding alternative ways of doing things so that adherence to physical activity (or any domain in life) is maintained at a high level across the lifespan.
In my research with Masters athletes (i.e., adult 35+ competing in sport), compensation was critical to maintain sport adherence across the lifespan. Tennis players used oversized tennis rackets to adjust for slowed reaction time and speed, runners used softer shoes that provided more give and absorption upon each step, and when injured, elements of sport psychology such as imagery, race planning, and tactics were used to compensate so that high performance was maintained despite being unable to physically train. Compensation is a crucial piece to the Masters sport experience as it allowed them to continue their sport into later years due to the techniques they had adopted.
In closing, I want you to think about a part of your life. It can be a physical activity, sport, relationship, or career pursuit. May you need to possibly compensate for physical or cognitive limitations? What might you need to do differently so that performance can be maintained long-term at a high level? Hopefully through these reflections you can get a sense of whether you may need to compensate to maintain performance across your lifespan.
Until next week,
TM
Twitter: tcmakepeace
Website: tylermakepeace.substack.com
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References:
Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In P. B. Baltes & M. M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). Cambridge University Press.
ICYMI: Check out last week’s article below!