I used to believe practice makes (you) perfect. But then I realized if what I practiced wasn’t perfect, although it may make me do the imperfect perfectly, it still isn’t going to be perfect.
AHA! So, perfect practice makes perfect. This idea worked fine, until I realized perfect doesn’t exist. Just imagine how funny it is to be able to pick up 200kg perfectly from the ground and get hurt when tying your shoe laces. So… that’s a bummer.
I got it! Practice makes permanent! Umm, I’m not sure I want that exactly. Living in permanent back pain because I always practice my lifting in a way that makes me hurt constantly doesn’t sound too exciting.
…Persistent!? Maybe, but still no.
…Progress!? Perhaps. But remind me please, what are we even talking about?
I’m getting there.
Picture this. A young teen goes to the gym with a goal of becoming a bit more muscular. He starts following a training program; a two day routine of 10 exercises on both days, completed alternated, two to three times a week. Time goes by, the weights are getting lifted, the sweat, the grunting, the grins are all there, the struggle is real and some muscle definition starts to show. This is a good start. And while some people might be okay with the results, the young stud wants more.
But what does he need to do? Train more often? Do more exercises? Lift heavier weights? Use the muscles better? Rest less between sets? Do an extra set? Smell salts? Use a belt? Wrap bands around the wrists and knees? Drink unicorn blood? You get the point. Although I was being a bit sarcastic at the end, these could all work. And probably all should be experimented with over time. But, since the aim is to build muscles, improving the muscle control is particularly useful for him. It’s also known as mind-muscle connection, which simply means that you send a signal to a muscle that you want to do a job and that muscle engages – the job gets done = the weight gets lifted. Sounds simple, but it’s often not that easy to do.
Knowing about this, young padawan finds a coach. Someone who can show him the way. Someone who knows there are tens of ways to lift a dumbbell up from the ground, but only a very limited number of very particular ways will train a very specific muscle. When the student feels it for the first time, the reaction will be: I never felt this muscle before. I’m gonna have to practice this.
Yes, you will have to. (For simplicity, I mention one particular muscle group, but control can be applied over any other, like chest, back, calves, foot muscles, etc.)
I’m pretty sure we have all seen people picking something up from the ground in many ways. Some use their legs and bend their knees. Some bend from the hips. Some keep the legs straight and pull from their back. Some lift from the arms before lifting from somewhere else. While nothing is inherently wrong with any of these, neither is really focusing on a particular (group of) muscles, and everything is about to get a task completed (pick the object up).
However, this doesn’t truly line up with the idea of getting the hamstring muscles (the ones at the back of the thighs) trained, since they do little when the spine is doing the majority of the work. There is also no space for the argument about getting hurt because (as unfair as this may sound) some people just never get hurt – whether they use the hamstrings or not. And, even those who use the hamstrings for everything can still get hurt. This is really a cat and mouse game here. And that’s the point.
You become the representation of the things you practice.
Do something for a temporary period of time – a.k.a. experience it – and make the conclusion whether that practice is good for you or not. If the outcome is positive, continue. Eventually this investment (time, effort, patience, hard work) will serve as the foundation for a more desired practice. To begin, you can choose one little habit and start to apply it on a regular basis.
Luckily, this can be done with multiple things at the same time. Don’t underestimate the power of trying a new routine, idea or trick, because even if they look simple on a day-to-day basis, in the long run they can lead to great results. You can build a daily routine to maintain the family life, house chores, a career and some fun. Or learn to engage a new muscle so you can move easily and feel better in your body. Perhaps work on eating habits and food preparation so all health measures improve. Read a few pages daily, think differently and find inner peace. The potential is endless. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to find the balance and take on just the right amount of commitment – so, we may need to practice (no pun intended) and find out how much is too much.
But back to the gym. I often get asked if an exercise someone is doing is wrong. And the real answer is, I don’t know. I say that, because I don’t always know what the person is trying to achieve. For a specific outcome, a specific element is necessary to be present. Circling back to the previous example, if the goal is to train those hamstrings at their full capacity, a full range of 3 dimensional movement is required. Anything less than that is not necessarily wrong, but may not be the best approach towards that very specific goal.
This also flips the idea of what a practice really is or what it is good for. I don’t think it should be only about repetition. I can lift something up a thousand times and feel pain a thousand times. Or I can lift something up a thousand times in a certain way and not have any discomfort once. So when we think about deliberate repetition in the service of a chosen outcome (use the hamstrings, be aware of the body, don’t hurt the back), the practice becomes something more than a repetition. The added attention shapes the outcome. And it not only shapes this outcome, but shapes the person who is applying it in its whole.
Unfortunately, going to the gym itself does not mean anything. It doesn’t imply any positive changes will happen at all. Just as if I sit on a tree every day, I will never become a bird. But if going to the gym pairs up with some attention to what we do and how that works for us, the outcome will be more noticeable. I hear it way too often that people have tried everything but then it turns out what “really happened”, and what also “could have been done” are very far from each other. Not because it’s anybody’s fault – again – but that is the reality of things.
It takes a lot of effort to understand why we should / need to exercise in a certain way, or be focused on minor details in a training session. This statement is also true if we are talking about a kid who is learning to write. It’s boring. Someone who is more experienced (parent, teacher) knows that it is good for a child to learn to write, but the child probably doesn’t believe that. However, the kid who practices writing will gain a very useful skill eventually, and one day they will realize that. Hopefully.
Eventually, the person who trains hard but not intentionally, the person who trains intentionally and the one who just goes inside a gym because the A/C is cool and the music is banging will all achieve something common: they will become the product of what they practice. So after all, practice really doesn’t make perfect, persistent, progress, anything, other than YOU. Whether that version of you is what you want it to become – or choosing to accept – is also down to you. Which raises the question…
Who are you practicing to become?