body memory

[Alan H]

Practice makes perfect, right?

OK, so yesterday I had a chance to go to the Park and throw. I didn't think I was going to, so I didn't tell anybody else but 4:30 came and Joan wasn't back from her concert and I'd hit a "waiting point" in the project I was working on. So I loaded my "practice caber #1" into the back of the pickup truck and headed for the park..

I actually spent two hours throwing, working on A.) unleashing a lot more power on the stones, but not fouling out over the trig...B.) balance, arm extension and follow-through on the 28 pound WFD, and C.) Caber. So, here's the thing about caber. Yesterday, my first caber toss stank. I was looking at the ground the whole time. I stopped at the end of my run up, planted my feet and whooops, too late already. I didn't even get the stick up to 75 deg. *grumble*

So I did it again, focusing on looking up, and throwing the caber straight up at the end of the run-up...no stop. Just go-go-go-go THROW. The thing is, I wind up with my feet planted anyway, even if I don't try to do that. I subsequently turned the practice stick 5 times in a row, and 7 times out of 8 that afternoon, not counting the first one. I mean, most of the time the caber *bounced* as it went over. I see TimC do that, but I never get it to *bounce*. Yesterday I did.

I've turned it 4x in a row before, but never this much. OK, here's the point of this post.

LAST time I was out with TimC I couldn't turn this exact same caber to save my life. The time before that I was alone and I turned it 4x out of 5. So I'm in this never-never zone where I "know" what I need to do to turn it, but I haven't got it ingrained in my body "memory" yet. That's one reason why I tossed it so much yesterday. I was on a tear, was doing well, so I wanted to to it a LOT so that my body learned what to do. BTW, I am SORE today!

I'm doing the same thing with the 28 lb for distance. I "know" what I need my feet to do, and mostly they do it, but I have to *think* about it. If I push the envelope and throw hard, I tend to mess up. So the goal before Woodland (I have 3 weeks, which means about 4-5 more practice sessions) is to ingrain that motion, especially my feet into my body memory.

[Arizona Scot]

Good luck on the next event, and that sounds like great advice on ingraining the memory into the muscle.

[Yaish]

I've heard it takes roughly 3,000 repetitions to really make something stick in muscle memory.
Obviously we get better long before the point, and 100 perfect reps are better than 3000 bad ones, but more is better.

RE: Stone throws. I actually competed in Bakersfield over the weekend, and while I didn't get any pics and I only took fourth, I did PR in Braemar Stone. The key was my elbow. I had not been throwing my elbow of the offhand back like I was trying to knock someone out before. I did it in Bakersfield this weekend, and two of three throws set PR's for me.

I'll be out on the practice field again this weekend, putting in more work on technique and building those muscle memories.

[Draelore]

I hesitate to admit this, but I have no idea what you guys are talking about.....

Andy

[Yaish]

Muscle memory, or repeating something so many times you can do it without conscious thought. It's really the root of all physical training, and really it's something we utilize in all aspects of our daily lives.

If you're a full time kilt wearer, think of this example. Do you still consciously sweep your pleats before sitting, or is it something you do automatically, without thinking about it? Do you ever catch yourself "sweeping the pleats" even when you're in pants? If so, that's muscle memory. It's something you've done so many times you're body learned that when you start to sit, you have to grab the back of your legs and sweep down as part of the process.

Alan was mentioning this as part of his Highland Athletics training, working on technique and doing it over and over again until it's automatic. Many of the events require you to perform dozens of separate actions in exactly the right sequence, and at exactly the right time, for just the right degree of force in order to give you a successful throw. If you don't practice you have to think about each one of those separate elements and frankly the human brain just doesn't work that fast.
Fortunately, as you start working the various elements together you build muscle memory and your body learns to perform some of those tasks on auto pilot whenever you find yourself in a similar situation.

[Christo13]

Alan,

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about throwing today. I was especially interested in the mention of the muscle memory post.

I've juggled for almost 27 years, and there are many times running numbers that muscle memory takes over and I'm able to recover on runs of 5, 6, and 7 balls (well, when I'm in practice enough to run 7 balls).

I only hope that as I embark on throwing that I can practice enough to have my muscles remember what they are doing.

There are few things cooler than your muscle memory taking over and running on automatic, and I imagine when you're throwing a 14 foot - 20 foot log that it has to be cool letting the body take over and remember how to do things quicker than the conscious mind processes things.

Take care, and thanks again for the chat--I hope to start training and getting in shape for throwing

Christopher

[CelticRanger66]

Yaish is totally right about muscle memory. When I was in the Ranger Battalions we would endlessy practice our combat reaction drills, so when the time came I did them without thinking! That is how you improve your time and overcome fear.

[Standard]

That is one reason when we used to shoot bulls-eye and combat a lot the practice never stopped. That way when you got to the firing line you could get on target without thinking about all the mechanics that goes into that. It is the same way with sports and building muscle memory there.

BTW good luck at the games, and be sure to give us an update.

[ThreadBbdr]

It's the same with music, really. A good musician doesn't think about where his/her fingers go, how to hold or release breath. You concentrate instead on the musciality - the dynamics, the tonal quality, meshing with the other players or the accompaniment. You pay attention to the director or band leader, but don't have to think about actually making the notes.

My old violin teacher used to say, "in through the eyes, out through the fingers".

Good luck at the games! This weekend in KC was the first time I'd seen demonstrations and it was fascinating to hear the athletes explain exactly what they were doing step by step. It's a LOT more technical than I realized.