2012 May 22 | CrossFit Inland Valley

Deep Practice

Posted by CrossFit Inland Valley on May 22, 2012 in Workout of the Day |

In the book, The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle argues that talent is grown, not born. Of the 3 main methods towards talent acquisition, the first – Deep Practice – goes well with what we stress at CFIV.

Technique first, consistency second, and then intensity.

Many may be familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, that reintroduced many to the 10,000 hour / 10-year rule towards skill mastery. Much like Gladwell’s book, The Talent Code, stresses that mastery stemming from Deep Practice can be achieved by a few methods:

Chunk it Down — Break down the components of the skills into as many parts as you can and practice them slowly. A lift like the snatch can be improved by working positions especially from the hang position. Breaking the lift into separate components can result in a better understanding of the steps to completing a properly executed rep.
Repetition – Repeat the broken-down components. Once the broken-down components are better understood, a full lift can be attempted at a low weight to allow room for technical development. As time passes, loads can be increased slowly as long as technical proficiency is still present.
Feel— You should feel in tune with what you’re practicing, especially to identify the mistakes you make (so as to immediately work on correcting them). After repetitions are repeated over an extended period of time, the lift becomes more familiar and mistakes can be identified and corrected much quicker.

There is a reason why even after 2 days of grueling workouts, Carlie, who spent months working on her weightlifting technique, was able to PR. She did so with excellent form and locked the lift out like it’s supposed to be done. It’s called Deep Practice. With the fatigue of the previous days, she was able to rely on a solid foundation built months and months before.

We all know what happens if attention is not given to the foundation of a structure. It crumbles under load.

With the more technical movements, take special care to execute a lift for the sake of performing it correctly. A higher number or faster time on the board is nothing if there is no integrity of movement.