"We are talking about practice.... PRACTICE!"

       The title of course is paraphrased from the famous Allen Iverson press conference where he goes back and forth with a reporting about the importance of practice. It is a nearly a 30 min press conference outlining how Iverson only missed one practice the entire year and played nearly every night giving outstanding effort. This is quite the contrast to today's game in which rules were put in place for end of season awards that players have to play a minimum number of games. The only clip in that 30 min press conference that stands out the practice portion.

    Not everyone is Iverson though....most people need practice. Micheal Jordon (aka the G.O.A.T.) took practice so seriously he punched a teammate. On a scale of Iverson to Jordan we need to be in the middle in terms of practice. I wouldn't recommend punching a fellow lifter nor would I advocate skipping a training session. 

    If you think of a training session as practice, then learning the movements of the lifts are paramount. An over-simplification of the process can be divided into two categories: Whole and Part. Whole is learning the skill in its entirety. Take bench press for example. Pretty straight forward lift. Lie down on the bench, five points of contact (Two feet, two shoulder blades and head against the pad). On a side note, if your one of those gym bros that puts their feet up so make the lift harder stop doing that. If you want to make the lift harder, then add more weight-OK rant over.

      Part practice is simply dividing the skill into subcomponents. Part practice can be broken down into several subcomponents such as segmentation, and fractionalization. Segmentation refers to breaking it down into different parts that can be separated into blocks. Take the power clean for example. The first block can be the set up; feet shoulder width apart, a pronated grip inside of the shoulders, bar near your shins, etc. The second block can be the first pull to the thighs. Next you would perform the second pull by rapidly bringing the bar up to your clavicle (It is a far more complicated than that, but this article focuses on learning principles instead of a how to guide).

    Implementing part practice has varying techniques. Pure part technique entails practicing each skill multiple times independently. For the power clean I would practice the first pull multiple times independently then practice taking the bar from the hang clean position to a front squat position multiple times independently. Progressive part training is performing two parts in isolation followed by the next sequential movement. Let's say I wanted to add a jerk portion to the clean and jerk. I would learn then clean then add the jerk later on. Repetition technique is practicing the first part first then adding the next sequential movement. In a non-weight room example If I am making a pizza, I make the dough, and sauce, and toppings all independently (pure part). Or if I make the dough and sauce simultaneously then add toppings (progressive). If I make the dough, then sauce then toppings in order (repetitive).   

    Simplification is a technique that adjusts difficulty of the task by changing certain characteristics. In other words, this is setting the video game to easy mode. Our power clean example using a PVP pipe would simplify the movement. Using the pizza example; simplification would be buying the pizza dough and sauce.

    Next time you're in the gym (or making pizza) think about how you are performing the tasks associated with that movement (or food). Are you doing things independently of each other? Are you mastering one skill then progressing towards another? Are you keeping it simple? learning new skills in the weight room are no different than learning new skills in life. You just have to practice.