Practice Perfect Like a Top Athlete Would

Because I am an adult amateur and I have a lot to learn about how to ride dressage, I try very hard to practice perfect so I don't waste my time and make a lot of mistakes. Especially since it takes 30 repetitions to change a bad habit. To practice perfect, I will often use my online notebook to "deep practice" journal. This is where I come home after a ride, sit down at my computer and write out what happened while I was in the saddle. When I do this, my entries are not just a chronological description of my experience. I actually slow down my reflection, extract all the details of the ride, think about the mistakes I made, the strengths of my ride, and the opportunities for improvement.

As a result, I gain those critical connections and insights that will help me to scaffold to higher levels...you might say, to scaffold up the training scale and into the upper levels.

So where did I come up with the term "deep practice?" I learned about it from a book called The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle. He's studied and written about top athletes (like Sean White, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong) and what makes them different from the pack. The key to success for any athlete, Coyle says is the combination of 1) passion, 2) masterful coaching, and 3) deep practice. Any one can grow their talent because talent isn't something we are born with. It's something we work very hard to earn by using key talent-growing strategies. Clearly some riders are more natural riders, but they still have to grow their talent.

In the book, Coyle describes how deep practice is used in a Russian tennis camp where most of their top players learn the sport. At the camp, the younger children aren't allowed to even use a tennis racquet or hit balls for months. Instead, they stand in line and hold their arms out as if they are holding a racquet. Then, over and over, they practice the swing, slowly, very slowly, like turtle slow, with trainers watching over them. Once they can make the perfect swing at the slower pace, they are allowed to speed up and continue to attempt to practice perfect at a faster speed.

Coyle argues that whenever an athlete can slow the process down into unbelievable slow speeds, the athlete gives his brain the opportunity to understand the new information in order to develop new and improving motor skills. Research shows that more often than not, the brain simply can't keep up with the real-time speed of a sport and perform it perfectly right away without time to put the pieces together. In other words, an athlete who is learning something new in real-time is always vulnerable to making too many mistakes in the beginning of the learning curve which hinders the talent-growing process. And that is why slowing a practice down gives the brain the time it needs to make the connections necessary for further development.

One day I wrote to Coyle and asked him if he thought that journaling about my riding is a form of deep practice. He wrote back, " I think you're onto something with journaling. Especially as it acts as a kind of a "time machine" through which we can (slowly) revisit the details of our experience, see the mistakes and opportunities, and relive them. Essentially, good journaling (and there are lots of types here) allows you to build a neural network that improves skill; it scaffolds you to a higher level."

Begins to make sense, huh! The bottom line is that if you really want something, like improving your riding, you find the time to sit down to do this. The end result is that you save time by growing talent faster. Every day I think of the gift I've been given by owning such a talented, willing horse. And I also think about the challenges I face as a fairly inexperienced adult amateur with dreams of riding the upper levels. How on earth will I ever learn what I need to in order to be so lucky to ride the upper level movements, correctly and gracefully, in his lifetime and as my partner? My answer...thoughtful study practices and deep practice journaling.

If you have any questions or would like to sign up for your own online notebook, please go to www.barnbynotes.com. Free notebooks for USDF members with USDF promo code.