Performing a move over and over again until you can do it perfectly sounds like it can drag and bore, just as “wax-on, wax-off” seemed to Daniel in The Karate Kid. But like that movie shows, drilling exercises has a number of benefits to satisfy your physical and mental needs.
The ability to engage all of the right muscles at just the right time takes consistent effort, but pays off with greater muscular recruitment, hormone secretion, and ultimate strength and endurance. Here are some key tips to bear in mind when learning a new exercise.
Per-fect form… Drill intelligently. Focus on every single repetition until you obtain perfect form. Use a mirror or a friend to monitor you. Whether you’re in class, or on your own, we’d rather have you do 5 perfect push-ups in 30 seconds as opposed to doing 10 incorrectly. Completing an exercise properly will reduce the risk of injury and ensure that the correct muscles are being worked.
Start Small… Think that a jump squat with med ball pass on a BOSU is impossible to conquer? Break it down and perfect each move individually. Practice your squat until your legs stop burning, practice your balancing drills on the BOSU until your legs stop shaking, then practice your chest pass until you stop getting winded. Gradually stack one on top of the other and before you know it, you’ve got a full body workout in one move!
Discipline… Drilling moves over and over can be mentally tough and frustrating, you’ll want to quit, but perseverance will also develop mental discipline. Your brain will slowly ingrain this method into your head, creating a base form to work from. So when you come to do the next move or a progression, you’ll have plenty of mental tools to tackle it.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat… Drill a move over and over until it becomes so natural that you don’t even have to think about. Do it until it becomes part of your repertoire, like throwing a ball, cutting paper, or singing a song from your childhood. If you want to get philosophical about it - do it until you are no longer “doing it”; the move becomes a natural part of you like breathing.
And as the legend Bruce Lee once put it - “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
See you at the studio!
Kevin
The ability to engage all of the right muscles at just the right time takes consistent effort, but pays off with greater muscular recruitment, hormone secretion, and ultimate strength and endurance. Here are some key tips to bear in mind when learning a new exercise.
Per-fect form… Drill intelligently. Focus on every single repetition until you obtain perfect form. Use a mirror or a friend to monitor you. Whether you’re in class, or on your own, we’d rather have you do 5 perfect push-ups in 30 seconds as opposed to doing 10 incorrectly. Completing an exercise properly will reduce the risk of injury and ensure that the correct muscles are being worked.
Start Small… Think that a jump squat with med ball pass on a BOSU is impossible to conquer? Break it down and perfect each move individually. Practice your squat until your legs stop burning, practice your balancing drills on the BOSU until your legs stop shaking, then practice your chest pass until you stop getting winded. Gradually stack one on top of the other and before you know it, you’ve got a full body workout in one move!
Discipline… Drilling moves over and over can be mentally tough and frustrating, you’ll want to quit, but perseverance will also develop mental discipline. Your brain will slowly ingrain this method into your head, creating a base form to work from. So when you come to do the next move or a progression, you’ll have plenty of mental tools to tackle it.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat… Drill a move over and over until it becomes so natural that you don’t even have to think about. Do it until it becomes part of your repertoire, like throwing a ball, cutting paper, or singing a song from your childhood. If you want to get philosophical about it - do it until you are no longer “doing it”; the move becomes a natural part of you like breathing.
And as the legend Bruce Lee once put it - “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
See you at the studio!
Kevin
