I read somewhere that the human body needs to repeat a task or movement 10,000 times before it becomes natural and automatic. Ten thousand times before it becomes firmly imprinted in your muscle memory, and presumably in those neural pathways that tell the muscles how and when to perform. That seems to make sense to me and I'm trying to apply it to my swimming. And if 10,000 times sounds like a lot it's not really when you put it in perspective. For example, in my upcoming marathon I will take close to 20,000 steps....with each leg!
And since that's a brute force way of working on something it will probably work for me. I think there are however a few complications which may mean even more repetitions in my case. The most obvious one for me is of course my age. Coupled with the fact that it's simply harder to learn new things as one grows older, there is the fact that I have to un-learn the things I have been doing in the water for almost 20 years now....none of them good!
But I think the real challenge to a newly learned physical skill comes when one tries to add another movement into the mix at the same time. To go back to the swimming analogy it would be like finally learning a good kicking pattern and then trying to maintain it while you add arm movements, breathing etc.
This is how it feels to me right now. I can do my kick drills at the end of the pool and then when I push off the end I can maintain it for half a length even while starting to stroke with my arms. Until I take my very first breath that is, when it immediately falls apart.
But I believe it can be done and I intend on continuing this stubborness until I can do it without thinking. I'm pretty sure that when it comes to physical skills, (especially ones that don't come naturally), there is no shortcut. You're best chance at gaining a memory of those skills is through endless repetition.
I think the same thing is not necessarily true for memories of the mind. I was taught that our brain can gain a new skill or gain a new memory in 2 different ways. The first, as in the physical skill, is of course repeated experience. An example of that may be learning your multiplication tables. The nuns made me say them enough times that I'll remember them ""for the rest of my life.""
The other way to imprint a memory on the human brain, that does not work for physical skills, is through a significant emotional experience. We've all had them, and I wish to tell you about one of mine to illustrate my point.
It happened some time in November of 2007. I was the middle of the night and I was laying in a hospital bed in London Ontario. It was about 2 days after barely surviving a near death experience and I was still very drugged and barely interested in life. I had absolutely no confidence in the future or in my place in it. I would drift in and out of consciousness, each time briefly wondering where the hell I was and what was going on. Each time it would take some moments before I would regather my senses and try to go back to sleep. On one of these awakenings I was surprised to see my little sister Teresa sitting across from my bed. I can still see the picture clearly in my mind. She was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed, reading a book. She looked up when she heard me stir. I can even remember the look of concern she had on her face. Without going into too much detail suffice it to say that I was surprised to see her there. It was one of the most significant emotional events of my life. In the millisecond that it took for my brain to process the scene I knew that I could go back to sleep. My little sister loved me, she was watching over me, and I was safe! That moment was, and is, so deeply ingrained in my memory that I'll remember it ""for the rest of my life"".
Now if only Teresa could teach me how to swim.....
(swim drills, run 7 kms)
"Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things."---Pierce Harris
Love
Peter
And since that's a brute force way of working on something it will probably work for me. I think there are however a few complications which may mean even more repetitions in my case. The most obvious one for me is of course my age. Coupled with the fact that it's simply harder to learn new things as one grows older, there is the fact that I have to un-learn the things I have been doing in the water for almost 20 years now....none of them good!
But I think the real challenge to a newly learned physical skill comes when one tries to add another movement into the mix at the same time. To go back to the swimming analogy it would be like finally learning a good kicking pattern and then trying to maintain it while you add arm movements, breathing etc.
This is how it feels to me right now. I can do my kick drills at the end of the pool and then when I push off the end I can maintain it for half a length even while starting to stroke with my arms. Until I take my very first breath that is, when it immediately falls apart.
But I believe it can be done and I intend on continuing this stubborness until I can do it without thinking. I'm pretty sure that when it comes to physical skills, (especially ones that don't come naturally), there is no shortcut. You're best chance at gaining a memory of those skills is through endless repetition.
I think the same thing is not necessarily true for memories of the mind. I was taught that our brain can gain a new skill or gain a new memory in 2 different ways. The first, as in the physical skill, is of course repeated experience. An example of that may be learning your multiplication tables. The nuns made me say them enough times that I'll remember them ""for the rest of my life.""
The other way to imprint a memory on the human brain, that does not work for physical skills, is through a significant emotional experience. We've all had them, and I wish to tell you about one of mine to illustrate my point.
It happened some time in November of 2007. I was the middle of the night and I was laying in a hospital bed in London Ontario. It was about 2 days after barely surviving a near death experience and I was still very drugged and barely interested in life. I had absolutely no confidence in the future or in my place in it. I would drift in and out of consciousness, each time briefly wondering where the hell I was and what was going on. Each time it would take some moments before I would regather my senses and try to go back to sleep. On one of these awakenings I was surprised to see my little sister Teresa sitting across from my bed. I can still see the picture clearly in my mind. She was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed, reading a book. She looked up when she heard me stir. I can even remember the look of concern she had on her face. Without going into too much detail suffice it to say that I was surprised to see her there. It was one of the most significant emotional events of my life. In the millisecond that it took for my brain to process the scene I knew that I could go back to sleep. My little sister loved me, she was watching over me, and I was safe! That moment was, and is, so deeply ingrained in my memory that I'll remember it ""for the rest of my life"".
Now if only Teresa could teach me how to swim.....
(swim drills, run 7 kms)
"Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things."---Pierce Harris
Love
Peter
Very profound ... emotional and inspiring..thank you for sharing ...your thoughts are my thoughts in so many ways yet on a different level..
ReplyDeleteLove you much Pete, as a human, soul, and angel on earth. You and this blog are my lighthouse and helps me on my path to follow the light.