My violin teacher Lee Snyder, once told me: “Practice begins the first time you get it right.” Practice is intentional repetition and is only successful when you are capable of performing the intended plan. Though even improvisation isn’t blindly approached, I’ll leave this style of work for another post and today engage more with practice that is highly structured.
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We might think of three sections to a practice:
Warm-up (A Section)
Body of work (B Section)
Cool Down (C Section)
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In each section it is best to narrow our focus to 1-2 movements/poses/exercises
This can be outlined as A1 and A2 (or B1 and B2, etc.)
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For those new to practice design we will begin with setting some median parameters:
Warm-Ups/A Section
Should not detract from the coming “B” Section and thus is only to warm up specific needs for the work to be preformed in the “B Section”
Generally only needs about 2 sets (sets: number of times you repeat A1 followed by A2
Eg;
A1. Wrist Warm-up 5x in each direction
A2. Hollow Body Hold (Core-work) 30 seconds
-Repeat A1 and A2 for 2 sets before proceeding to “B” Section
(can be adjusted based on personal needs)
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Body of Work/B Section
Main Movements/Exercises, consider starting with:
5 repetitions of an exercise for 5 sets (movement)
(commonly expressed as 5X5 - first number indicates repetitions in a single set, while the second number indicates the total number of sets in the practice protocol/program)
for postures (static): 30 seconds or 5 breaths for 5 sets (not synonymous, rather different modes of measurement)
In a couple months you may want to raise the first number and lower the second
movement: 8 reps for 3 sets (or posture: 1minx2)
8x3 thus not increasing the work load but adding the challenge of doing more work in each working set
Other ways to aid challenge include lowering the first # and raising the second
posture: 15 seconds x 10 (or movement: 3x7: 3repetitions for 7sets)
allowing for a harder variation done for shorter time spread out with plenty of rest
Cool Down-Rehab/C Section
Similar to the A-section, this will be brief, looking to rehab areas that may have been compromised during the B-Section
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Eg;
C1. External Rotations 10 reps
Repeat c’s for 2 sets / Rest 2 mins between each set
For your own program:
It will be best to choose movements/postures that you are 80% successful in performing. This means it will take focus to achieve the desired result, there should be some challenge, but the effort should feel mostly successful.
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It will be beneficial to stick to your written program for approximately 6 weeks for now. Over time numbers will continually change, consider the information in the B section above in a couple months from now, after you have started practicing your new routine.
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The following represents a program for upper-body pushing and pulling using the above parameters. You can swap out movements/postures using any from the current library that apply to your level of ability and goals:
A1. Wrist Warm-up (5x circles in each direction
A2. Hollow Body Hold (Core-work) 30 seconds
-Repeat A1 and A2 for 2 sets before proceeding to “B” Section
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B1. Rows 5 repetitions
B2. Push-Ups 5 repetitions
Repeat B’s for 5 sets before proceeding to “C” Section / Rest 2 mins between each set
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C1. External Rotations 10 reps
Repeat c’s for 2 sets / Rest 2 mins between each set
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Blog Photo: Joe Longo