The need to practice seems obvious in a variety of areas of life. If you want to play a sport or instrument, learn to type, sing, spell, dance, give a public speech, or get better at your job, the best way to do so is to practice the skills required by that activity.
Sometimes that practice is easy. Sometimes it’s harder. Occasionally it’s frustrating. It always requires your undivided attention. And no matter how good you become, you never outgrow the need to do it. You’ll certainly make fewer mistakes the better you become, but you’ll likely never be perfect (even if, like me, you like to pretend be sometimes 🤣).
I think it’s actually safe to say that everything in life—not just the activities listed above—will get better if we intentionally practice doing it.
And that brings me to society’s—and often our own—general view of fitness.
Instead of viewing exercise technique and nutrition & recovery habits (e.g. consuming more protein, cooking skills, regularly getting enough sleep) as skills that we need to practice, we have a tendency to see them simply as actions that we need to take and “should” be able to just figure out & do well because we’re adults.
We think that we’ll do a better job of staying on our nutrition program and avoiding the birthday treats that our co-worker brought in than what we’ll actually do. And then we get frustrated because we “didn’t have the willpower”.
At the gym, we focus on how many calories we burned so that we know how much we can eat later. Or we let the perceived quality of our workout affect our attitude for a few hours (or the rest of the day) afterward.
In both examples above—which are neither the only issues nor as uncommon as you might think—we forgot (or never learned) that the mistakes and imperfections that we experienced today don’t have nearly as great an effect on our long-term results as the confidence we gain and the habits that we develop from practicing seemingly small skills related to our goals.
A brief case study + congratulations
Coach Gary—who had an office job before he decided to become a coach—picked up a kettlebell for the first time about seven years ago. From that first day, he took this concept of practice to heart, always asking great questions and emphasizing technical practice over using specific weights. As his lifting skills developed, so did his strength and conditioning. In fact, they improved so much that he decided to train for the StrongFirst kettlebell certification (SFG I), which he earned about four years ago.
Since then, he’s continued learning and practicing, attended numerous training seminars, and earned two more StrongFirst certifications: SFL (barbell/powerlifting) and SFB (bodyweight/calisthenics).
Finally, about a week ago, he attended and passed the StrongFirst SFG II certification. Because he also re-certified his SFG I, SFL, and SFB credentials at the same time—which is above and beyond what is required—he became one of only a handful of individuals in Wisconsin to earn the StrongFirst Elite credential.
Gary certainly experienced some challenges during that time. But his dedication to practicing enabled him to continue to make progress, even during those challenging times.
Congrats on all of your effort and well-earned credentials, Gary!
Putting it into practice
Take a few minutes today to assess your perspective around fitness. What is one step that you could take to emphasize the idea of practicing skills related to your exercise or nutrition program?
Once you’ve decided on a specific step, write it down(!) and put the note in a spot where you’ll see it right before you’re about to perform the related skill. Remember that you aren’t likely to practice the skill perfectly every time, but any little bit of practice will move you down the path of progress.