Correct practice makes faultless performances.
I was watching an amazing video called the “Science of Success”. Olympic Gold medalist Steve Mesler gave a thought provoking lecture on the brain its connection to success. You really should spend the hour to watch it. In his lecture he explains how the brain makes nuero connections and pathways every time we learn something.
Let’s say we learned how to do a handstand with our head out, back arched, and arms bent. If we practice this handstand we will get very good at doing a handstand with our head out, back arched, and arms bent. Every time we go to do a handstand chances are that our handstand will resort to our head out, back arched, and arms bent. Our brain has made connections to tell our muscles the path they need to take for a handstand. The path our muscles take is considered a habit. So we end up having a bad habit of sticking our head out, arching our back, and bending our arms on our handstand.
In order to change our habit, we need to really work hard to place our body in the correct position every time we perform our handstand. We need to concentrate on pulling our head inline, pushing out of our shoulders to flatten our back, and locking out our arms. We have to relearn how to do our handstand. Relearning takes time, hard work, and new brain connections.
This is why it is so important to learn the correct positions in the first place. This is why basics and technique is so important. This is why we cannot rush teaching skills. Skills must be taught through progressions. Each progression is creating muscle memory and strength. Once the basic is learned only then should the next progression be taught.
Sometimes we see our children learning skills and are very happy with their progress. But keep in mind that learning a new skill is great if it is taught correct. If your child learns a back handspring at the age of 5, that is an amazing accomplishment. But if that child learned a back handspring wrong, they may never be able to learn how to do anything into or out of that back handspring. The goal is to teach the athlete a skill that they can build on.