BLOCKED OR RANDOM PRACTICE FOR THE WIN?

Bored with practice? Feel the need to change things up? Good!

The truth is we all get bored by repetitive tasks, and just that fact can make our practice less effective. Fortunately for us, research confirms that doing the same thing over and over may NOT always be the best way to practice!

(I for one love it when there is actually research that confirms what I want to do anyway!)

For most practice activities that require motion, we all know that working on our motor learning or “muscle memory” is important. Getting movement down to the point where we don’t have to consciously think about every aspect of it, but rather just “do it” is key in being able to focus on other things.

Blocked and Random Practice

There are a couple of schools of thought on practicing movements.

“Blocked” practice and “Random” practice are two methods that have been discussed and debated by instructors and students for years.

Blocked practice is basically the method of doing the same thing over and over until you get it down, and then moving on to the next thing. Say you have 3 things you want to work on in a practice session. You would just drill on the first thing until you got it, or for a set number of minutes, and then do the same for the second and third things.

Random practice says you take those 3 things and mix them up. Do the first thing once, then the second a couple of times, then the third and so on.

“Hey Dude, I’m not goofing off, I’m ‘Random’ practicing!”

Now there is a fine line between someone claiming they are doing “random” practice, and someone really just fooling around instead of practicing! Just don’t try and use the term random practice as one of those snazzy phrases to make goofing off sound scientific. Like when your second cousin Eddie, who most would say is lazy, just likes to refer to himself as a “man of leisure”!

Game Time Simulation

There are a couple of cool things that make Random practice interesting.

To start with it simulates “game time” situations more accurately since you are encountering variables just like you would during an actual performance. Whether you are performing sports or a musical concert, there will be slight variations in the heat of the performance compared to how you practice.

Random practice helps you prepare for that by constantly doing something different instead of a simple repetitive movement. It also has the effect of changing things up and having your brain make more small corrections as you go through your practice routine. When you are doing Blocked practice, since you are repeating one movement over and over your brain doesn’t have to compute as many variations, or “solve” new problems, but rather just repeats the exact same thing.

Random Research

The other interesting thing is that according to researchers, not only will Random practice keep you from getting bored, but the things you are working on will stick with you much better than with Blocked practice.

Richard Schmidt and Tim Lee wrote one of the most researched books on the subject, Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis. In it they noted “Skill is retained better following practice under variable conditions.”

One of the terms that people who study learning and skill acquisition focus on is “retention”. This is important to consider when choosing your practicing methods. You certainly don’t want to put in a bunch of time practicing something and then not “retain” the improvements you made.

So if Random practice gives us more retention than Blocked practice; that’s a big deal.

Yeah but shouldn’t I drill it until I can kill it?

If you have ever been coached you have heard this before. “Do that until you get it right”. However it may not be necessary to just do the exact same thing over and over for the best results.

But it “feels” like I need to keep doing it the same way

Sometimes the allure of Blocked practice is it seems like you are getting it down much better and therefore it makes sense that it should stick with you better and longer. When you do something 20 times in a row, by the 12th time you are starting to feel like you “have it”, whereas if you are doing it twice and then doing the second movement once and then the third before you go back to the first, it can feel less stable.

However, science is telling us that the Random practice can help you retain skills longer.

Much of this is believed to be due to those small corrections along the way, which have been shown to be an enormously important part of developing skill. Do something, make small corrections, do it again, more corrections, repeat.

Each time you repeat this process you are strengthening the motor skill and reinforcing the brain’s neurons and ability to fire off the right signals to perform the skill. The myelin that insulates the nerves in the brain is believed to become stronger each time a skill or movement is performed, and thereby increases the speed and accuracy of the signal.  

Which is the winning way?

What is the answer? Should you just drill down on one thing until you get it? Or should you mix things up?

Both

Over the years I have used both methods with success.

I think that when someone is first learning a skill, Blocked practice helps them get the movement right and focus on small things to make sure they are doing it correctly. Random practice is harder for a beginner as they can either feel like they are never fully “getting it” or they can actually develop bad habits since they are not spending as much time dialed in to each movement.

Once a person has the basic skill down and has the movements or sequences correct, then using Random practice can greatly increase their ability to adapt on the fly and be more “fluid” with their movements. Plus the variations keep it interesting.

Comparing the two:

Blocked Practice

Random Practice