20 Jul Variation in All Forms
There are two distinct ways at looking at skill development. Seeking to increase specificity and specialization, or seeking to court variation in all forms. These two extremes exist on a spectrum and hold sway over one and other. The camp in favor of specialization pushes for increased practice and more “perfect” practice. They believe that once you grease the groove and get the correct myelin firing skills will increase at a faster rate. On the other hand those that believe in variation believe in the long term growth curve driven by adaptations to a wide range of stimulus.
My own personal philosophy has been greatly influenced by my strength coaches Jon Beyle and Korey Goodwin, and they in turn rely heavily on the work of Vern Gambetta and Frans Bosch. In basic terms I believe that by building a strong base in any skill will allow a longer and faster progressing growth curve. That is easy to bring out in words but I have found a lot of specific applications over the years.
If you want to build a high level athlete ramp them up with as much different activity as possible. In my opinion a child should never be a single sport athlete as you lose out on the growth and adaptation fostered by the other activities. More importantly for an adult or professional athlete the same stagnation can set in and should be tempered by constantly introducing new stimuli.
Training environment is another factor to vary as much as possible. The permutations are almost endless. Different gyms, surfaces, and times of day all provide different environments. Training indoors and outdoors in a variety of climates all help the complex system that is the human body breed additional adaptations.
The people around you are another great source of variation. Seeking new different training partners, new coaches and perspectives, different environments to compete in, different organizations, different rule sets. Look for different backgrounds find wrestlers, judo players, boxers, thai fighters, kickboxers, karate practitioners let each of their styles influences you. All these factors can be changed and make you more able to handle various circumstances.
The gear you wear to train can also have a huge impact on the skills that can be developed. Training with or without wrestling shoes. Varying your spar to include 16oz/10oz/and 4oz gloves can lead to adapting different defensive methods. Changing between Gi and No-Gi training gives different feedback. Hit different types of bags and mitts and pads. Constantly switch.
Schedule can be switched often to break out of a stale routine. Changing when you do certain training, or how you structure the training. If you always do technique before live work flip that around. Constantly seek out different ways of warming up and news drills to discover and master.
Variation exists everywhere and can be included in almost any activity. The specialist may jump ahead early in the race, but long after they have grown stagnant the athlete exposed to variation will continue to grow. So switch up the routine and watch your growth curve accelerate.