Let me give you a quick example.
Athletes: Ever worked with a great coach who helped you get a new tumbling skill in the matter of weeks?
And you were so excited that you managed to convince your team coaches to put it in a routine ASAP?
…only to completely LOSE the skill the following month?
It’s a pretty common problem. And assuming you weren’t sitting on the couch and being lazy, the fault is not of the coach (who most likely did a great job), but of the mentality of wanting to progress too quickly. Taking a new tumbling skill from a “practice” stage to a “competitive” stage IS a progression.
To make a tumbling skill “STICK” it needs what I like to call Simmer Time
This means regardless of how fast you’ve gotten GOOD at a skill, your brain still needs TIME in order to become fully comfortable and confident.
I’ve had plenty of private lessons where athletes have made tremendous progress in 30 minutes. Everything from new skills to new passes and more.
But I have to remind them at the end of the lesson that even though they landed 10 in a row, it’s still NEW. And new doesn’t mean consistent.
Current science says you need about 300 – 500 reps in order for a new motor skill to become “permanent”. And bad reps don’t count. So assuming you train 3x a week and can do 7 good, solid reps per practice, it would take you about 3-5 months (on average) for a new skill to become close to permanent.
Now can you COMPRESS this time by training 5x a week instead of 3? Totally. But even compression has its limits. There’s a point of diminishing returns where you simply need TIME. Believe it or not, during rest and recovery you do get better.
Ever taken 2 weeks off only to come back and feel like your tumbling has only gotten BETTER?
That’s Simmer Time in action.
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About Coach Sahil
For over 15 years, Coach Sahil has been on a mission to help athletes master their tumbling and acrobatic skills in the shortest amount of time possible without sacrificing safety or the quality of their technique. As a former Power Tumbler and Power Lifter himself, he fully understands the inner struggles of an athlete and how to help them get to the next level. To date, he has worked with thousands of athletes around the World and provided training to hundreds of coaches in almost every country you can imagine. He is also a Certified Gymnastics Coach, founder of Addicted To Tumbling, and former co-owner of a gym. He is also the author of the best-selling book The Cheer Diet.
Coach Sahil, thanks for the article post.Really thank you! Great.