A hypothetical muscle memory question?

Question

Let's say you're going to play pool for 500 hours. At the end of 500 hours (assuming you performed the exact same drills in each hypothetical scenario), after which scenario would you be more skilled?

A. You play 10 hours a day for 50 days straight.

B. You play 3 hours and 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week (spaced as evenly as possible), for 50 weeks.

C. You play 10 hours a day, one day a week, for 50 weeks.

D. You play 4 hours a day for 125 days straight.

When thinking about your answer, please feel free to think about other factors that might come into play besides muscle memory. The main question is, what do you think is the best practice/play schedule (feel free to make up your own)? Does it depend on the player? How so?

Answer 1

B sounds about right-or D any more you just start banging balls and watching the clock-Stay Focused dont over do it .

If in a game its diffrent I have played Banks & Straight all weekend before-no not lately-

Later Kid  Johnny

Answer 2

I assume that the answers has to be one of the 4 ...thus I would take the shorter one..."B" would be my answer....drilling is probably about the hardest thing for me to do but I would think that my attention span would not be very long....no one likes to drill, when I do everyone wants to come up and play games....almost got into a fight once with a kid that would not let me drill....it is truly hard to go too long and do not think that I would last 3 hours and twenty minutes...although not a choice, I might consider 1 hour a day for 500 days....you know what, you better make it 30 minutes for 1000 days!!!

Answer 3

Okay, I'd say 3 hours a day, every day would get you the most improvement with that set amount of hours.  I agree with Matt that playing every day is key (in reality, not in this hypothetical situation-- of course taking a day off here and there would be good for you). Now, as far as your thing about 3 hours a day for a year versus 6 hours a day for six months, I'd say you'd probably have to tack on a little bit of time to that six months, just because there's bound to be something that takes longer to sink in mentally. Other than that, though, I'd say that generally speaking, time spent playing is the key, as long as it's in quite regular intervals, so all of your situations would pretty much work the same except for C. Also, I do think that it sometimes depends on the person...I, for example, can improve playing a three or even two times a week, but some people will never improve with that schedule (of course, that's no longer hypothetical-- they might not be practicing right).

Answer 4

hey lea I would like to jump on this I will tell you a short story that realy hits this on the button when I was 16 I wanted to be a calfe roper my grandad had a good friend that roped on the pro rodeo levle. he started giving me private lessons I worked with him about 3 hrs a day 5 dayes a week doing the same drill every day in about a year I was able to hold my own on the semi pro level I compeated on that level until doing the same drills plus more for 25 years until a nerve disorter ended all that  what I know is your muscle memery will develope better if you streach it out over a period of time but you got to do it repetlively every day so my answer is B good luck

Answer 5

How about this?  5 hours per day M-F, taking weekends off, for 20 weeks.  I think that adds up.  M.D.-BCA Instructor/Referee.

Answer 6

Great answers, everyone thumbs up.

Answer 7

Anytime you're trying to learn something repetitive (like sports or musical instruments), it's better to spread it out over every day instead of lumping it into one day then taking long breaks, so I'd never suggest the 10 hour a day, 1 day a week approach. Playing every day will do a lot for your game, and you will likely notice a bigger difference, even from playing 3 days a week. Even 30 minutes a day every day is probably better than 10 hours 1 day a week.

Of the ones you listed, 4 hours a day would be my vote. But it depends all on your schedule and your ability to stay focused. Playing every day is important though, if it's 4 hours, 2 hours, 1 hour, or 30 minutes.

If you're seriously going to dedicate that kind of time, I'd suggest at least a couple of lessons. You want to make sure you're making good use of your time, and you're not ingraining in any bad habits you as of yet do not know about.