The publication Psychology Today Canada on June 24, 2021 had an article by R.Douglas Field Ph.D which explained "How Muscle Memory Works" which said "A recent study shows that interspersing short breaks between repetitions encodes skill memories better than back-to-back practice sessions".
This publication is interesting because as a Coaching teacher knows that students have a level of saturation when learning; which we must consider in lesson planning. Now see that the brain also needs a rest during learning a performance.. In the recent article published on June 8 in the "Cell Report" Dr Field suggest that "Mental Saturation" occurs when our brain is over worked.
The "Cell Report" study shows " the presence of prominent, fast waking neural replay during the same rest periods in which rapid consolidation occurs. The observed replay is temporally compressed by approximately 20-fold relative to the acquired skill, is selective for the trained sequence, and predicts the magnitude of skill consolidation".
The article says "Building “muscle memory,” that is, developing a new skill through practice, does not work the way you probably believe, (according to a new study published in the June 8 issue of Cell Reports.) You’ve no doubt had the frustrating experience in learning a new skill, that you continue to flub up even though you make repeated attempts over and over. Yet, if you put the challenge aside for a bit and come back to it later, you find that you are now much more proficient. In learning a new skill, it turns out that the breaks between repetitions are where the action is. By monitoring how neural activity in the brain changes during learning a new skill, researchers report that mental “instant replay” after each performance is critical to perfecting the skill. Moreover, these mental flashbacks have been missed by scientists previously for a surprising reason" .
And later writes "Why, then, is this essential post-performance mental rehearsal not obvious to us as we struggle to learn a new skill? It turns out that the “mental instant replay” flashes through the brain at warp speed—20 times faster than the original experience."
There are two interesting aspects of this article. First, “mental instant replay” is a part of Feedback after the practice or the delivery performance has been done. Later when these collected “mental instant replay” are accessed by the subconscious mind the athletic can switch from one memory of an "instant replay" to another "instant replay" memory and use it as view to stablish the actual distance to the target ("Jack" in Bowl or "Cochon" in Petanque) in preparation of the intended performance action.
In the recent Subconscious Mind in Petanque blog it was interesting to see how interaction of minds interfered with the performance. In this article I used a 2024 Petanque Tête à Tête Competition to suggested how an athelic retrival of stored memory images of distance before their performance. In this video we see Marc Cognard repeat the same action of entry and leave the shooting circle. This occurs as an athletic uses a memory of distance and it is not the precise distance and decides to access another memory (a lack of confidence). As a game video for viewing this mental preparation and memory retreival it is a bit different in Lawn Bowls where the distance can be up to 30 meters that the bowl is rolled. (But shows the mental action of retreival and redoing until the proper memory is processed for Muscle Memory.
A good profile of Dylan Rocher and his many good instructive videos (in French) under the KTM Petanque official site name. We are lucky for these videos as the commenator knows well his subject of Petanque.With
Dylan Rocher being one
of the Best Petanque players of our era; we
watch an
athletic with total confidence in his instinctive ability as each
"Take-out" performance is
quick and precise. Watching the 2020 PPF Grand Final "Tête-à-Tête Final we agree that Dylan Rocher's performance against Michel Hatchadourian is as beautiful as expensive art. The Passion Petanque Francaise (PPF) final video was capture and made available on Youtube by B J Petanque which is still available. With Dylan's style of "Step into Shooting Circle" think.. decide.. and Shoot (Tir) we see a single arm swing resulting in a perfect take-out shot. If we watch his performance in the 2024 Shooting competition, where he performs 97 of 100 perfect shots; we see why Dylan is consider the best
Why
mention this aspect of another sport like Petanque ?. In "Muscle
Memory" of Lawn Bowls we have the 12 to 15 seconds of wait before a Lawn bowler
sees the final result of his performance. Because
the Lawn
bowler in not seeing the performance
and the
final result of his Delivery
together;
he must use a Post-Mat
evaluation to deposit the results with the action in the Memory data
of the shot.. In
Petanque the almost instance viewing of the result is so
fast that the instinctive evaluation is also part of the "Memory
Data" of the action. While for the lawn bowler, the lost
of the result and performance evaluation means a
lost of instinctive (subconscious) evaluation unless post-performance
communication is established as part of the "Muscle Memory"
data.
Do it and see it (Petanque) as to Do it and wait several seconds to see the result (in Lawn Bowls) Yes result and accuracy are important, but an athletic can become tired quickly if these mental stress of focus and conflicts are not addressed by a profession like a Sport Psychologist. It is easier for the mind to do an action, see the result and store the data; as to in Lawn Bowls lose the "Zone" or in "Muscle Memory" performance and must collect and add data to the memory for the next "Muscle Memory" to be a repeat of this last one.
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This blog is intended to show why with an intended type of changes or "Muscle Memory" performance improvement at this height of the athletic's level of development; that all sports clubs and National organization should offer their athletics a qualified professional coach.. Either sport psychologist or top of the line "Level 4" or "Level 5"coach with experience in these subconscious (mental) interactions and their effect on the athletic's performance. Some of the subject here may take years to develop or maybe the reader is already in the Zone and now wants to work on their interruption of the Muscle memory action. Be Patience and see your lost of focus or Zone.
In the blog "Talking to the subconscious mind 2/3" Angela Bold of New Zealand (photo right) evaluates her delivery distance. 2016 World Bowls Womens Pairs Finals
Also a lot can be learned from comparing game videos and sometimes we see athletics when rolling to a very long jack (or take-out distance in Petanque) the athletic will seek the use of memories of previous performances. With a extremely long delivery (or take-out shots) the athletic will attempt to use the memories of pass performances in a method of "memory retrieval"
.In
viewing (or
“image
recalls”) of previous "Memory Image" of
similar performance,
the subconscious can actually use these “images recall”
in knowing the target’s
distance. Often, at these times of "memory retrival", the athletic's subconscious (or instinctive ability) advances into a development of a new style of performance or action which changes his normal "Muscle Memory". For this reason a professional coach should be involved if you must communicate changes or new development to the Subconscious mind. Such changes must be done careful or else like the video above where Marc Cognard can not transfer action control to the subconscious. At such a way that control (because of your thinking) returns control to the conscious mind which is now telling the muscle how to do the expected action or preformance.
The "Muscle Memory" has the knowledge of how to do the muscle movements for the performance. Your effort should be to simply add an remainder (a "tag") of a small change. Such a method with the micro-second action will not return the performance control to the conscious mind and direct the muscle movements.
Let me explain this a bit farther. Above we read of a recent and new studies which show that the brain needs time to store the data during a practice and in "Muscle Memory" development. And of course, later, in this blog and others, I attempt to explain that the subconscious can use a memory of a previous performance to calculate the distance to the target by recalling the actual action happening. Although viewing a memory is faster than the actual live action; the mind (subconscious) can infer or calculate the difference distances as viewing different memories ( "memory retrieval") of previous performance.
Because of my experience in Archery at a national level (photo right) and development of a pure instinctive style of performance (as per archer ,Jean Marie Coche, and his book "La discipline du tir a l'arc instinctif souple"); I can retrieve several memories of previous bowl rolls and compare that memory with the actual jack distance and then switched back if my viewing of memory and the bowl roll was not long enough for thejack and the present delivery I want to perform.
In the same manner as Marc Cognard in the video ( 2024 Petanque Tête à Tête Competition ) step into the shooting circle and steps out and repeats his "pre-action routine"; I was doing the same with my memory of previous deliveries. Seeing the memory retrieved but not the one for this distance, I seek another and pushed for a longer distance.
In Archery we say "Be the Target and draw the arrow to your presence" but in the beginning as you attempt to leave the shooting line or archer's position to go to the target with your mind you are pulled back to reality after a short distance of mental travel. Eventually you develop the discipline of pushing your mind all the way to the target. (indoor targets are only at 18 meters) Today when in total focus I use it as a method of distance calculation by viewing memories of the bowl roll to the jack. Mixing the memory viewing with the "Projected view" to the jack. Not yet the distance wanted, repeat the action of Memory retrieval" and comparing its. This is the same "Muscle Memory" action a new bowler learns for the distance to the jack. If in viewing the jack distance the new bowler does not feel the actual distance of the jack they look again until they feel it is right..
Two new terms are introduced in explaining these subconscious action. "Tells" and "Tags" where a "Tag" is a small action placed in the Pre-shot routine to remain the subconscious of an extra ot different action. The "Tells" are actions similar to "Tag" actions, but can be seen as part of the Pre-Shot routine and which indicate the athletic is in communication with the subconscious prior to their transfer of control to "Muscle Memory" for the delivery (or in Petanque the take-out shot)
Sometimes the "Tag" become a permanent part of the performance and likewise is also a "Tell" however very often a "Tag" is forgotten eventually when the reason for the "Tag" has been achieved. In the Youtube video of "Mark Wildeboer Petanque Shooting" we see such a ".Tell". Above, it was suggested that Marc Cognard has began using " retreival of "Memory Image" for the calculation of the distance by the subconscious and had interrupted his "Muscle Memory" to the point that now he can not transfer instinctive control for the shot.
Mark Wildeboer can be seen (with a Tell) lifting his right toe as he swings his arm, a couple of times, before doing his take-out shot. The tell suggests he is using a "Memory retrieval" of previous take-out shots. This may have been a "Tag" at a point in his "Technique Training" which now is part of his routine.
Today as Mark watches his petanque ball, in his memory of a previous shot, fly to the target ball, he is allowing his "Muscle Memory" to know the distance. Because the chosen memory at the start was not of the correct distance Mark has changed his viewing of a memory until it was correct. This sort of subconscious calculation occur in Lawn Bowls for the "Jack" distance as you see in the above 2016 Womens Pairs Final video.
A second possibility is that part of Mark's "Pre-shot routine" is to imagine his ball flying to the target and making contact. When you work on this type of subconscious calculation you are waiting for a feeling of confirmation that you distance is correct. If not you attempt it again and push the distance a bit farther. In this case or subconscious action, the toe-tap is a tell that he is viewing the take-out shot prior to actual performance. The different is in the first explaination it is a "tag" inserted to instruct the subconscious; while in the second it is a "Tell" of what Mark is thinking as he communicates with his subconscious. The difference is one (the "Tag") was inserted as a remainderand the other (the "Tell") is a "once used tag" which is now part of the pre-shot routine and now a sign of mental communication before the action is performed (part of the "Pre-shot Routine).
Because of the several regular blog visitors and that I should respect their viewing of videos given as example of the blog; it is best that I use only one or two videos to make the point even if repeated in several blogs. In such a way, the reader having already viewed the videos, now can clearly recall what they saw and understand the subject of the blog. On the other hand, if the reader wishes to search Youtube for Petanque or Lawn Bowls video they can certainly find changes in athletic performances from year to year which show their training and development of the subconscious communication.
Secondly, as per the mention article (above) a "20-fold" increase is quite dramatic increase due to the mind's rest; and would suggest that the "athletic in working on their performance improvement" needs this extra time to establish a mental storage by the subconscious of the memories data acquired during their changement of the performance skill.
Because in Coaching Seminars it is suggests that a 15 minutes to 20 minutes practice session is sufficient with new students, this approach with created discussions can increase the speed a new player uses toward the learned skills. Of course the practice should be followed by a mental evaluation and discussion of the Performance and teach the student's Feedback as a continual post performance routine. The Cell Report also suggests that better acceptance of the training is possible with a rest period which allows for mental "re-organization" of the data collected and developed by the brain.
As a "Subconscious" mentor and a coach developer of "mental interruptions" within the "Subconscious action"; I often allow the student to "play" with their practice. If a coach is busy doing continual correction and endless suggestive advice during an athletic training session; the coach's action only increases the mental and personal saturation and results in the athletic reaching "Full Saturation" faster. By letting the student "play" as part of their practice, it allows for the athletic's mental evaluation of the coach's suggestion to become a part of their training. Better understand of the coach's instructions or suggestion then occur with these "play" sessions being a part of the practice session.
In Coaching you suggest a corrective action and explain the raison or the change it will cause in the final performance; but only with the "play" period of the practice will the student fully understand that change. The coach's suggestion is his projection of what that change should do as a physical and mental correction to the athletic's performance. But the athletic's "play" allows him to see various "what if" siturations and understand the intended resulting change of the coach's suggestion. The athletic not only see the change as it is produced but now understand the expectation of their coach. Good communication (listening skills) are very important as the student attempts to explain their view of the changes and the results they feeel it creates to the coach.
Sometimes these "play" sessions develop "Perfomance tools" which are useful later when the athletic's encounters the need for an adjustment to the performance. As in a "Lawn Bowls example where a smooth laydown roll of the bowl creates a constance result. The Lawn bowls coach has suggested "Do not allow a " bounce delivery" during the bowl's delivery because the energy of the delivery which would normally allow for the roll of the Bowl completely to the jack; will now be lost as the energy is now thrown into the playing surface and your bowl will finally stop short of the jack". Now knowing that the bowl loses about two to three feet delivery energy with this bad delivery, the student learns and begins working on improving the delivery by a better "laydown" type of delivery. The student also sees what level of change a bad delivery creates and understand their coach's attempt to correct it.
If student sees that the bowl is now stopping in front of the jack, he may attempt to correct the action but also the subconscious mind gather the idea of "with practice I can use this error as a "takeoff Tool". The student will probably during a practice use the "play information" to create a partial bounce (without damage or dent) and know what precise distance it will produce as the bowls now is stopping a precice distance in front of the jack.
This "Tool for Delivery take-off" was the coach's fine tuning of performance but also it is important the athletic understand the change in delivery (create a small bounce) during the conscious mind's instruction to the muscles. During this correction practice we remove the subconscious from the delivery routine and there is the danger of not allowing the subconscious to have that extra control and change which is a major part of the Subconscious performance.
As the "Muscle Memory" and "Memory retrevial" data has allows for a proper calculation of the jack distance in Lawn bowls or "cochon" in petanque, now you are doing a conscious action to create a different result. The athletic must understand how to allocate control to either mind during practice and know the interference.
Another aspect of an athletic's improvement is because there is a the pride of a good performance (delivery or take-out) the athletic has changed the objective of the Delivery performance With "Muscle Memory" we should always attempt this sort modifiction to the subconscious (instinctive) performance with a "Tag" (a small action in the delivery) rather then the athletic's conscious instruction of how to doing the change. We must always allow the subconscious to use its feeling of "Jack Distance" or "Take-out target" rather than use a "Tag" to modify or calculate that distance.
However, often the thought of the change is the "Tag" for auditive players or the view of the result is the "Tag" for the visual player; as the subconscious has now created a "Muscle Memory" instruction that does a "small bounce" (in Lawn bowls) to adjust it's calculation of distance and expected result of performance.
This example in Lawn Bowls show how the student changes his "tag" as to what is the objective of the "Muscle Memory" modification. When the student rolls up the green with an exact practice distance of the jack and then roll back down the green with again (measured) the same jack distance; they find that during the delivery going back toward the club house his bowl always stops two feet short of the jack. WHY ?? The coach should be ready to explain that maybe the raison may be that the large clubhouse behind the green causes the subconscious to miscalculate the distance; as the clubhouse makes the jack seem closer. This same happens with Petanque and a large building behind the court. Even with indoor Petanque where the opposite end of the court are windows to the outdoors the athletic will have a need to recalculate the target ball distance.
But also if the previous practice the coach was correcting the "bounce Bowl" and now the student sees this "short result" he will question his performance; especially if it was a "Muscle Memory" and he is now exiting the "Void of thought". To correct this miscalculation of distance the coach in a "subconscious" teaching "Tag" might suggest the athletic do a quick look at the clubhouse in their "Pre-Delivery" routine. This micro-second thought (vocal) or quick view (visual) of the clubhouse has remained the subconscious that the large clubhouse causes it to miscalculate the distance. In the similar Petanque miscalculation of distance the athletic may decide that looking at the top or bottom of the target ball is enough of an thought (vocal) or image (visual) (as a "tag") and lead to the subconscious doing a recalculation of of the distance.
A "Tag" is a "subconscious interruption" or action which was taking a micro second in the start of "muscle memory" performance and does a quick subconscious re-calculation. In the above example the quick look toward the clubhouse was used to make an adjustment of the subconscious feeling of the jack distance. The athletic may have found that such a "Tag" of looking pass the jack to the club house and back to the jack immediately prior to the "Muscle Memory" action is a confirmation which the subconscious then makes the adjustment wanted. I use the word "confirmation" because during a delivery there is a moment in the athletic's decision to transfer mental control to the subconscious to activate the "Muscle Memory". During the athletic's "Delivery routine" they have moved into the Subconscious with a "ok do the delivery" and "Muscle memory" then did the delivery. The "Tag" is always an mental action just prior to this confirmation and is sort of the last image (if visual) or thought (if verbal) that the "subconscious mind" see or thinks before "Muscle Memory" is activated.
Actually, as you learn to use "Tags" you will sort of feel that "pre-void" interruption as a feeling of something different. A strange feeling felt immediately as you exit the "void of thought" of the "Muscle Memory" delivery. As you exit that void your Delivery routine is now looking to the delivery result or bowl placement near the jack. Often the athletic feels that sort of satification that you have after performed a proper delivery. But in this case it is not "luck" as new bowlers experience but a satification of properly executed delivery with a "Tag".
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