Drills and skills appear to be closely related in the training of most athletes. Often overlooked however, is that drills don’t teach an athlete new skills. They can only reinforce what the athlete is already capable of doing. So why do we continue to use drills as the number one training and teaching method? How effective are they?
Too often there is little to no follow up to evaluate the effectiveness of the drills that are used or to see if the athlete is actually learning the new technique or aspects of it. But yet trainers continue to do the same thing week after week. It has gotten to the point where drills are even used for warm-up. And it is often not only one or two drills in the warm-up. Very often an athlete as for example, a sprinter, may do up to a dozen or more drills before he is ready to begin practice.
Drills can be effectively used to reinforce affective or correctly done motor actions and skills. This happens when the drill includes an action that the athlete has mastered and which contributes to very effective technique execution.
To make the exercise (drill) even more effective you can use resistance in the movement so that the athlete also strengthens the muscles in exactly the way they are used in execution of the skill. This now becomes a specialized strength exercise that can easily be repeated as a drill.
To a good extent this is what takes place in the 1X 20 strength training program. The athlete does up to 20 or more repetitions of an exercise that duplicates the exact technique used in execution of the skill and develops strength in the same manner as it is used in execution of the skill.
This type of drill or training has an almost immediate effect on performance on the field. It is the fastest and most effective way of improving performance for competition. It is not just a simple drill but is a way of repeating, reinforcing and improving skill execution, the key to more effective performance on the field.
For more information on this topic see The Revolutionary 1 x 20 Strength Training Program and Build a Better Athlete.