micro training - systematic video - figures
manage the repetition frequency
your learning speed
Quite
early in my tango life I bought a camera and started to collect videos
from various tango workshops. Since then I have also wanted to refresh
those memorable moments with interesting teachers and activate again the
moves. To reach that goal I needed something convenient to maintain and
organize my activities. The spreadsheet below seems to do the work!
The videos and activities!
My
learning content comes from the workshops and courses I have
participated and it includes also interesting videos from friends,
youtube, and net courses. These items fall naturally into two main
groups of figure and technique videos.
The basic aspects of
movements as walking and turning or rhythms which do not come naturally
to me are called for micro training. Because I do just 1-4 physical
repetitions of each per day I can run quite a number of them daily.
Among
the figures, I spotted a number of top favorites, which I really want
to have with me to the pista. I decided to work more on them so I watch
the videos and do the physical repetitions for more weeks than for the
other groups. I call all the other figures for the reference group and I
watch them regularly but less often.
The scientific evidence
supporting visual learning has convinced me so I have included
systematic video watching as a part of my training. I have an active
state of mind when watching and I check the same videos during a whole
week. After a rest period, they are activated again!
There are
physical repetitions alternating with video watching. Usually I run the
physical micro training in the morning as well as the video watching
sessions. Later in the afternoon, it is time for the figures!
The spreadsheet is driving my training!
This
simple type of spreadsheet below is the aid I needed for collecting and
maintaining the important information. In the beginning, it was easy to
have control over the weekly work but when I got more rows I started to
use the filtering option. In this way, it is easier to focus on the
rows chosen for the week and hide away the other ones. Take a look at
the information available on the sheet I use today.
(Picture only)
The
records for physical and video activities are included in the numbers
for example 2.0015 where two/2 stands for physical activities and
fifteen/0015 for how many times the video was reviewed.
Weekly repetitions are shown in columns - total and per row
Accum column - total for the year and per row.
The same information but in concentration!
The total for week 37 year 2020 is 24,0009 - Physical repetitions were 24 and video reviews 9.
Every
row shows the numbers for repetitions I have done ( 2,0015 ) and they
accumulate to a total number of activities so far during the year, on
top of the sheet! ( 116,0063 )
To see the numbers growing and to
be able to create a continuous flow of training marks on the log table
keeps me active. When I feel for relaxing from training the idea of
unticked boxes pushes me to the activities again. This helps to bridge
some short-term dips but if the feeling is more persistent I have
changed something. I skipped some activities for weeks, start to work on
other aspects of content. I continue changing until I feel happy with
the new scheme. So far I have had two rounds of these changes - After
about three months focusing on Achaval/Soares content, I had a break
from mid-December to February. Other videos were in focus then! During
the last week of the break, I was eagerly looking forward to starting
the Achaval/Soares work again. Now in May, I get signals again for a new
pause or change of content and I am curious how the daily routines will
organize themself! What content is going to feel meaningful to work
with!
Solo-training
In
my case, this has been SOLOtraining which means that I am free to place
the activities wherever I want and when suitable! Usually I decide on
Sunday what I feel for and what needs to be reviewed. Sometimes I plan
for an easy week with few activities but weeks can be challenging too!
The
physical part of training includes two types of activities. The figures
I do include my moves and I am also leading the virtual follower's
steps simultaneously. The short micro training is more about how my own
body moves so I am just sensing my body and listening to my muscles! It
takes maybe 5-10 minutes and fits in easily to my morning routines.
Sometime later on the day, I run the figure groups on the spreadsheet.
For figures and videos, I need to plan my time.
Learning speed
An
unexpected result of these training records has been the information of
how long time I have to work on different things until the skill starts
to show. For most of the moves and figures, the number of repetitions
has been surprisingly low. The level of performance is not of a champion
but fully reasonable for a social dancer. When the figure or a move
feels ok then just check the number of repetitions and ther you have
your learning speed!
How about you?
Want to stabilize your training?
Do you want to know your learning speed?
Time to test maybe?
If you want to know how to freeze the columheads try this video, starts at 1min HERE!
