Slipping into bad "Muscle Memory"territory is easier than you might think. Bad practice is bad practice…and bad habits are hard to unlearn, even for us that should know better…………

As Mr. Finesse used to say–"perfect practice makes for perfect ability." Or words to that effect.

Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
Vince Lombardi

You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.
Michael Jordan

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. If you practice the wrong thing, you make the wrong act permanent.
Hamza Yusuf

Thank you Skinny—I was close but always welcome a good correction.

Doc

This is very discouraging. I have 2150 recorded throws and it is very hard to keep up the optimism when in a 25 throw session I throw 8 7’s. I’m going through the notes and trying to tweak my technics to obtain the perfect throw. I now wonder if I am doing harm by continuing to throw and not making perfect throws. I don’t feel that I should do the refresher until I get my 5000 throws in.

People this is what tuneups are for there an hour or two with the instructors I don’t know they’re two or 300 bucks there to fix the little things that you can’t see that you don’t know what’s going wrong you cannot analyze your own throw you need somebody who knows what they’re doing to look at it to make that little tweak you cannot do it. This is not to be discouraging this is to be helpful and put you on the right path to success!

Yes, practice with good technique requires a lot of thought and concentration, all at a level that is tiring and subject to distraction in a live casino. Acquiring muscle memory means your good throw will last longer and be much less subject to distraction.

But muscle memory comes only after “muscle learning”. Forget about bad practice. Instead, concentrate on teaching your muscles each aspect of a great dice shot. If you will recall, during a GTC class, each instructor will concentrate on a different aspect of the throw. When an instructor works on your swing, they won’t care what number you throw. They will work with you on your backswing, arm and elbow position, stance, etc. At that time, the number thrown won’t matter – one thing at a time.

In your practice, focus on teaching just one muscle group at a time. That is the muscle learning. When it looks like that part of your throw is good, repeat, repeat, for good muscle memory, so that it only feels right when you do it right. Ignore the number thrown, when you’re working on a specific part of the throw.

Well Just my opinion, but waiting till you get 5000 throws in before you take a refresher is kind of crazy. You are practicing and building muscle memory all wrong.

As Brothelman says – that is what tune up and the refresher is all about. You can’t learn something in one lesson and if you get bad habits it is more difficult to unlearn

Dom