Progress throughout a physical practice is fascinating.

By the end of a productive session, we’re better than we were when we started. Often significantly.

This is true for anything from sports to music, and just about anything else that involves motor skills.

But muscles don’t develop that quickly.

We aren’t better at hitting a tennis ball after the hundredth swing because we’re stronger than we were when we started.

So there must be something else going on.

I’m not going to pretend that I understand the human body well enough to actually know the science at work here. The brain is involved somehow, but the specifics are besides the point.

The more interesting lesson is that we begin a given practice session with the physical capability to be as good as we will be at the end of the session. It’s just our mental performance holding us back.

I’ve found this mindset to be oddly useful.

Why can’t Swing 5 or even 2 be as good as Swing 100?

-Brandon