30 min practice spurts.. better then hit a million balls?

[gregcantrall]

I monitor myself in a practice session. Making sure that I am building good form and habits. So each shot gets my full attention. If and when the mind wanders it's time for a break.
First I must consider my purpose or goal when I am practicing. Currently it's maintenance or a fitness program.
Mindlessly hitting balls is a waste of time for me.
Being Mindful is a fitness program. Doing it with purpose is my goal. So setting up challenges in my fitness program helps me to stay focused. Playing left hand vs right is one way I try to simulate competition. Keeping score and a record of results helps me. The challenge can be certain difficult shots or complete games. Every day gets a flavor of the day challenge. With a 1 hour budget er uh allowance. Some days a little more and others a little less.

 

[couldnthinkof01]

I love the game to much and with a diamond table in my garage (it’s like having a mountain of crack in your house and telling a crack head not to touch it.) I’m going to struggle only playing a half hour a day lol

It really is like a fix to a fiend.

30 minute sessions most days.

At least one day a week play as long as you want. Just freestyle, crank the music, whiz balls in, play an ahead set with a rival, shoot multi rail banks on every shot... whatever makes you happy.....just to take the edge off

 

[Tennesseejoe]

Have you played a lot of stakes matches that only lasted a 1/2 hour? Not a gambler, ok, have you played a lot of tournament matches that only lasted a 1/2 hour?

My point is, if said instructor states most average people lose focus after 1/2 hour, making further table time useless, then how do you propose to ever become a good player or do well in Action or Tournament matches that are longer than that?

To do battle, and succeed in battle, one must prepare for battle

I am not disagreeing with you...but if I was practicing for running a marathon, I would not run a marathon every time I practiced. I think there may be a better plan.

 

[Bob Jewett]

There are lots of long-time players who have hit a million balls but have rarely, if ever, practiced. By practice I mean consciously working out how particular shots or situations work. Shots that often stop your runs. Situations that cause you to lose.

People refer to the "10,000 hour" rule to become an expert, but those 10,000 hours are in purposeful, directed practice. That's not knocking balls around or even playing sets.

As for the half-hour max rule... That's too long for some people and too short for others. How long can you maintain focus?

 

[june-bug]

To get better there has to be a cost when you lose.
If such grinds your grits that's a good thing because you care.
Just hitting balls will never develop a mindset that's created.... Like when you lose it & takes something outta yah and yah don't like it.
Land of hard knocks.

Yeah, kind of like that hill hill, long straight in 10 ball I missed last night at league. Stung real bad. Went home and shot that same shot for about 30 minutes. Just pissed me off to miss a shot that I ordinarily nail.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Yeah, kind of like that hill hill, long straight in 10 ball I missed last night at league. Stung real bad. Went home and shot that same shot for about 30 minutes. Just pissed me off to miss a shot that I ordinarily nail.

Can you recall what was different about the miss in competition? Sometimes the problem is not just the shot.

 

[june-bug]

Can you recall what was different about the miss in competition? Sometimes the problem is not just the shot.

I rushed it and let off my stroke.

 

[trob]

There are lots of long-time players who have hit a million balls but have rarely, if ever, practiced. By practice I mean consciously working out how particular shots or situations work. Shots that often stop your runs. Situations that cause you to lose.

People refer to the "10,000 hour" rule to become an expert, but those 10,000 hours are in purposeful, directed practice. That's not knocking balls around or even playing sets.

As for the half-hour max rule... That's too long for some people and too short for others. How long can you maintain focus?

Always practice with a purpose

Yeah, kind of like that hill hill, long straight in 10 ball I missed last night at league. Stung real bad. Went home and shot that same shot for about 30 minutes. Just pissed me off to miss a shot that I ordinarily nail.

the problem with that my friend is your just beating yourself up. There is no pressure when you do it at home over and over so I’m not sure doing that helps you.

 

[Railbird-2026]

I was watching clips on my phone and they showed a clip from a pod cast of an instructor discussing the hit a million balls theory being incorrect. He said when Efren was asked how much he practices he said only a half at a time. If he practices in the morning he will again in the afternoon and that’s it. This instructor said it makes sense because if you have long practices the average person will lose focus and that’s when bad habits will sink back in and then frustration. He tells his students to go 4-6 weeks where they are only practicing 30 mins a day and they see real progress. So my personal thinking is

1) As I’ve said many time I don’t like to compare what I do or the equipment I use to the best players in the world. They have more natural ability then I do so comparing yourself to the goat just seems like stinkin thinkin. Svb is known to shoot the same shot for hours upon hours upon hours but I think he is born with a concentration and focus the average person may not possess.

2) but I think for some of it stands out. I try to now take a little break. I tend to play a race against the ghost then stroke drills. Then another race and then more stroke drills. Lately I’ve been throwing some straight pool in there because of an upcoming league but just taking 5 mins to rest in between .. whether it’s watching tv or looking at my phone for a bit seems to keep my concentration at a higher level for practice longer.

I love the game to much and with a diamond table in my garage (it’s like having a mountain of crack in your house and telling a crack head not to touch it.) I’m going to struggle only playing a half hour a day lol

People that love the game hit a million balls because they love playing and time doesn't matter or it is a place to go to shut out the rest of the world and have fun. If you don't like practicing by yourself you will never be any good.

 

[nataddrho]

OP, You probably watched Roy Pastor talking on Jeremiah Gage's "Cue the Experts". Both people are qualified instructors, and Jeremiah is also a friend of mine.

Deliberate practice burns your brain and is uncomfortable. Deliberate practice is when you pick something difficult outside of your capabilities where you fail 8/10 times, and you repeat the same exercise. Don't do this for more than 30-45 minutes at a time because you are using way more mental energy than normal, and you can over-train yourself in to non-retention. However - after that you can "relax" and just go back to meditative play for hours to release stress.

Mentally it is like performing deadlifts and squats, and then walking a few miles to enjoy the weather. There is nothing wrong with doing both.

The effort you put into doing hyper-focused exercises will accumulate quickly over time.

Real life example - (carom, not pool, same idea) This year I am focusing on balkline. Only 4 months ago when I started I was terrible, and now I have much better ball control and I can start to plan runs properly. I attribute this to my schedule which only allows 30-60 minutes a day of table time. I can literally "feel" the retention happening better than when I used to go play pool once or twice a week for 3-6 hours, where I would just "walk to look at the trees".

 

[mikemosconi]

To get better there has to be a cost when you lose.
If such grinds your grits that's a good thing because you care.
Just hitting balls will never develop a mindset that's created.... Like when you lose it & takes something outta yah and yah don't like it.
Land of hard knocks.

Mike Zuglan - quote” I really don’t practice much solo anymore and if I do - only if I am 100% in that mood- you must play competitively to stay sharp “

Mike said this to me at the height of his playing days.
This mirrors your thoughts and I agree!

 

[Island Drive]

Thx M.M.
Only too well.... I know the route of the beat down and then beating them in match play.
Only players I never beat in match play early 1990's I can count on one hand.
Then divorce, life, college for my girls took first seat.

 

[lfigueroa]

It all depends.

If you're already an accomplished player, maybe you don't practice so much. BUT if you are an aspiring player there is an endless list of things to learn and practice. Not only the shots, speeds, angles, and spins but nuances about your own game.

It all depends.

Lou Figueroa

 

[Mensabum]

I had a table in my living room. I also had a hallway with a door on each end of it going into the living room. The bathroom was at one end of that hall, the kitchen and TV at the other end. I made a decision to go through the living room when I had to go past it, and to shoot at least one rack of balls every time I went through there. That meant a rack coming and a rack going. I shot off at least several dozen racks a day. It worked! I would do something similar with your table in the garage.

How to learn is an interesting thing and no doubt isn't the same for everybody. The hit a million balls, long term repetition works. Probably not the easiest or quickest way though.

However, I have noticed another issue. I never crammed for tests but I knew a lot of people that did. Just for grins I tried cramming for some certification tests. I found that cramming for a test would get me past the test but I didn't retain the knowledge. Studying over time I learned the material and still retained the knowledge months and years later.

The numbers in testing seems to be fifteen or twenty minutes of learning, five to ten minutes of rest or distraction not involving mental exercise for maximum speed of learning. Old information, I don't know if the same numbers are still claimed.

With a table sitting there I would work out three or four things I want to work on at the moment. Don't spend more than fifteen or twenty minutes on one thing, then take a break. Five or ten minutes. Do something else. Break. One quarter to one third of your time sitting in a chair resting will show bigger gains than six or eight hour blocks of time on the table.

Another huge thing that I have problems with, have fun! Any time something becomes work you start resisting, at least mentally. Maybe mentally and physically.

Anything you want to compete at, even informally, should first of all be fun. I am competitive by nature and have started many activities for fun then got so involved competing I forgot to have fun. I started finishing my practice with a pistol with a "mad minute" actually twelve seconds or so. Fifteen rounds center, speed reload, fifteen rounds head of a B-27 target. It was good practice but more importantly it is fun to rip up a new target rapid fire with a .45. With pool I did something similar to speed pool. Move around the table rapidly, plant and fire. Sometimes I fired as I was planting, sometimes afterwards. My stance had to be aligned right, there was no second chance!

Hu

Drop and fire baby!!!