How Long can you Not pick up a Cue before your Game starts to Degrade ?

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Desmondp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As well as playing Pool, i also do boxing, fairly seriously. So i run a fair bit, train , spar etc

When you don't train for a physical sport for a week or two, you can see how much your fitness has gone down

With pool, how long without picking up a cue do you think your game degrades ?

I think it's about 3-4 weeks
 
I usually play every other day (if not every day), but I notice a difference in my touch when I miss any more than a week. It's gone in 3-4 racks though, and I'm back to usual.

I know what you mean though. I've been doing Muay Thai, No-Gi Jui-Jitsu/Submission Grappling, and Judo for years. I even have a couple amatuer MMA fights under my belt. A little over a year ago I seperated my upper pectoral muscle from the lower pectoral muscle. Basically tore the crap out of it. Had to take 2 and a half months off out of the gym with no training whatsoever. When I got back in I was sucking wind so hard. And all I was "allowed" to do was some light pad work with my hands, and my usual kicking routines. Even just working Thai kicks on the heavy bag wore my butt out lol.

I don't think it works the same with pool though. The pool stroke is all muscle memory, nothing cardio-related like you're talking about.
 
Desmondp said:
As well as playing Pool, i also do boxing, fairly seriously. So i run a fair bit, train , spar etc

When you don't train for a physical sport for a week or two, you can see how much your fitness has gone down

With pool, how long without picking up a cue do you think your game degrades ?

I think it's about 3-4 weeks
Click to expand...

You're pretty close. A few months off and it feels like you're starting over again. I guess I've laid off for months a couple of dozen times in my life. Usually after about four or five days of serious play and my game starts to return. I've actually found my stroke after one night of playing pool all night long. Eight to ten hours of constantly hitting balls can help you find your groove again.

Once in stroke, I believe two to three hours of pool every couple of days will keep you sharp, and maintain your stroke. So maybe 10-15 hours of play a week is all it takes to stay in stroke. Improving your game is another thing entirely. That takes a lot more time!
 
Thanks for the replies guys

30 minutes a day minimum seems to keep my game sharp

Even if you do have a long period of time off, a few weeks hard practice usually gets your game back.

I've always been intrigued as to how much muscle memory for different movements the human body and mind can handle

As well as boxing and other combat sports, i used to play tennis (like a decade ago) at a very high level. Had first game for 7 years last year and my backhand after a few shots was as good as ever, other shots took a bit longer to get back, mainly the timing.


in terms of techniques, pool only has 2, the break shot and your normal playing stroke. But it's about programming your pool computer with all shot and positional variations
 
A couple days ago, I played for the first time in four months. I played awful. It was disgusting. After about 1 hour, I had gotten back a little of my game, but not very much at all. I probably will not get to play again for another couple of weeks, so my game will most likely drop down some more; hopefully not much.

So, I think your estimate of about 1 month is correct.
 
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