Distribution of a practice session
What does it look like practically:
Essentially a practice session can be split into three components; Intro/warmup, body of lesson/session and conclusion/cool down. Distributed practice has smaller bodies of lesson/session more often, while massed has longer bodies less frequently. A distributed session might look like: 10-15 minute intro/warmup
30-40 minute body
10-15 minute conclusion/cool down.
A massed session might look like:
10-15 minute intro/warmup
60-90+ minute body
10-15 minute conclusion/cool down.
Theoretical basis:
Practice distribution can be described as the scheduling of practice sessions or the spacing of trials within a session (Spittle, 2013). The two forms of practice distribution are
massed and distributed practice (Spittle, 2013). Distributed practice may be beneficial when utilized on the day of performance while massed can be beneficial in training sessions (Spittle, 2013). Massed and distributed practice schedules provide similar impacts on discrete skills (Spittle, 2013). However, learning is dependent on the number of trials attempted, and independent of the practice distributions (Panchuk, Spittle, Johnston, & Spittle, 2013). Retention of simple skills can be similar for both practice schedules, depending on the level of overlearning used by instructors (Panchuk et al., 2013). Distribution of practice should take time, overlearning and complexity of skills performed into consideration. As these factors affect performance.
For additional reading check out;
Our full depth piece)
- https://joshgosch.wixsite.com/practiceschedules/single-post/2017/03/14/The-Base-Theoretical-basis-for-practice-schedules
Or our references from the articles) -Chapter 15 of Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition by Spittle, M.
-'Effect of practice distribution and experience on the performance and retention of a discrete sport skill.' Perceptual and Motor Skills, 116(3), 750-760 by Panchuk, D., Spittle, M., Johnston, N., & Spittle, S. (2013).
