Embracing "Bad" Habits
As athletes and coaches, we’re often working to eliminate “bad habits”. However, those “bad habits” can be powerful learning tools when used strategically. Let’s take a look at how we can couple these with my favorite environment design principle from the constraints-led approach: constrain to afford.
Constrain to Afford
Constraining to afford means that we are going to manipulate constraints in practice to maximize the likelihood that the skills we are targeting develop.
As a coach or training partner you can use constraints, even ones that may seem to cultivate “bad habits”, to create situations that provide clear opportunities for the development of specific skills.
Bad Habits As Skill Multipliers
In grappling, your training partner or opponent’s actions shape the opportunities for action that you are presented with. When we constrain ourselves or our athletes to exhibit certain “bad habits”, you are essentially propping open the door to learning instead of letting it slam shut. It takes moments in a match that may only last seconds, and stretches them out to minutes.
For example, if you want to work on defending certain submission attacks, you could constrain your training partner to:
- Only attack specific submissions.
- Only control with the submission grips – no finishing mechanics.
- Only use compromised versions of submissions: rear naked chokes with only one hook.
These constraints purposefully create “bad habits” for one player, but provide the other player with a high density of learning opportunities per round.
Similarly, if you’re focused on improving your guard retention, you could have your partner:
- Only use outside passing.
- Just pass your the feet, and hold that line as long as possible.
- Pass half guard without ever going chest to chest.
These “bad habit” constraints increase the amount of time that both players spend in situations that support skill development. This increase in exposure to information and experiences make it much more likely that athletes will develop the ability to take advantage of opportunities for action.
The Art of Practice Design
It’s your job as the practice designer to manipulate constraints, even seemingly counterproductive ones, to create environments that optimally support the development of the skills that you are targeting for development.
Remember, these constraints are just temporary tools. They are not permanent habits. The key here is to align them with the skills that you want to develop.
No matter how they train athletes make mistakes, and we should be as prepared as possible to capitalize on the mistakes of our training partners and opponents. It’s also important that we prepare for when we make mistakes, and one way to do that is by forcing those mistakes to happen with “bad habit” constraints.
So, the next time you’re on the mats, don’t be afraid to embrace “bad habits” – they might just one way to accelerate your growth!
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