Sam Bigler competed for the United States in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. I was fortunate to meet and train under Sam’s watchful as an undergraduate student at Millersville State College in the mid-seventies.  During my time training with Sam, I learned a lot about lifting and training, but the most important lesson Sam taught the lifters he coached was the importance of how you practice.

Sam stressed focused practice. He constantly preached that “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Sam did not expect his lifters to be perfect, but he did expect us to put in our best effort and stay focused on each set and repetition. Sam provided us with feedback on our technique and effort and pushed us to constantly get better. The goal was always to perfect the process and the results would come. Sam’s philosophy was hard to question as he won four collegiate championships, five Pennsylvania state titles and placed 8^th at the Olympics.

I was recently reminded of Sam while reading the book “Peak – The New Science of Expertise” by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, Ph.D. and Robert Pool Ph.D.  The authors research shows how the very best of the best rose to the top of their profession or sport by using deliberate practice. Deliberate practice basically involves totally focusing on whatever we are practicing, getting feedback and pushing ourselves past our comfort level to continually improve. Focus on what we are doing is the key to deliberate practice.

Look at how you are training. Are you focused on improving your technique and pushing yourself to progress or just putting in time during your workouts? Use deliberate practice to keep improving. Sam Bigler had it right; “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.”