In this chapter, we will focus on how to teach, learn and evaluate technique. But before we address the practical aspects of teaching and learning technique, it is useful to establish a foundation for that discussion through the presentation of some basic principles of human motor control and motor learning theory. The first part of this chapter contains such a discussion. The second section deals with practical issues in teaching and learning technique. The last section focuses on the evaluation and correction of technique errors and on the process of optimizing technique.
Motor control is the way in which we control our movements, using our neuromuscular and skeletal systems. Motor learning is the acquisition of the skills of physical movement through practice; it refers to relatively permanent increases in a person's ability to respond and is therefore not directly observable while it is taking place. This is contrasted with motor performance, which is the pattern of movement that is achieved in a specific moment, without considering an ability to reproduce that movement effectively. Motor performance can be enhanced through a variety of techniques, but the permanent ability to reproduce such a performance (i.e., motor learning) may actually be hindered by those very same techniques. The way in which we control and learn to control our bodies has been the subject of a great deal of research over the last several decades. While there is still much that we do not understand about how we control movement and how we acquire our motor skills, much of what we have learned can be directly applied by coaches and athletes to the teaching and learning of weightlifting technique.
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