Habits
It can take a long time to break bad habits. When an activity or a movement is repeated many times, the patterns seep into the bones, and we create what’s called motor memory. Athletes both relish and curse the creation of motor memory. For example, an experienced basketball player has shot so many baskets that they no longer have to think about where to place their elbow, or how the ball is going to leave their fingertips. The activity has become second nature… as automatic, perhaps, as breathing. In my first year of college, I found myself on the curse side of motor memory. I’d been high-jumping since elementary school, and had worked with several well-intentioned coaches along the way. One of these coaches emphasized that the drive-leg (not the jumping leg) was to scuff the ground at takeoff. Since I had enjoyed some success with his other cues, I practiced this drive-leg technique with sufficient enthusiasm to burn it into my motor memory. And since my success continued under