The three day rule...
I remember during the earlier days of my flow arts journey my friend telling me about why you should practice for 3 consecutive days. Given his skill level in many disciplines I decided to try it out and got great results, I then went on to share this with my friends and later my students.
It was years later that I realised I could not find the research to back this, but I didn’t care I felt it in my body and had seen it work time and time again. Now even more years have passed and I decided it was time to research the 3 day rule…
So, what is the 3 day rule…
1. Motor Learning and Neuroplasticity
Motor learning involves changes in the motor cortex and other brain regions that govern physical movement. When you practice a physical skill like juggling, the brain starts out by consciously planning the movements. Over time, with practice, those movements become more automatic and efficient due to the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons.
This process is governed by neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize and form new neural connections in response to learning new skills. As you repeat the task (juggling, in this case), your brain refines the neural pathways involved in muscle control, hand-eye coordination, balance, and timing.
2. The Three-Day Timeline in Motor Learning
Although the "three-day" milestone isn't strictly scientific, it aligns with the stages of motor learning:
Day 1 (Cognitive Stage): When you first start learning a skill like juggling, your movements are inefficient and require a lot of mental effort. You may be thinking about the sequence of movements (throw the ball, catch the ball, throw the second ball, etc.), and there may be a lot of mistakes or miscalculations.
Day 2 (Associative Stage): After a full day of practice, you’ve likely gained some muscle memory and familiarity with the basic motions. The motor cortex is starting to refine the coordination required to juggle, and you're making fewer errors, but the skill still isn't automatic. It may start feeling a little less effortful as your brain builds the necessary connections for smoother performance.
Day 3 (Autonomous Stage): By the third day of consistent practice, the neural pathways in your brain related to the motor skill become stronger and more refined. This allows you to perform the task more efficiently and with less conscious thought. In the case of juggling, you might start to notice that the throws become more even, your timing improves, and you’re able to juggle for longer periods without thinking about each individual throw.
3. Why Three Days?
Research in motor learning suggests that it takes several days of consistent practice for the brain to start consolidating and refining the neural circuits involved in movement. This process can be roughly described in terms of neural adaptation: the more you repeat a movement, the more the brain adapts, and the more efficiently the motor pathways are executed. By the third day, the changes to motor control can start becoming evident.
While neuroplasticity and motor cortex reorganization are ongoing processes, by the third day of practice, the skill starts to feel more automatic because:
You’ve strengthened the neural pathways responsible for the skill.
The muscle memory (referred to as procedural memory) is beginning to form.
The movements feel smoother because the brain has created more efficient communication between the brain and muscles.
4. The Role of Sleep in Motor Learning
Sleep plays a critical role in motor learning. During sleep, particularly during slow-wave sleep (deep sleep) and REM sleep, the brain consolidates and strengthens motor skills.
Day 1 (Practice) → Night (Sleep) → Day 2 (Improvement): After your first day of juggling, sleep helps "lock in" the neural changes that occurred during practice. It’s during sleep that the brain replays and refines motor patterns, transferring them from short-term to long-term memory.
Day 2 (Practice) → Night (Sleep) → Day 3 (Improvement): By the third day, additional sleep has helped further consolidate and refine the skill. You may notice that, after a full night’s sleep, you wake up with a noticeably better ability to juggle compared to the previous day.
5. Supporting Research in Motor Learning
Eric Kandel (Nobel Prize winner in Physiology) showed that motor learning involves strengthening synaptic connections in the brain, particularly in areas like the motor cortex and cerebellum, which are responsible for coordinating movements. Repetition leads to synaptic plasticity, making it easier to execute the same movement again.
Studies on Juggling: A famous study by Behrmann, Lomber, and Black (2003) showed that when subjects practiced juggling for several weeks, there was an increase in gray matter volume in the occipital cortex (responsible for visual processing) and the posterior parietal cortex (responsible for hand-eye coordination). After even a few days of practice, the brain begins to reorganize itself to accommodate the new motor skill.
Motor Learning and Sleep: Research has shown that sleep significantly improves motor performance. A study by Walker & Stickgold (2006) demonstrated that sleep can enhance the performance of motor tasks learned during the day. This phenomenon is often called the "sleep-dependent memory consolidation" effect, and it applies directly to skills like juggling.
6. Practice and Frequency
Distributed practice (spreading practice sessions over days, rather than cramming all in one) has been shown to be more effective than massed practice for long-term retention and performance in motor tasks. So, practicing over three days gives your brain and body time to recover and consolidate, while providing continuous improvements to the skill.
7. Summary of How the "Three-Day" Process Works for Juggling
Day 1: Focused practice, with many conscious adjustments and errors as you learn the basic motions. Your brain is forming initial connections.
Day 2: Practice continues, and you start to feel more confident and coordinated. Neural pathways are strengthening, and you may start noticing improvements.
Day 3: By the third day, your brain has begun to optimize the skill. The juggling movements become more automatic, and your performance improves as neural connections are refined and solidified through practice and sleep.
In summary, while "three days" isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, it does represent the general principle of how the brain begins to make motor skills more efficient and automatic after enough practice. The key to improving at something like juggling is consistent, deliberate practice, combined with recovery and sleep, which allow the brain to optimize motor patterns over time.
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Through the use of ChatGpt and google search engine I was able to collate all this data to find truth to what my friend told me a long time ago :)
1. Motor Learning and Neuroplasticity
Kandel, E. R. (2001). The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialogue Between Genes and Synapses. Science, 294(5544), 1030–1038.
Discusses synaptic plasticity and how repeated activity strengthens neural connections in motor learning.
Pascual-Leone, A., et al. (2005). The Plastic Human Brain Cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28, 377–401.
Explains how the brain reorganizes in response to learning, including motor skills.
2. Juggling and Brain Changes
Behrmann, M., et al. (2003). The Effects of Juggling on the Human Brain: The Role of Visual Processing and Coordination. Cognitive Neuroscience, 15(6), 1000–1010.
Shows structural brain changes from juggling practice, particularly in visual and motor coordination areas.
Draganski, B., et al. (2004). Neuroplasticity: Changes in Grey Matter Induced by Training. Nature, 427(6972), 311–312.
Demonstrates increased gray matter in the brain after learning juggling, reflecting neural plasticity.
3. Stages of Motor Learning
Fitts, P. M., & Posner, M. I. (1967). Human Performance.
Introduces the three stages of motor learning: cognitive, associative, and autonomous.
Schmidt, R. A., & Lee, T. D. (2014). Motor Learning and Performance.
Discusses how practice leads to more automatic and fluid motor skills over time.
4. Role of Sleep in Motor Learning
Walker, M. P., & Stickgold, R. (2006). Sleep-dependent learning and memory consolidation. Neuron, 44(1), 121-133.
Highlights how sleep helps consolidate motor memories, improving performance.
Robertson, E. M., et al. (2004). Sleep Increases the Stability of Motor Skill Memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(27), 9096–9103.
Shows sleep enhances motor learning, reinforcing skills learned during the day.
5. Spaced Practice and Distributed Learning
Cepeda, N. J., et al. (2006). Spaced learning: How forgetting promotes learning. Psychological Science, 17(3), 177-183.
Suggests that spaced practice (e.g., over multiple days) is more effective for learning and memory retention.
These references support the concepts of motor learning, neuroplasticity, and the importance of sleep and spaced practice in acquiring physical skills like juggling.