How to Practice So It Sticks (Part 1):
What the Science of Learning Means for Agility Training
“Muscle memory will kick in when it counts.”
It’s something we say to reassure ourselves, when we’re prepping for trial day, perfecting a contact skill, or drilling a sequence that just won’t click.
But here’s the thing: muscle memory doesn’t actually exist. Not the way we think it does.
Muscles don’t store memories. Brains do.
That means learning a skill, whether it’s a dog figuring out how to adjust their stride on the dogwalk or a handler dialing in their timing on a blind cross, isn’t about hardwiring a movement. It’s about shaping a flexible, adaptive motor plan that holds up in real-world conditions.
In this post — the first of a three-part series — we’ll explore what research in motor learning and skill acquisition can tell us about how dogs (and people) actually build lasting skill. Then in Part 2, we’ll dive into how to design training sessions that create movement intelligence, not just mechanical repetition. And in Part 3, we’ll look at how to turn those ideas into a plan, one that tracks progress, targets training bias, and supports long-term development across a season and a career.
How dogs (and People) Learn
Before we dive into training structure, it’s worth introducing a powerful idea that will thread through future posts in this series: deliberate practice.
Unlike casual repetition, deliberate practice is focused, structured, and designed to stretch the limits of performance. It targets specific areas for improvement, includes real-time feedback, and often pushes the learner just beyond their current ability. Hallmarks that match what both canine and human athletes need to improve.
At its core, deliberate practice means approaching training with focused intention: targeting specific skills, working just beyond your comfort zone, and using feedback to refine performance. Whether you’re aiming to tighten your dog’s turns or sharpen your own handling efficiency, that mindset transforms training from routine into progress.
This post lays the groundwork for deliberate practice, from understanding how learning actually happens, to recognizing why repetition alone isn’t enough. In Part 2, we’ll take those ideas further with real-world training strategies.
And in a future post, we’ll explore how to structure deliberate practice across multiple domains (i.e., physical, mental, technical, and tactical skills) to sustain progress and achieve peak performance throughout the trialling season, while supporting your dog’s journey from newcomer to seasoned expert.
But here’s the key takeaway for now: deliberate practice isn’t just focused repetition.
It’s less about the type of drill, and more about the mindset: specific goals, real-time feedback, targeted adjustments, and purposeful variation. It’s about training for long-term retention and transfer, not just performance in the moment. That mindset shift is what turns ordinary reps into powerful, lasting skill.
Performance Isn’t Learning
Just because something looks good in practice doesn’t mean it’s been learned. Improvement during a session can be misleading. The real test is whether that skill holds up later: under pressure, in a new environment, or after time has passed. That’s the difference between performing and truly learning.
Why Repetition Isn’t Enough
Repetition can improve short-term performance, but it doesn’t guarantee the skill will stick. Real learning shows up when the context changes, and the performance still holds. That’s why training that feels harder in the moment, especially when it incorporates variability, often builds stronger, more flexible skills that transfer into real-world success.
We all fall into the trap of drilling something until it “looks right”. Ten dogwalks in a row. Five backsides. One more time through the sequence until it feels smooth.
It feels productive… but what you’re often building is comfort in one context, not true flexibility.
Rote repetition can groove patterns, yes. But those patterns are brittle. Change the environment, add stress, or shift handler position, and suddenly the wheels fall off. That’s because the learner — dog or human — hasn’t learned to solve the problem, just to repeat the same solution.
How Skill Learning Really Works
Before we dive into specific training types, it’s worth highlighting the full motor learning cycle: Read → Plan → Do. In agility, this means reading the setup or sequence, planning a response, and executing the movement… often in a matter of seconds. For example, a dog approaching a jump must assess spacing and trajectory on the fly, adjusting their stride pattern to hit takeoff at the ideal point. That momentary recalibration isn’t automatic; it’s built through experience with varied setups that engage this full learning loop.
Blocked practice can short-circuit this process. When a dog sees the same setup ten times in a row, they no longer need to read the situation or plan a response. That reduces cognitive demand, but it also limits the transferability of the skill.
Neural vs. Muscular Learning
While strength and conditioning research shows that muscles can retain cellular changes (like added myonuclei), skill learning is fundamentally neural. Repetition strengthens specific brain pathways, building efficient communication between the brain and body. This is what allows movement to become faster and more fluid… not memory stored in the muscles themselves.
Takeaway: Skill isn’t stored in your muscles; it’s built in your brain. Train for brain-body communication, not just mechanical repetition.
Blocked vs. Random Practice
Blocked practice means repeating the same skill in the same setup over and over. It’s useful in the early stages of learning, when the goal is to establish a basic understanding. Because it removes variability, blocked practice can feel smoother and more successful in the moment. But that success is often short-lived.
Random practice, by contrast, mixes up different skills or setups within the same session. It feels messier. Performance may actually look worse, but it’s far more effective at building flexible, transferable skills. That’s because it forces both dog and handler to re-engage with the problem each time, adapting to new cues, angles, or conditions.
Takeaway: Use blocked practice to introduce a new concept, but shift to random practice as soon as the basics land. That’s when learning really starts.
Open vs. Closed Skills
Closed skills are predictable and repeatable, like a start line stay. The conditions don’t change much from rep to rep, which makes it easier to isolate and reinforce specific movements.
In contrast, open skills are dynamic. They require split-second decisions in response to ever-changing conditions… like reading a sequence on course or reacting to an off-course moment.
Agility is full of open skills. Courses vary. Equipment changes. Conditions shift. Dogs have to constantly interpret and respond. That’s why it’s important to train in ways that reflect this variability, rather than relying too heavily on static drills.
Takeaway: We already know agility is unpredictable, so training should reflect that. Prioritize open-skill challenges that help teams read, plan, and adapt in real time.
Contextual Interference
Contextual interference refers to the learning benefit that comes from adding variability and unpredictability into practice. When learners are asked to switch between tasks, adjust to changing conditions, or solve problems they haven’t rehearsed, their performance in the moment may dip, but their long-term learning improves.
For example, instead of repeating the same handling choice in a sequence multiple times, you might alternate between rear crosses, threadles, and blind crosses across different short sequences. Or you might shift from obstacle-focused drills to short decision-making challenges. These kinds of sessions demand more attention and problem-solving, but they build the kind of flexible skills that transfers to trial day.
Takeaway: Mixing things up can feel harder… but it teaches your team how to think and adjust on the fly.
Spacing and Variability
Training in shorter bursts with built-in breaks, and revisiting skills across multiple sessions, can lead to stronger, more lasting learning than long, repetitive drills. This is especially true when those sessions include meaningful variation.
For example, instead of running a full course five times in one session, you might run it once, then revisit key sections in future practices with slight changes in handling or reward placement. Or you might focus on a specific skill like contact behaviour over several days, changing the handler position or sequence that leads into it each time.
Spacing helps the brain consolidate learning. Variability ensures that learning isn’t tied to one narrow context.
Takeaway: Spread things out and shake things up. Your team will learn more, retain more, and be better prepared to perform under pressure.
What does this means for you?
If your training gets a little messy when you introduce variability… good! That short-term wobble is often where the real learning begins. Especially in agility, where success depends on fast decisions in dynamic conditions, your goal isn’t polished practice, it’s performance that holds up anywhere, anytime.
Curious what that looks like in action?
Here’s a sneak peek at how these principles play out in real-world training. We’ll dig deeper in Part 2, but for now, use this as a lens to start evaluating your own reps.
Coming up in Part 2:
We’ll take these principles and bring them to life with real-world strategies. You’ll learn how to design smarter sessions, support discovery-based learning, and build transferable performance that holds up when it counts. Stay tuned!
3 Comments
Very interesting I have read it 2 times just to make sure I hot it right!
Thank you
So much to learn!