For any particular skill there are many possible techniques, a near limitless pool of ways to do a thing. Different techniques will naturally have different advantages and disadvantages, and not all techniques are created equal. With this in mind it’s important to understand what makes good technique and why you might choose a particular technique over another.
What is Good Technique?
Before we can get into the discussion of what technique we should use, we first have to know what the point of technique is. What should good technique offer you?
Hitting Skills
Most fundamentally, good technique will allow you to hit those sick tricks you are after.
Easy Skills
Good technique should make those skills feel easy - relative to how hard they can be of course. This could look like efficient power generation, feeling connected and secure, or easy shapes to hold and move in.
Safe Skills
Good technique will keep you safe, both in the short term and the long term. Not only will it minimise the chances of a fall or other traumatic injury, it will also mitigate any long term stress injuries.
Future Success
Good technique is a strong foundation to build on for future skills. Sometimes this means spending a little more time in the short term to master the good technique, so you can spend much less time later learning harder skills.
There are of course more things to consider here such as flexibility of application and aesthetic choices, but these four ideas provide a strong basis for what good technique should do for you.
How Does That Work?
Ok, so those are great principles, but how do we actually get there? What affects whether a technique will fulfil that criteria or not?
Physics
Like me, you probably exist in the real world, governed by a particular set of universal physical laws. Gravity always pulls in the same direction and a big object will rotate slower than a small one. Physics is the most fundamental factor on what a particular technique will achieve.
Body Mechanics
This point is actually just physics again, but specifically how it applies to the way our bodies function. A dish shape tenses particular muscles so that your body is more likely to move as one stable object. Holding an object close to your centre requires less effort than holding it further away. This is how our bodies interact with the physical world.
Individual Differences
Individuals may have some differences in their bodies which could affect their technique. If your shoulders are particularly inflexible, you might arch your upper back to compensate when basing in extension. Of course this might mean making some compromises, but you can make that choice according to your goals.
Your Goals
When considering your goals, the conversation shifts from the more objective discussion of physical cause and effect, into the more subjective conversation of what matters to you personally. If your goal is to learn a skill ASAP for a gig tomorrow, you might cut corners to get that done. If you never want to learn dynamics, you might not worry about technique that sets you up for that. If you are working with someone new who you don’t fully trust yet, you might do more in the skill than you otherwise would. These choices will likely require some compromises, but as long as you understand what those are and are happy to prioritise other factors, then that could be the right choice for you.
Understanding is Key
Why and how, why and how, why and how? I won’t stop asking these questions until the day I die. Understanding how a particular technique works, and why that is good or bad is so important to making informed choices about our own practice. Returning to an earlier example, arching your upper back changes where your shoulders are in space so that your hands can stack in line with your centre even with closed shoulders. This is good because it allows inflexible people to create a more stacked shape. It’s bad because it still is not fully stacked and because it puts extra strain on your upper back which could lead to injury. Armed with this knowledge you might choose to use the upper back arch as an interim solution while you work on your flexibility.
Having a good understanding of the whys and hows can also help you to avoid common pitfalls which might lead you to mistaken ideas about good technique. Here’s two to watch out for:
“I’m Built Different”
Individual differences are typically a lot less than they seem. It’s natural as humans to focus on differences rather than similarities, so what’s unique about you is really going to stand out to you. Despite that, all our bodies fundamentally work much the same. Physics determines maybe 98% of what makes good technique, with individual differences being just small tweaks here and there.
“That Feels Wrong”
Unfamiliar technique almost always feels worse than familiar technique, even when it is actually better. This can lead to the sentiment that the familiar technique is ‘right for you’ as the new one just does not feel good in your body. When you understand why this newfangled technique is better, you can trust in the process and spend some time with it until your body feels the benefits too.
Make Your Best Choices
While not an exhaustive list of course, these ideas should help you to engage critically with technique, and make better choices about your own practice. Thinking about how a particular technique interacts with the physical world to your benefit, or detriment, is a great place to start. Plus having that understanding will help prevent you from making intuitive choices that might not actually benefit you. Then with all that in hand, you can be more confident in your choices to mix up your technique for your own goals. Enjoy the process of perfecting your technique!
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