Coaching practices for Act Ongoing Training
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Act Ongoing Training, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I only ever stop to reflect when something blows up
- I finish a session and just move on without ever sitting down to name what actually worked and what didn’t
- When I run the whole thing end to end, my strong parts quietly cover for my weak one, so the actual bottleneck never gets touched
- I have the same realization after every messy episode
- I can run through it perfectly alone in my room, but the second there are eyes on me and it actually counts, my mind goes blank and the thing I’d supposedly learned just isn’t there when I reach for it.
Practices that may help
- Build a regular AAR cadence, not just crisis-triggered reviews
Reviews triggered only by problems create a negative-events database; a regular cadence captures ordinary learning that compounds.
After-Action Review: The US Army’s Tool for Continuous Learning - Debrief each session with a structured reflection
Write a three-question debrief right after practice to convert experience into learning.
Growth-Edge Training: Practicing at the Edge of Your Ability - Use constraint-based drills to isolate one component
Remove degrees of freedom so attention concentrates on a single weak sub-skill.
Growth-Edge Training: Practicing at the Edge of Your Ability - End every AAR with one specific, time-bound next action
An AAR without a concrete next action produces insight without change.
After-Action Review: The US Army’s Tool for Continuous Learning - Overlearn skills that must survive pressure
Continue drilling a skill until it runs on autopilot — so stress does not dismantle it.
Overlearning: When Practicing Past Mastery Pays Off - Close the loop: check values-alignment after acting
After a committed action, briefly confirm it expressed the value — or revise what you do next time.
Committed Action, Made Practical - Build a twice-daily practice schedule (Jacobson’s original dose)
Jacobson prescribed twice-daily sessions for weeks — the depth of skill his method requires exceeds what a once-a-week session delivers.
Edmund Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation, Made Practical - Give performers choice within practice to support autonomy
Offer self-directed options in practice — which drill, how many reps, which cue — to enhance intrinsic motivation and learning.
External Focus of Attention, Made Practical - Daily 12-minute ATT practice
Run the full three-phase ATT session every day as a skill, not a relaxation ritual.
Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical - Choose linear progression for beginners; switch to wave loading as you advance
Beginners can add load every session; intermediate and advanced athletes need weekly or monthly undulation to continue progressing.
Progressive Overload
Related concerns
- Aar Military Learning
An after-action review (AAR) is a structured debriefing developed by the US Army that asks four questions after any event: What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What caused the difference? What do we do differently next time? Applied consistently, AARs build a culture of learning from experience rather than simply moving on. The evidence base is primarily observational and practice-based; experimental studies are limited but supportive.
- Autogenic Training For My Teenager
Autogenic training (AT), developed by psychiatrist Johannes Schultz in the 1930s, is a structured self-relaxation method that uses repeated, specific phrases — "My arm is heavy," "My arm is warm" — to trigger physiological relaxation through passive concentration. A 2002 meta-analysis found AT effective for anxiety, insomnia, and functional somatic complaints. The warmth and heaviness described in the phrases are real physiological responses (vasodilation and muscle relaxation), not metaphor.
- Behavior Review Reflection
Behavioral chain analysis (BCA), a core DBT skill developed by Marsha Linehan, maps every link in the chain of events — from the original vulnerability through the triggering event, thoughts, feelings, and actions — that led to a problem behavior. By making the chain visible, BCA reveals multiple points where the sequence could have been broken, turning a post-hoc autopsy into a concrete prevention plan.
- Committed Action Review
An after-action review (AAR) is a structured debriefing developed by the US Army that asks four questions after any event: What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What caused the difference? What do we do differently next time? Applied consistently, AARs build a culture of learning from experience rather than simply moving on. The evidence base is primarily observational and practice-based; experimental studies are limited but supportive.
- Deliberate Practice Not Just Practice With My Team
Deliberate practice, studied by Anders Ericsson, is focused, effortful practice aimed just beyond your current ability, with immediate feedback and constant correction. It is what separates people who keep improving from people who simply log hours — and it is why the popular "10,000 hours" rule is an oversimplification of his work.
- Exercise Insight
Treat regularity as the active ingredient, not how hard any single session is.
Consistency over intensity
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.