Training log

I'm going to be participating in some major tournaments coming up, and I really want to up my game in order to do well in them. Daigo said he played 5 hours a day in order to train for Evo...Justin says he plays 8 hours a day...It's obvious that it takes dedication and time in order to be looked at as one of the best. My personal goal is to play about 2 to 3 hours a day, though I want to play more, work and real life take in priority over SF.

With practicing more, I also decided to couple it up with having a "training log" where I record everything that I've learned from matches and such. I personally only play player matches as I can actually get a complete set in with the person (rather then in championship mode where I only get 1 game). After the session with the person I write about who I played (character), how I tried to win the match, what I learned from the match itself, as well as the estimated time of the session (I want to figure out how many hours a day I can play). The goal is to be able to take something away from EVERY session. I was talking to my buddy and brought up that Daigo had trained 5 hours a day...my buddy brought up a good point. He said that though Daigo was playing for 5 hours a day, he also played great competition, and that he most likely took something from each session EVERY session.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to have this log, but I'll try to record every time I play at home. Obviously I'll take breaks, or have sessions at people's houses, but I'll still record what I learned at other "in person" sessions. It's important to consistently update the log. Without consistency, I won't put myself into the habit.

So that's primarily the goal...to get myself in the habit of trying to take something away from every match/session. By doing this, I'll be able to learn the most from my sessions even though I don't have as much time as the others. I personally suggest that if you feel that you are in a rutt or plateau, you should look into holding a training log as well, as it might help you understand how to better learn from matches.

- Mickey D'