Much emphasized practice that is uneconomical can be wasted practice. The representation of movements in the brain is different between beginners and elite athletes. If that is true, then the research that was prevalent more than 50 years ago still holds true today. Movement patterns are represented in the brain of individuals when automated performances occur. The automated movement patterns are invoked, the muscles and levers of the body respond, the energy systems fuel the exercise, while the athlete thinks of strategy and the cognitive demands of the competition.
Few coaches realize just how exquisite discriminated movements can be.
They differ at the fiber level, the synchronization of sequences, patterns of stimulation, etc. Rowing and swimming coaches commonly prescribe work at percentages of race-pace speeds with a resulting lack of appropriateness and benefit being obvious. Training responses are initiated, determined, and dictated by the brain. Without attention to the control of thought processes, which have not even been considered in this treatise, or attention to the encoding of exact movement patterns, many athletes will be trained inappropriately. Fitness is good.