Is frequency of training directly proportional to the speed at which you become proficient/better/adept? In other words, are those (such as myself) that can only practice once or twice a week really only learning at a slower pace or are there other negative effects that result from infrequent training? We always here stories of how in China many of the farmers trained nearly twice a day, but did this only make them better faster? An even better question is, is there a point at which there are diminishing returns whereby one could eventually make up ground on the farmer type? No, not looking for shortcuts, just short on time and wondering if the little investment is worth it. Thanks.

Yes, as a general observation ... frequency of training can be proportional to your development.

Did you mean training (which can happen anytime, anywhere ... or specifically training in a class environment?

I doubt that it is a function, e.g. frequent training won't always yield a desirous outcome, there are many other factors that determine progress. For example, One experiment done by psychologist examine the role of visualisation in training. It was done in relation to basketball. Basically visualizing getting the ball through the hoop and practicing yielded higher success rate than just practicing or just thinking. If you do xing-yi, for example, you could visulaize yourdelf doing the various fist before you goto sleep at night(whilst your in bed) This certainly can't hurt.

in motor learning, there is much to support the idea of something along these lines:

two individuals have 3 hours a week for exercise/practice whatever.
One practices 3 times a week, one hour each.
One practices 6 times a week, for a half hour each.

Though total training time is identical, the more regular frequency leads to faster aquisition of new skills or physiological adaptations.

As a personal trainer I have directly observed the worlds of difference between the clients that I have twice a week and three times a week. Two-timers don't go far in terms of physiological changes. But their skill aquisiton is 50-90% of those doing three. The three times a week make significantly greater gains in body composition.
I often wonder what I could do if I could get someone to come in 5 times a week...

The long answer
The issue is that more practice the more benefit, for the most part that's uncontroversial. Though too much practice may yield negative results. My point was on the notion of it being a direct proportion. i.e. a function. A function is a speacial kind of relationship such that for every input (the independent variable) there is a unique output (the dependent variable. The point I was making is that though there is a relationship there, it is most likely not a function strictly speaking. The problem is that modelling training is quite difficult to get it right such that it captures all the real world variables, i.e. (inputs) training time + training quality + body type + body condition etc. output (improvement/benefit).

You might say that if you had enough of the inputs you could determine the benefit with a degree of accuracy - perhaps, but depending on your domain, quantifying benefit could be difficult.

Regarding our friend Raven, suppose we fix all input variables except time, then sure, lower time might yield lower benefit (output) However, add an extra vriable such as time spent visualising, then this is likely to increase overall benefit, but, as studies suggest, it won't unless some practice is made. Once or twice a week may still not be sufficient to yield benefit even with visualisation.

The short answer,
All things being equal the more practice the more skill.

Hello Raven,

You asked if there is more benefit from frequent practice besides quicker skill acquisition. I would say the simple answer is yes. Training a lot means your technical skill is improving but you are also getting the conditioning benefits of martial arts. If you only train two times a week you need to supplement with other exercise to get the strength and endurance improvements that you would get from daily practice.

How did Tim get so good at Xingyi when he went to Taiwan? Training five days a week multiple hours each day.

Thanks for all the input. Definitely some good points to consider. The challenge now, for me, is to decide how I can most effectively use the little time I have. Xing Yi, it seems, allows for individual practice far more than say BJJ so that seems to be of some benefit for someone in my position. So now with that added detail and within the context of Xing Yi, what are the effects of training everyday individually and class room time of 1-2 hours? I'm attempting to do a pseudo cost-benefit analysis to see if I should just wait until I have more time to commit (in class) or continue down the more solo-based training.

Just train bro. Figuring out how long to train within what context, is valuable training time you are wasting. Honest effort will get honest results. Their is no short cut.
Jake

Jake is right. It is always better to train then not train, and thinking too much about training means you are not training

If you are trying to decide between studying two different arts the most important criterion is probably the instructor. If the quality of the instruction is equal then you can think about things like ease of solo training and availability of training partners. Regardless of whether you devote your time to Xingyi or BJJ, you can find ways to supplement your class instruction with individual training.