Learning is one of the most valuable skills you can develop, yet most people spend considerably more time learning information than learning how to learn effectively. They read books, watch videos, attend courses and take notes, often assuming that the more time they spend studying, the more they will remember. Unfortunately, exposure to information does not automatically produce understanding, and understanding something today does not guarantee that you will remember it next week or know how to apply it in practice.
Becoming a more effective learner requires you to understand how memory works, recognise the difference between familiarity and genuine understanding, and select techniques that help you retain and apply information. Whether you are studying exercise science, learning a new language, developing a professional skill or exploring a subject out of personal interest, the same fundamental principles can improve your approach.
The following ten techniques provide a practical framework for improving how you learn. They include established approaches to memory and revision, strategies for developing deeper understanding, and ways to connect knowledge across different disciplines.
1. The Feynman Technique: Learn by Explaining
One of the most effective ways to identify gaps in your understanding is to explain a concept in simple language. The Feynman Technique, named after physicist Richard Feynman, encourages you to take a subject you want to understand and explain it as though you were teaching it to someone without prior knowledge.
Start by selecting a concept and writing an explanation in your own words. Avoid simply copying the wording from a textbook or reproducing a definition you have memorised. Instead, try to explain what the concept means, why it matters and how it works. When you encounter a point you cannot explain clearly, return to your learning material and investigate the gap. Then rewrite your explanation until it becomes clearer and more accurate.
Consider progressive overload in strength training. You might initially describe it as gradually increasing the demands placed on the body. A deeper explanation would explore how training variables such as load, repetitions, sets, range of motion and exercise difficulty can be adjusted to provide an appropriate stimulus for adaptation. You would also need to recognise that progression must account for recovery, training experience and the individual’s response to exercise.
The process reveals whether you understand the underlying principle or merely recognise the terminology. If you cannot explain why a training variable matters, you have identified an opportunity to improve your understanding.
Explaining a concept does not automatically prove that your explanation is correct, so check it against reliable sources. The objective is to combine clear communication with accurate knowledge.
Further reading: The Feynman Technique — Farnam Street.
2. The Forgetting Curve: Revisit Information Before It Disappears
Learning something once is rarely enough to retain it indefinitely. The forgetting curve, associated with psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, describes how memory retention can decline over time when information is not revisited. The rate of forgetting varies according to factors such as the material, prior knowledge, how well it was initially learned and whether it is subsequently retrieved or reviewed.
The practical lesson is not that everyone forgets a fixed percentage of information each day. Rather, it is that information can become harder to retrieve when it is not reinforced, and that the timing of revision matters.
Instead of attempting to learn everything in one long session, distribute your learning across multiple sessions. Return to important information after a delay, attempt to recall it, check your understanding and revisit anything you could not retrieve accurately. As your knowledge becomes more secure, you can adjust the intervals between sessions.
For example, if you are studying the cardiovascular system, you might initially learn the pathway of blood through the heart and lungs. Later, try to reproduce that pathway from memory without looking at your notes. On another day, explain how the valves maintain the direction of blood flow. A subsequent session could explore how exercise changes cardiovascular demand. Each session provides another opportunity to strengthen your understanding and identify what you have forgotten.
Research supports spaced learning as an effective strategy for long-term retention. Carpenter, Pan and Butler review the evidence in The Science of Effective Learning With Spacing and Retrieval Practice, published in Nature Reviews Psychology.
3. The Pomodoro Technique: Structure Your Attention
Concentration is a limited resource, and prolonged study without breaks can become inefficient. The Pomodoro Technique provides a simple structure for managing focused work. The traditional approach involves working for 25 minutes, taking a five-minute break and repeating the cycle. After several cycles, you take a longer break.
The precise timing is not the important part. The objective is to create a defined period of focused work, reduce unnecessary interruptions and make it easier to begin a task that might otherwise feel overwhelming.
Suppose you need to study exercise physiology. Rather than attempting to revise an entire chapter in one sitting, you might dedicate one session to energy systems, another to cardiovascular responses and another to the physiological adaptations associated with training. During each session, decide what you intend to accomplish before you begin.
A focused session should involve more than passively consuming information. You might read a short section, close the material, explain the main principles from memory and answer questions about what you have learned. This combines structured attention with active engagement.
The technique is particularly useful when you struggle to start a task, become distracted easily or find long study sessions difficult to sustain. However, it should remain flexible. Complex tasks may require longer periods of concentration, while practical activities may not fit neatly into a fixed timetable.
The Pomodoro Technique helps organise your learning time, but it does not guarantee that learning has occurred. The quality of your attention and the effectiveness of the activity still matter.
Further reading: The Pomodoro Technique — Official Website.
4. The Dunning–Kruger Effect: Recognise the Limits of Your Knowledge
Confidence and competence do not always develop at the same rate. When you first encounter a subject, you may learn enough terminology to feel that you understand it, without yet appreciating its complexity. As your knowledge develops, you may become more aware of exceptions, uncertainties and the limitations of your initial understanding.
The Dunning–Kruger effect refers to research examining how people with lower performance in particular tasks can sometimes overestimate their ability. It is frequently simplified into the idea that incompetent people always think they are experts, but that interpretation is too broad. The original research concerns the relationship between performance and self-assessment in specific tasks, and the wider debate includes questions about how people judge their own abilities.
The practical lesson is to avoid treating confidence as proof of competence. If you feel that you have mastered a subject, test that belief. Can you explain the underlying principles? Can you answer unfamiliar questions? Can you apply your knowledge to a different situation? Can you identify where your understanding remains incomplete?
For example, someone who has watched several videos about nutrition may feel confident discussing energy balance. However, designing an appropriate nutrition strategy for a real individual requires consideration of dietary intake, health context, preferences, behaviour, practical constraints and the quality of the available evidence.
Use assessments, feedback, questions and real-world application to calibrate your confidence. You do not need to doubt everything you know; you need to develop a realistic understanding of what you know well and where further learning is necessary.
Further reading: Kruger and Dunning (1999), Unskilled and Unaware of It.
5. Chunking: Organise Information Into Meaningful Units
Working memory has limited capacity, so attempting to process large quantities of disconnected information can make learning unnecessarily difficult. Chunking involves organising individual pieces of information into meaningful groups that can be understood and remembered as larger units.
You probably use chunking already. A telephone number is easier to remember when divided into groups of digits rather than treated as one long sequence. In a more complex subject, chunking involves identifying relationships between concepts so that you can organise information into a coherent structure.
Consider learning the major muscles of the body. Memorising a long, unstructured list can quickly become confusing. Grouping muscles by anatomical region, function or movement can make the material easier to organise. You might study the muscles involved in shoulder movement together, then explore how their actions relate to joint mechanics and exercise selection.
Chunking becomes increasingly valuable as you develop expertise because your knowledge provides a framework for organising new information. An experienced chess player, for example, may recognise familiar arrangements of pieces rather than processing every piece as an unrelated object. A skilled coach may recognise a movement pattern and use that understanding to identify several possible technical issues.
The goal is not merely to memorise groups of facts. It is to understand the relationships that make those facts meaningful.
Further reading: Cowan (2001), The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory.
6. Reference Association: Connect New Information to What You Already Know
New information is often easier to understand when you can connect it to something familiar. Reference association involves creating meaningful links between unfamiliar concepts and knowledge you already possess. These links can help you understand abstract ideas, organise information and generate useful reminders when you need to retrieve it.
For example, you could compare the circulatory system to a network of rivers and tributaries. The heart acts as a pump, while blood vessels form a branching network that distributes blood throughout the body. The comparison can help you visualise the general organisation of circulation before exploring the much more complex physiological details.
However, an analogy is a starting point rather than a complete explanation. Rivers do not have valves that function exactly like cardiac valves, and blood circulation is not simply water flowing downhill. Once the analogy has helped you understand the broad idea, you need to investigate the important differences.
You can also connect a new concept to a personal experience, an existing subject or a memorable example. When learning a new language, for instance, you might connect unfamiliar vocabulary to an image, a known word or a situation in which you would use it. When studying exercise physiology, you could relate an unfamiliar mechanism to a training session you have experienced.
The strongest associations preserve the important features of the concept without introducing misleading similarities. Use connections to support understanding, then check them against accurate information.
7. The Socratic Method: Ask Better Questions
The Socratic method uses questioning to examine assumptions, clarify ideas and develop reasoning. Rather than accepting an explanation immediately, you investigate why it is true, what evidence supports it and whether the conclusion remains valid under different circumstances.
This approach is useful because memorising a statement is not the same as understanding the reasoning behind it. Asking questions encourages you to examine relationships between concepts and identify weaknesses in your explanation.
Suppose you are learning about cardiovascular exercise. You might begin with the question, “Why does heart rate increase during exercise?” You could then ask what determines oxygen demand, how cardiac output changes, what role stroke volume plays and how training status influences the response. Each question opens the door to a more detailed understanding.
You can also challenge your own conclusions. What assumptions are you making? Is there evidence that contradicts your interpretation? Does the explanation apply to everyone, or are there important exceptions? What additional information would change your conclusion?
The method is particularly valuable in subjects where reasoning matters as much as factual recall. It can help you evaluate research, understand competing explanations and avoid accepting claims simply because they sound convincing.
However, questioning is most productive when it is grounded in evidence. Constantly challenging an idea without investigating the answers can become an exercise in speculation rather than learning.
Further reading: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Socratic Method.
8. Visualisation: Build a Mental Model of What You Are Learning
Visualisation can help you represent information in a way that makes relationships easier to understand. This may involve drawing a diagram, creating a flowchart, mapping the structure of a system or mentally rehearsing a process. The purpose is to transform information into a representation that helps you understand how the different elements relate to one another.
For example, when learning the cardiovascular system, you could draw the pathway of blood through the heart, lungs and body. Label the chambers, valves and major vessels, then use arrows to indicate the direction of flow. Once you have created the diagram, try reproducing it from memory and explaining what happens at each stage.
Visual representations are also useful for processes that unfold over time. You could map the stages of muscle contraction, illustrate the relationship between training stress and recovery or draw a flowchart showing how a coach might assess a client’s needs before designing a programme.
The important distinction is between using an image to support understanding and simply looking at an image repeatedly. A diagram becomes more useful when you actively interpret it, reconstruct it, label it from memory or explain the relationships it represents.
Visualisation is not equally useful for every task, and some concepts are difficult to represent accurately in a simple picture. Use diagrams when they clarify the structure or relationships involved, and combine them with written explanations and practical examples when necessary.
9. Polymathic Learning: Connect Ideas Across Different Disciplines
Polymathic learning involves exploring connections between different areas of knowledge. Instead of treating every subject as an isolated collection of facts, you look for shared principles, patterns and relationships that can help you understand unfamiliar concepts.
This approach can be particularly powerful because an idea that is difficult to understand in one context may become clearer when you recognise a similar principle elsewhere. However, useful connections require more than superficial similarities. You need to understand what the disciplines have in common and where their differences matter.
Consider the circulatory system and the branching networks found in rivers. Both involve a main pathway that divides into smaller branches, allowing resources to be distributed across a wider area. This comparison can provide a starting point for understanding the organisation of blood vessels, although the underlying physical mechanisms are not identical.
You could also compare computer networks with communication within the nervous system. Both involve the transmission and processing of information, but electrical signalling in neurons is biologically different from data transmission through computer hardware. The comparison can help you formulate questions, but it cannot replace learning the relevant neuroscience.
Another useful connection is between ecosystems and economics. Both involve interconnected components, competing demands and the movement of resources. Changes in one part of a system can influence other parts, sometimes producing effects that are difficult to predict when each component is considered in isolation.
The Compounding Effect of Small Actions
One particularly useful connection exists between finance, health, strength training and the development of habits. In each case, repeated actions can influence outcomes over time. The exact mechanisms differ, but the broader principle is that small decisions can accumulate into significant consequences.
In finance, compound interest allows returns to generate additional returns over time. The outcome depends on factors such as the amount invested, the rate of return, the duration of investment, fees and the effect of inflation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s compound interest calculator allows you to explore how these variables influence long-term growth.
In strength training, repeated sessions provide opportunities for adaptation when the training stimulus, recovery and nutrition are appropriate. Progress is not perfectly linear, and the effects of training depend on the individual, programme and circumstances. Nevertheless, consistent training over months and years can produce changes that would not be achieved by a single exceptional session. The American College of Sports Medicine’s position stand, Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults, discusses the principles used to develop resistance-training programmes.
Health behaviours can also accumulate over time. Regular physical activity, adequate sleep and appropriate nutrition can contribute to long-term health, although outcomes depend on many interacting factors. The World Health Organization’s guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour provide evidence-based recommendations for physical activity across different age groups.
The same principle can work in the opposite direction. Repeatedly delaying tasks, neglecting recovery or engaging in behaviours that undermine your goals can create patterns that become increasingly difficult to change. One isolated decision rarely determines an entire outcome, but repeated behaviour can shape routines, opportunities and long-term results.
The analogy should not be taken too literally. Financial returns can compound mathematically under defined conditions, while biological adaptation and human behaviour are more variable. The useful connection is the importance of consistency, time and the cumulative consequences of repeated actions.
Polymathic learning encourages you to look for these transferable principles while remaining aware of the limits of each comparison. The result is a more connected understanding of the world, rather than a collection of disconnected facts.
10. Deliberately Practise Outside Your Preferred VARK Learning Style
The VARK model describes four preferences for engaging with information: Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinaesthetic. Understanding these preferences can help you reflect on how you approach learning, but it is important not to turn them into fixed identities that dictate how you study every subject.
Someone who prefers visual explanations may benefit from diagrams, but that does not mean they should avoid reading. Someone who prefers practical activities may still need to study theory, while a person who enjoys listening to explanations may need to write, retrieve and apply the information independently. Your preferred approach can be a useful starting point, but it should not become a restriction.
The more effective strategy is to select methods according to the learning objective. If you are studying anatomy, diagrams may help you understand spatial relationships, written material can clarify definitions and functions, discussion can help you work through difficult concepts, and practical activities can help you apply your knowledge. These methods do not need to be used equally. They need to be used where they provide value.
For example, you cannot learn to drive a car simply by reading about driving. You cannot become a competent chess player without playing chess, and watching someone perform a physical skill does not reproduce the experience of performing it yourself. In each case, observation and explanation can help, but the task ultimately requires you to develop the relevant ability through practice.
There is also an important scientific distinction between having a preferred learning style and learning more effectively when instruction matches that preference. Pashler and colleagues’ review, Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence, found insufficient evidence to support routinely matching instruction to learners’ stated styles. This does not mean that visual, auditory, written or practical approaches are ineffective. It means that preference alone is not a reliable basis for deciding how a subject should be taught.
If you want to explore this issue in greater detail, read our related article, Why Your Natural Learning Style Doesn’t Matter as Much as You Think. It examines the limitations of fixed learning-style labels and explains why the method should fit the task rather than the task being restricted by your preferred method.
The objective is not to force yourself to use every learning method equally. It is to become adaptable enough to recognise what a task requires, select appropriate learning activities and assess whether they are helping you achieve the desired outcome.
Bringing the Ten Techniques Together
These ten techniques are most useful when they complement one another. You do not need to apply every technique to every subject, and attempting to do so would make learning unnecessarily complicated. Instead, choose the methods that address the specific challenge you face.
If you are struggling to understand a concept, use the Feynman Technique to explain it in your own words and the Socratic method to examine your assumptions. If you are finding it difficult to remember information, use spaced learning and retrieval practice. If a subject feels overwhelming, use chunking to organise the material into meaningful groups. If you need to understand a system, visualise its structure and explore useful connections with other areas of knowledge.
The Pomodoro Technique can help you structure focused study sessions, while awareness of the Dunning–Kruger effect can remind you to assess your competence rather than relying on confidence alone. Reference association can make unfamiliar concepts easier to approach, and polymathic learning can help you recognise transferable principles across different disciplines. Finally, adapting your learning methods to the task ensures that your preferences do not prevent you from developing the skills you need.
The aim is to build a flexible system that you can adapt to different subjects, rather than following a rigid routine regardless of what you are trying to learn.
A Practical 45-Minute Learning Session
Suppose you want to learn a new topic in exercise physiology. Begin by spending five minutes identifying the specific concept you want to understand and writing down what you already know. This gives you a starting point and helps you identify assumptions that may need checking.
Spend the next fifteen minutes studying a reliable source, such as a textbook, research review or reputable educational resource. Use diagrams or written notes where they clarify the material, but avoid trying to record every sentence. Focus on the central principles, how they relate to one another and what you need to understand.
For the following ten minutes, close your materials and explain the topic in your own words. Use the Feynman Technique to identify gaps, and ask questions that test whether your explanation makes sense. If you struggle to explain a relationship or mechanism, return briefly to the source and correct your understanding.
Use another ten minutes to apply the concept. Answer practice questions, interpret a relevant example, explain how the principle applies to a training situation or solve a problem using what you have learned. This stage helps distinguish theoretical familiarity from the ability to use the information.
Spend the final five minutes summarising the most important points and identifying what you need to revisit. Schedule another session after an appropriate interval and begin it by retrieving the information from memory before reviewing your notes. This is a flexible framework rather than a scientifically prescribed allocation of minutes. Adjust the structure according to the subject, the complexity of the material and the outcome you want to achieve.
Conclusion: Learn to Learn, Not Just to Memorise
Becoming an effective learner is not about discovering one perfect technique or finding a single method that works for everything. It is about understanding the demands of a task, selecting appropriate strategies and checking whether those strategies produce the results you need.
The Feynman Technique can expose gaps in your understanding, while spaced learning and retrieval practice can help strengthen long-term retention. Chunking and visualisation can make complex information easier to organise, and questioning can help you develop deeper reasoning. Connections between disciplines can reveal broader principles, while practical application and feedback help turn knowledge into competence.
Above all, remember that learning should be judged by what you can understand, recall and do, not simply by how familiar the material feels or how comfortable the study method happens to be. The more adaptable you become, the better equipped you will be to learn unfamiliar subjects, solve problems and continue developing throughout your life.
Develop Your Knowledge With Redefining Fitness
Learning how to learn is particularly valuable in fitness education, where professional competence requires more than memorising information. You need to understand exercise science, apply theoretical knowledge, assess practical situations and communicate effectively with clients.
Redefining Fitness provides fitness education designed to help learners develop the knowledge and practical skills required for the industry. If you are considering a career in fitness, explore the courses available at Redefining Fitness and take the next step towards your professional goals.
Further Reading and References
The following resources provide additional information on the techniques discussed in this article.
Photo and illustration sourcing: Use licensed or reusable images for publication, and verify the licence and attribution requirements for each image before uploading it to the Redefining Fitness website.
