Definition
A principle of learning which holds that the things most often repeated are best remembered. Skills and knowledge are retained and refined through practice, while abilities that are not used tend to fade.
Plain English
You get better at what you practice, and you forget what you don't use. Repetition builds and locks in skill.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight instructor training, lesson planning, recurrent training, and discussions of how pilots build and keep proficiency.
Derivation
From the Latin exercere, meaning 'to keep busy' or 'to train.' The term captures the idea that learning, like a muscle, strengthens with regular use and weakens without it.
Why Pilots Care
Recognizing this principle helps instructors design training that uses deliberate repetition to make maneuvers and procedures reliable and safe.
Grounding Statement
A pilot who practices a maneuver correctly several times is more likely to perform it smoothly later than a pilot who only read about it once.
Intuition Check
This does not mean physical exercise, and it is not a regulation. In this context, it means that correct practice strengthens learning, while lack of practice weakens it.
Example Sentence 1
Applying the Law of Exercise, the instructor had the student perform power-off stalls several times in one lesson to reinforce the recovery procedure.
Example Sentence 2
Flight training programs count on the law of exercise to ensure that checklist procedures become automatic through consistent practice.