getting better

well   theres many ways to get better...  reading, training, tutoring, but practice practice practice (playing the game)  will always be the best way to stretch those brain muscles.  but who do you play?   people at your own rating level,  those just a little bit below you, those just a little bit above you, or just any old opponent?    i like to go against all takers.   but in any case... as your skill (and rating) rise, so does the pool of opponents...  the better you get the better you play against.   is it any less effective for  a 1400 to averagely play 1300s untill they rise to 1500 and then start on the 1400s, till 1600, then onto the 1500s   and so on in that manner...   or would you call that the easy way up?    is the greater challeng in playing those of equal or higher strength better than playing those who are weaker when the skill level rises continualy in either case?   or am i talking 6 in one hand and a half dozen in the other here?

as i am starting to train myself, i don't look at the opponent rating, sometimes a player with 940 can win on you, some players here have 1300+ and when i check their profile it turns that they play and won only one game, so you  can't judge his/her strength by rating only.

the more u play the more u will learn, u will start see ur own mistakes and find new ways to start/end ur game.

Dan Heisman recommends that you play 75% of your games against players upto 200 point Higher than you and the remaining 25% against those no more than 200 lower. There is a theory like negative re-enforcement whereby playing much lower players than yourself doesn't highlight your mistakes and therefore you don't notice / learn from them.