Mental Trick/Training to Improve Reaction Time

[ErikSS]

I came up with a training technique today and was wondering if this is 'a thing' that people do, or is this something new.  I've been having trouble getting my reaction time down.  I started competing about 8 weeks ago at a few steel matches and started dry fire training about a month ago. My dry-fire draw to a real sight picture has been stuck at around a one second, which given my experience isn't too shabby.  Today I took a few seconds before I pushed the timer button to tell myself out loud that "my arm's controlled by the beep", basically talking myself into believing that my brain didn't need to hear the beep, that my arm knew what to do without my brain getting involved.   I told myself out loud that "my arm would hear the beep and immediately react."  OK, my dry-fire draw went from 1.0, to .9, to .8, to .7 in about 30 minutes of practicing this way.  I think it freed me up from having to concentrate on the beep, I could totally relax my arm, focus intently on the target in front of me, and then my arm just reacted using the muscle memory I've built up over the last month and moved immediately to the sound of the beeper.  Well, obviously my ears/brain/nervous system was doing this. So, has anyone used a technique like this?  Once my times started to come down I really tried to relax before the draw, imagining a wave of relaxation passing from my head, down through my arms and body, and after that I immediately hit 0.7.   I'm not claiming AT ALL that I can now do a real 0.7 sec draw at the next classifier, or even at the range, but it was pretty cool being able to work the mental aspect to allow myself to go faster in dry fire than I thought possible.  Give it a try!

Edited June 7, 2017 by ErikSS
misspelling

[selecw]

Listening to Steve Anderson, the less the conscious mind is involved the better.

 

In his class, he had ALL the students hitting 0.6 draw to sight picture in 10 minutes. I am not exaggerating.

 

In general my DF times are at least 20% faster than my LF times. Taking reloads as an extreme example, I can hit 1.0 in DF (or 0.8 if I use a straight arm technique that I think is too risky to use "live")  but in LF I'm at about 1.5 secs from shot to reload to shot.

 

 

[al23]

I agree that less you think about the more automatic your movement is going to be. I also forced myself to progressive lower par time to make me react appropriately. Still have to always remind myself to make sure I get a good grip each time and not just cheat the timer. Another thing I also learned from Kirsch videos is to listen to the B in beep. 

[MrT_shootsAcz]

Thanks for posting.  My dry fire results thus far are similar to where yours were as I have been stuck at 1 for some time.  I've read and been told directly about listening for the B in Beep before, and have had a hard time applying that. I like how you break this down and describe the disconnect from the brain... make it more muscle memory.  That speaks to me differently and more clearly on how to react "faster" to the beep.  I'm definitely going to try this tonight.  

 

Questions:  Do you repeat a particular phrase while making ready for a particular stage that gets you into the right "frame of mind" to turn this switch on come match time?  Or do you feel that after enough rep's it becomes second nature and you don't need to?  Last question, does this help in regards to not jumping the buzzer?  After learning about reacting to the B in Beep it caused me to be so on edge that I started anticipating the beep and jumping the beep.   

 

Thanks again!   

[ErikSS]

It's actually about not trying to hear the beep or react to the beep.  The time it takes the ear to hear and brain to figure out the sound and then tell the arm to move was my problem.  What I told myself a few times, and the repeated before each press of the timer, was that my arm would react to the beep WITHOUT me hearing it or directing the arm to move.   "My arm is controlled by the beep" was what worked for me.  Then, I focused my Mind on the target ONLY and did not listen for the beep.  When it came, my arm moved "on its own".  Of course, not really on its own, but I let my subconscious control that part.  You really have to trust your subconscious and not "cheat" by listening for the beep with your conscious.  

 

The other thing that worked well was doing this eyes closed. It's another level of taking the conscious out of the picture.  

Edited July 24, 2017 by ErikSS

[MrT_shootsAcz]

Thanks!  I get that by telling yourself to take the "listening" out of your reaction time is what helped the most.  I guess it just seems that in order to achieve outside of the dry fire setting where you are pressing the button I was curious if you use a "trigger" for your subconscious awareness to kick in.  A way to add it to your "make ready" preparation if you will.  In concept it speaks to the analyst in us that want to know how to remove the brain batter from making us think too much.  Going off the B in Beep is great in theory but how do you do it... from a conceptually view I think this helps explain one way to actually do it.  There are a multitude of ways people learn things and I personally think your explanation helps to illustrate a way to learn a faster draw differently than what I have heard to date.  Thanks again for posting and responding.  

[ErikSS]

I have a variable delay on my timer so I never know when the beep is coming.  The other important part for me was to really relax my arm.  When you tense up, it's like you're preparing to jump the beep.  I go WAY faster when my arm is relaxed. 

[MrT_shootsAcz]

Great!  Thanks.

 

Out of curiosity, Since you posted this over a month and a half ago... are you consistently hitting a .7 draw now?

[ErikSS]

I don't pretend that I have a real .7 draw.  I can, however, get from beep to a sight picture in .7, when I relax and concentrate on the target.  It takes work but yes, I can hit that in a dry fire session.  My draw to an actual first shot at the range, at 10 yards and in the A zone, is currently 1.3.   

[MrT_shootsAcz]

Ok.  Like I said I was curious.

 

One thing I tried at about 5 yards in live fire was matching the dry fire speed on my draw.  If for no other reason then to help gain confidence that I can control and fire that quickly in live fire.  In that respect it helps but my accuracy was inconsistent, though I did get as low as .9.  I never missed the target, but borderline Charlie's at 5 yards mean I'm pushing the ragged edge of seeing the sights well enough to be accurate (which also means I wouldn't be drawing and firing that quickly in a match except for maybe on the classifier "can you count".  I'm curious to see if incorporating this technique will help me nail 1 second draws in live fire with increased accuracy.  Thanks again!

[enzo357]

Really interesting, will try it. Currently I am listening for the beep.  

[tanks]

On 7/24/2017 at 6:38 PM, ErikSS said:

I don't pretend that I have a real .7 draw.  I can, however, get from beep to a sight picture in .7, when I relax and concentrate on the target.  It takes work but yes, I can hit that in a dry fire session.  My draw to an actual first shot at the range, at 10 yards and in the A zone, is currently 1.3.   

 

That is quite a gap though. I can't go faster than 0.9 indexing to an A zone yet, but my draw to a 10 yard A zone is 1.2 on average. Are you dwelling on the target once you get the sight picture? I was doing that a while back and that was costing me 2-3 tenths. Once I started to release the shot the moment my sights were on it my draw reduced to 1.2 from 1.4- 1.5. 

[ErikSS]

This was back when I first started dry firing and using a shot timer at the range.  The point of the post was to share the techniques I used to break through to a new, seemingly unobtainable time (for me).  Yes, my actual draw needed a lot of work.  Anyhow, since then the times have converged.  My best hands-at-sides draw to a sight picture in dry fire is now about 0.6 (to A zone at 7 yards), and my best draw to a shot at the range is 0.79 (with a A or C zone hit on a 5 yard target).  I continue to find that the mental aspect is the most important.  Try reading "With Winning in Mind" by Larry Bassham, a lot of good stuff in there.  Steve Anderson's "Get to Work" book also touches on a lot of these things.  Best to discover them for yourself, though, trying different things, rather than just take someone else's advice.  That's where the real work is.  Anyhow, thanks for commenting!

[StuckinMS]

A lot of the "draw" time is also in how your equipment is set up.  Always remember to obey the rules per division for equipment but maximizing your set up for easier access to the gun and magazines helps tremendously in reducing the amount of movement required.  Another thing is to try different techniques.  For example Max Michele Jr and Doug Koenig both have very fast draws, but use slightly different techniques.   I was stuck with a live fire on an 8 inch plate at 10 yards draw time of .90 until I learned which technique best suited me, and tweaked my holster.  Shooting limited in a match a couple weeks ago, was a stage with 1 metric target covered by 3 no shoots leaving the center A zone available.  It was a 1 shot stage and i managed a center A hit in .68.  The mental game is great and a very important key, but don't forget the physical preparation in both equipment and technique.   Max Michele Jr, Travis Tomasie, Doug Koenig, Mike Seeklander, etc. all have great you tube videos showing their technique and each one varies but watch, try, tweak, and succeed!

[arkadi]

What would be your draw time for a Bill Drill in the same configuration?