Jake Di Vita

I had a nice long post typed up - but it could really all be summed up nicely in one sentence... Gimme a break.

Yes but we are not talking about decreasing stage times without increasing shooting ability - that's all well and good but will only get you so far. You can have the best movement skills in the world, but if you can't increase your actual shooting ability, you're pretty much screwed. My post was strictly about shooting ability. Duane, That is pretty much how I feel about things right now as well, although I'd wager a lot of the top shooters would disagree with me... Let me use tanning as an analogy...If you go tan 10 minutes a day for a week, you will get tanner. If you tan 10 minutes per day every week for a year, how much tanner do you get? The answer is little if any. The reason for that is the body adapts to the stresses placed upon it, but it only adapts as much as it required. Once something becomes routine, the body no longer has any need to adapt (read: improve) because it has no need to. In terms of practice and improving - all gains come from your Central Nervous System (CNS). The best way I've found of improving is simply to push it, but it needs to be with a purpose. For example, I usually recommend devoting the first half of live fire sessions to accuracy oriented practice, and the 2nd half towards pushing it. When pushing it, I want to shoot as fast as I can keep them on the paper - while still making my goal to hit Alphas. This is to only way to stress your CNS to perform faster and more accurately. What I want you to do is ratchet up the point at which the margins become unacceptable so that it takes more and more horsepower to make you fumble. You won't do that without crashing and missing some targets. This is called threshold training, and it's the most natural thing in the world to do. When I'm training someone, the first thing I want to do in ingrain proper technique. Then I'll say to you, "Duane, I want you to go faster. No, not sloppy...faster. Faster and less sloppy, I want both." I'm gonna push you, and you'll be really frustrated, but if I don't get you to where you're faltering and I'm seeing form faults, we aren't going hard enough. It's from that faltering that I want to make the correction. I want you to type so fast you miss the keys, then I'm gonna tell you to stop missing the keys. I want you to shoot so fast that you're missing targets, then I'm gonna tell you to stop missing the f***ing targets. What we're trying to do is correct your technique at the fastest speeds. "The fastest delivery for given output is along super correct lines of action."

That will make you better at everything but shooting. I'm not saying that isn't important, but the goal of this sport will always be to put shots on the target as quickly as possible. Take a shooter with GM class shooting ability and D class movement, chances are he'll still perform reasonably well - but it will also be much easier for him to elevate his movement ability. Take a shooter with D class shooting ability and GM movement ability. It will be much more difficult to get the second shooter to GM performance than the first. The better you are at the actual act of shooting, the more potential you have to draw from.

You have to be right on the edge during practice. If you are paying attention, you will start being able to read the sights faster out of sheer necessity. In terms of transitions, you're close. But I'm talking in terms of shooting as a whole. Let me put it this way: There has never been a champion racer that hasn't crashed into the wall a couple of times in his career. You can't learn to accurately control your shots at speed, unless you crash and burn once or twice. Striving to be as technically accurate as possible during the crash is what makes you better.

You may have beat the A class shooter doing that, but you'll never beat a M or GM if you have to choose. Don't let speed control your game. Shoot each round when your vision tells you that you are going to hit the target. Then work on pushing your vision to work faster but with the same accuracy in practice. When you are improving, you'll be shooting right on the edge of where you can only call half your shots, when you stay there long enough you'll start seeing more and more accurately assuming you are holding accuracy of your movements in the highest regard. I don't know if that last sentence really makes sense, what do you all think?

+1 for Flex and +2 for Matt's method.

I personally love that you thought it happened. No limits. Buyin' you a beer someday for that one.

Good boy.

If Brock does happen to align his stars and beat Randy, I'll bet it won't be because of conditioning. Brock may be a gorilla, But I'd like to see how his fitness holds up after he gets hit solid a few times.

Go B. Favre!

Do you know the actual percentage? Also, this: and this: are just about diametrically opposed. How about going back to using your sights for every shot and see if that changes anything for the better?

What percentage of the points do you usually shoot at matches?

Guy's Not Jake, but im the thread starter on the link for that scope. the glass is very good the best i have current used and of current i have run ACOG's millett, mueller and a current SB short dot. the 5.5x20 is also outstanding. both will/should feature several reticle options and be ready around shot show. ps i do not work for trijicon but i do have some input to them. Steve

Come on buddy, you know there is no substitute for practice. From now on, every drill you do in dry fire and live fire, do weak handed as well. Hard work is the best recipe I've come across.

Flex's post was the best by far.

Haha thanks guys. It's been a fun one.

I was with you till you said natural ability...

Yep...they practice a lot.

Ummm I can. The difference is I don't look at stages as a static non-changing thing. When I program the stage, I use that as a guide of how to shoot it. Staying in the moment and reacting to my senses has always seemed like a better idea than ignoring them and doing strictly what I memorized.

I'll bet there's no other way he would have rather died... Good story.

There may be muzzle rise in the top male shooters, but as far as I've seen, recoil management is far better. More than likely a strength issue in that case.

wow....just wow...

Get your stance and grip to the point where you think you are being too aggressive, and that's probably just about right.

Well considering it is the next location of the World Shoot. I doubt that's accurate.

You don't need to ignore everything else around you. Observation is all inclusive...you aren't only observing the sights you are observing what is happening around you. What makes you think you are doing something wrong? Were you able to call your shots correctly? Are you sure the gun is sighted in correctly?