Chris iliff Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 It was a pleasure shooting with you, Bryar, and your father today Chris. I hope you picked up a few useful things, and I look forward to shooting with you soon in the future! And btw, you shot that last stage like a champ bro Video to come soon. Thanks man, EIS is the bomb!! The stage analysis was top notch and just what I was wanting. You made a positive impact on Bryar's shooting/mental game and his stage breakdown. He told me several times on the drive home how much he learned and how cool you are. I mean heck, what could I say except, "Shut up Bryar", after he paid you the umpteenth compliment!!! Great class man!! The word is out!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Yup, last stage was your best one all day. You picked up on that 5th target to the right, which saved you a shooting position, AND a transition, without anyone else doing it, or even saying anything about it. Very gamey!! I liked it. It seemed like a pretty straight forward stage, but there were so many different ways to shoot that one. Multiple options all over the place. Kinda made it hard to give a good stage plan on when there's 2 good ways to shoot it. Chris, I can't thank you guys enough. EIS is GREAT, thanks for starting it. Each stage was a learning process and when I'm in that mode I'm "thinking", it kinda slows me down. By the last stage I was just starting to apply the stuff I'd been learning all day and it came together for me. That was my full potential and it felt good and right, calm and effective. I seen that option and I went for it and it worked for me. Now, because of EIS, I can look at that stage and can see one or two more things that might have shaved a second or more off my time. Things that we discussed on other stages. Stuff like speeding up my transitions a bit and exploding out sooner from a position. I'm looking forward to getting the video and the EIS analysis. EIS may be new, but the word is out. Thanks for taking my nephew and I on as students!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Sounds like you had a great time! I may have to jump on board soon too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Working on your and Bryar's video now...after Chris and I have had some time to analyze it together I'll post 'em up right here on your range diary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 I dryfired tonight. First time I have done that seriously for 2 years or more. I got my Steve Anderson book out and most entries stopped in January 08. Man, did it show!! On Micah's advice I dryfired. I can clearly see how much rust I've let settle into my game. I did an hour and a half. Draws at 10 yards, relaxed and surrender, turning draws, table pick ups, empty starts, and moving reloads. I also did some draws in front of a full length mirror to my dominate eye. This one(mirror) really shows a bunch. You can check if your dipping your head or moving other body parts by the relationship of objects in the mirror and your reflection. It's really great for dot guns as you can line the reflection up and really refine/smooth out your acquisition. I have spent a month learning. First a Manny class and then EIS training with Chris Keen and Micah Barcelo. It's time to groove it in and practice. The dryfire showed me just how perishable our skills are when we don't continually refine them. I'm going back to the basics/fundamentals. All the instructors told me this. My immediate goal is to be a top A shooter. Of course I want GM, but that will happen when it should. If I focus on my fundamentals and get back to the basics, the shooting and class will take care of itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Glad you enjoyed it Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 I want to refine my mechanics. I put my gun on and dryfired 45 minutes. I can already feel the rust (that I didn't even realize was there) coming off. I did relaxed and surrender draws at 5, 10 & 15 yards. 10 or more reps of each at each position. I also did empty start pickups and loads. Plus, I did the mirror dryfire again. Already much improvement, especially in the mirror. I admit that when I got Steve's books several years ago that I didn't quite get the "don't pull the trigger" statements. I pulled the trigger on almost all my dryfire reps. Now I get it! By not pulling the trigger we can concentrate on the movement. I think Steve even mentioned this, I must have glossed over that at the time, duh!! I want to be competitive and I'm going to do the work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Here is a link to my EIS training with Chris Keen and Micah Barcelo. http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b194/fatlatino/EIS/?action=view¤t=ChrisIliff-Circleville.mp4 I have my one on one with Chris tonight, .... more later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenDot Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Wow that is awesome!!!! Can't wait to see the vids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 I did one hour tonight on the range. ALL DRYFIRE. I started at 3 yards, relaxed and surrender, worked the par time down to .8. Then 7 yards down to .8(iffy) and finally 10 yards down to .9. I did at the least 10 reps surrender and 10 relaxed at each distance. Some were more if i really wanted to groove it in. I did strong and weak hand draws to my plate machine. Not so much worried about the par, concentrated on technique, boy am I rusty with wh/sh, very shaky too. I then did turn and draws to a plate at ten yards. Worked at keeping the gun close to my body during the draw and pushing out to the target. Suprised at 1 second par times with this. Didn't push this much, just stayed relaxed and snapped my eyes and head to that plate. My transitions are slow and I worked on bringing the gun in and pushing it back out when the transition is much past 90 degrees. I fiddled with the timer par and there is as much as a .3 gain by pulling the gun in and then pushing it out. This adds up quickly on those back and forth stages. As with anything, live fire times would probably be an actual larger gain. I'm going to try this live fire and really get some solid times on the gains. A while back I developed this need to do the reload in one step. Which is a good goal. Unfortunately, this has led to what looks like on video plain slow standing reloads. I addressed this tonight and dryfired reloads between boxes. The old way added a second or more. The NEW way, was much better and quicker. EIS and Manny both mentioned this to me and I want to fix it permanently. I pulled the trigger very little and worked on being relaxed and smooth during all my draws. My third dryfire workout this week and it felt really productive. I've got my conference call with EIS (Keen) at 8pm. We will finish up my training with them by talking about the things I need to do. Chris has gone over the video (2 posts up) and has told me he has a bunch of notes and things for me to work on. I am very interested and can't wait. I am still bummed about pulling out of Area 5, but my sights are set on Indiana State and then hopefully Tennessee State. Talk at you shooters later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Looking forward to seeing you on the range soon and hearing more about this. Sounds like Chris and Micah know what they are doing with their teaching (we all know how they shoot!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Here is the video from our session from this past match You have a pm...please have Bryar give me a jingle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 (edited) My poor range!!! Edited June 11, 2011 by fourtrax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 (edited) I lost 5 barrels, found steel plates as far as 100 yards away, target stands and stick everywhere. When I got it cleaned up I was wiped out. My 55 gallon drums actually traveled over 100 yards then went through a culvert and ended up in the woods on the other side of the road. Fishing them out of the creek when they were half full of water wore my butt out. Then lugging them back the the range. LIFE IS GOOD!! Edited June 12, 2011 by fourtrax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) Two from Warsaw today. Talk more later. Edited June 12, 2011 by fourtrax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenDot Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Nice!!!!!!!!! Sorry to hear about your range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Thanks! Results haven't posted yet, but I'm thinking I made top 5. It was a 5 stage match and I only got 3 of them recorded. I completely hosed stage three with a standing reload and some other nonsense ( misses on a star). I've had so much training this year that my head is swimming with info. Worse, I SEE the path and I'm in my own way. I want to shoot! Just SHOOT. A few mistakes today, but all in all, I am moving in the right direction. Twice today I actually paused. First time was on CM99-46. I did the two back poppers and the paper so fast I brain farted going into my reload and transition to the other side of the barricade. Second time was a 4 popper array and two DT's. After the 4 poppers I brain farted and screwed the pooch on the transition again. This cost me a NPM on one DT. I've experienced this before and I think i know what is causing it. It has happened several times recently and I think it is a "gotcha aha" moment. When I'm past my normal speed my mind screams holy crap are you getting this!!!! Instead of blazing away I have a mental hiccup at that moment, a "brain fart" or "pause". Anyways, I think with the frequency of this lately that my training is paying off. I need some more live fire! Really fast and accurate live fire!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonovanM Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Nice shooting on the move, you look really smooth. Bummer about the range, although, now you can shoot with hip waders! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 Nice shooting on the move, you look really smooth. Bummer about the range, although, now you can shoot with hip waders! Thanks, a Master class Open shooter(Repete Briggs) was HOA. I was 2nd overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avezorak Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Sucks about ur range bro. We would kill for that kinda water in Central Texas. Vids looked good. Im about ready to get some training myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 Yes, I should have done the training years ago! I waited to long. I have taken a Cheely movement class, a Manny class with 9 other students and EIS training with Micah Barcelo and Chris Keen. The Cheely class was a couple years ago and it set me on the path to moving better, good solid stuff. Manny taught me to distinguish target difficulty and the different trigger presses required for each one. EIS (my favorite) taught me who I was as a shooter and what I need to do to improve my stages. They watched my game on video and in person and gave me feedback. At this point as an A shooter I have all the info somewhere in my head. I want to refine everything I know. It's up to me, there is no "magic pill", I want to really apply what I've learned. Make it subconscious, automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Got my magnet today, surprise! I just gave the $ to Chris Ford on Sunday and viola, it's here. Chris and her husband, Gavin, are shooters up here in Northern Indiana. They have a new business supplying match stuff like scoring sheets and Chris just recently got her FFL. So, I look for that to grow for them. www.fordshooters.com. Check em out!! I spent a good portion of my dryfire time attaching the magnet to my pouch. I'm going to add some epoxy to stiffen it up. I did draws at 3, 5, 10, and 20 yards. Relaxed and surrender. Then I did some reload drills and finally some loaded gun/mag pickups to utilize my new magnet. I really like it. It's going to be a time saver for sure. Really impressed with how quickly I'm gaining my index and timing back. I've changed a lot this season and finally things are smoothing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Shot the Ft. Wayne match. They are working hard up there to get that great club back on track. This match was a positive indication that Ft. Wayne is committed. It was Great!! Good job to all!!! I shot HOA and was happy mostly. I had my new grip grooving on most stages. Yes it still needs work, and I was thinking to apply it several times, but better. Shot with an older gentlemen that's been in the sport since 86. He said I looked good moving. I've been working on that so I was happy to hear it from him. This guy wasted no time on the shooting/transitions. I barely got him on 2 stages, he made up for his slower movement with his shooting/transitions. I gotta work on those two things, shooting speed/transitions, while also keeping up my recent work on my movement and reloading. My new magnet came in handy! It worked perfect and easily saved me a second or more on one stage. It was my first match with a magnet and even though I did do some drills with it beforehand, I want to do more to really groove it! Looking at one particular stage from EIS training without a magnet, the time savings could be easily 3-4 seconds. I thought about one for awhile and now will recommend them wholeheartedly!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Dryfired tonight. Index is good and getting better. .8s at 5 and 7 seems almost easy. I turned par off and worked from the buzzer on form. Trying to really burn the movements in correctly. I believe it's paying off. Did some reloads. Did some table starts utilizing my new magnet. That's grooving in nicely. Things just seemed to flow pretty good. I didn't push it and just kinda went through my practice noting that it seemed effortless to meet the pars I have. I won HOA at Ft. Wayne. It could have went to 4 different shooters. I'm glad it was me. RVB whines about reloading, but as a Master class Production shooter who has beat me often, don't you guys buy into it. That guy reloads so fast it's easy to miss!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Glad to hear it's coming along so well for you Chris. Hope to see you at Indy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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