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Practice


alellis

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I was reading the Indian / arrow thread and was a bit confused by it.

Here's what happened to me recently.

Last November because of inclement weather and long dark nights I spent some time

on precision shooting, .22 rimfire and air pistol. A couple of old hands saw me and after they got over the shock of seeing me without a holster and timer they took the time to give me some good advise and my scores improved enough to keep me interested.

I kept at it and became quite addicted trying to put one right in the center, until spring when the weather improved and the days lengthened.

I kept saying to myself time to get back to IPSC but something always drew me to the precision range to see if I could better my score.

Finally in the middle of June I took my 9mm and gear to the range and finally used it.

Within 100 rounds I had beat my previous personal best for a El Prez by .24 seconds. (4.75 from 4.99)

The next day I worked reloads and did one in 1.15 v my previous best of 1.35

Last summer I was burning up 3-400 a week, this year none.

al

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At the beginning, practice is a great thing, but I've found that I need less physical practice and more mental preparation these days. Relaxation and visualization seem to be the key to performing. Having said that, I also got two blisters at the IN state match yesterday, so you gotta practice a little.

H.

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I remember from my rock climbing days that there is a theory that instructions that control complex movement (what people call muscle memory) are stored in the brain as engrams. Climbers have noticed that when they take time off from training and climbing they may make rapid improvement when they resume climbing, despite losing some conditioning. The thinking went that taking time off allowed the sloppiness inherent in the practiced movement to leave the memory, leaving only the overpracticed movement. It seems like this would also apply to shooting where engrams would store the movements needed for presentations, reloads, target transitions, indexing, etc.

Brad

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For me, it is the quality of the practice and not the quantity. I try to focus on going faster while maintaining my accuracy level (such as it is). I keep speeding up until I crash (Mikes) and then ratchet back a bit. By repeating this pattern I can move the upper end of my comfort zone up a little each session. This has helped with my consistency as well as a bit with my average shooting speed.

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Yes, after you have the skills:

...Relaxation and visualization seem to be the key to performing.

H.

Also, since you didn't shoot for many months, when you did you were "fresh." The trick is always be fresh, even if you have been practicing all month.

be

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Yes, after you have the skills:

...Relaxation and visualization seem to be the key to performing.

H.

Also, since you didn't shoot for many months, when you did you were "fresh." The trick is always be fresh, even if you have been practicing all month.

be

That sounds about right, a layoff lets you clear out a lot of mental cobwebs. In golf we call them "swing thoughts" and they're usually bad, "tuck in your elbow" "keep your head still" "tension your hips" which of course are all great things to DO just not to THINK. When you get to the line (or on the tee) it's time to relax, think about the targets, and go.

H.

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Yes, after you have the skills:

...Relaxation and visualization seem to be the key to performing.

H.

Also, since you didn't shoot for many months, when you did you were "fresh." The trick is always be fresh, even if you have been practicing all month.

be

That sounds about right, a layoff lets you clear out a lot of mental cobwebs. In golf we call them "swing thoughts" and they're usually bad, "tuck in your elbow" "keep your head still" "tension your hips" which of course are all great things to DO just not to THINK.

H.

Yes, thinking prevents doing. Think, plan, and visualize what you are going to do. Then when it's time to shoot - execute!

be

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For me, it is the quality of the practice and not the quantity.

See prior threads on the book "The Talent Code" -- Chapter 4, 'Deep Practice'.

Quality of practice time, not necessarily quantity.

"Quality" CAN be achieved in dry fire, visualization (though the book seems to minimize that), .22/Airsoft and live fire.

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You can't miss fast enough to win. But you can hit slow enough to lose.

Technique is important and the only way to get it is with hours behind the gun. No short cuts available.

If the reason for the OP's performance issues before were mental in nature, then you actually aren't a better shooter now. You are just utilizing more of the skill you've had. Now imagine if you had this breakthrough but had been putting hard hours in instead of off time.

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You can't miss fast enough to win. But you can hit slow enough to lose.

Technique is important and the only way to get it is with hours behind the gun. No short cuts available.

If the reason for the OP's performance issues before were mental in nature, then you actually aren't a better shooter now. You are just utilizing more of the skill you've had. Now imagine if you had this breakthrough but had been putting hard hours in instead of off time.

I wish we could legally practice easier here. I've been competing about a year and have yet to be able to practice at all - I hate it that the only shooting I can do is in the midst of a (for me anyway lol) adrenalin-filled competition-situation...hardly know where my shots are going, and know my trigger control is just woeful :rolleyes: When I get my own firearm I might be able to get to one of the very few small static indoor ranges here, possibly once every couple of weeks.

But nothing would compare to being able to practice movement/different targets outside, ala competitions. Those who can do that legally anytime they want just don't realise how lucky they are.

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Reading this thread's title made me think, maybe, after about 10 years of hard training.

I started shooting practical around 1997. It took me a few years to understand what it was about.

Around maybe '04 I took a more serious interest and have done some hard practice as well as finding out that it's not really about shooting, although the shooting part is important.

al

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Reading this thread's title made me think, maybe, after about 10 years of hard training.

I started shooting practical around 1997. It took me a few years to understand what it was about.

Around maybe '04 I took a more serious interest and have done some hard practice as well as finding out that it's not really about shooting, although the shooting part is important.

al

Yes, it takes some years to come to that understanding.

be

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Great advise. I haven't done much serious competition, but I have trained hard for combat. I found that developing shooting skills is essential. One has to have the skills as "second nature", so you don't have to think about them to execute them. With these skills developed, one can start learning tactics, or "how to fight". With much hard, thorough training, you can become extremely affective. There are a lot of people in this world that think having a firearm is all they need to be effective fighters. They usually end up in triage. I have trained for over 25 years. I can still use a lot more training.

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I spend one session shooting for precision.

I spend one session shooting one shot, from the holster for speed.

I spend one session shooting transitions, 2, 2, 2, etc.

I spend one session doing X, one session doing Y, and one doing Z.

I have found, for myself, that if I try to work on everything all at once, I learn nothing.

Same for golf... Spend on session putting, one chipping, and one driving. 300 putts, 200 wedges, 100 drivers, all in different sessions.

Then, I shoot a local match and try to put together a few elements (draw and transition).

The next match, transition, and precision...

I've progressed as a "whole shooter" better this way.

Just for me.

That and a few hundred reloads per week in front of the TV..

Jeff

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember I made much better improvements when I started shooting less rounds in practice. I use to do 4-500 rounds and when I limited it to 2-300 I found I was not shooting just to shoot but stayed focused and was not looking at the clock like I couldn't wait to leave the range.

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I can remember back in the day, that to 'get good' you had to be knee deep in brass at every practice session, we now know that practicing essential elements a lil at a time is far better way to go(qaulity vs. quantity)

case in point, we were practicing for the 93` steel challenge, in the am, it was a slow start, nothing really going right, by noon we were in full swing, smooth and consistent, and by 3-4pm, we were literally throwing our arms twards the target on the draw...realization of diminishing returns??? probably

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case in point, we were practicing for the 93` steel challenge, in the am, it was a slow start, nothing really going right, by noon we were in full swing, smooth and consistent, and by 3-4pm, we were literally throwing our arms twards the target on the draw...realization of diminishing returns??? probably

I have a different way of looking at it. I'd argue if your performance vastly changes during the course of a day, that is evidence of a deeper root problem that needs addressing. You wouldn't have found this issue under normal match or practice conditions.

Maybe marathon practice sessions occasionally are a good tool to judge if your overall system is in sync and running on all cylinders.

Can't fix a problem you don't know is there for the most part.

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