Learning to be "fast."

[Biloxi23]

I practiced for about four hours today with friend Gerwin Henn, the one respopnsible for my entry into this sport. I've heard teh mantra "smooth is fast" for years but today he proved it to me. He started by having me relax in the shooting box. and worked on the mechanics of my draw. As a police officer I have been drawing for years from the "interview stance," or one of the variations, and the faster I tried to be, teh more I would tense up and ended fighting against my self. Guess what? Most of my draws and shots were really slow, and it was extremely hard to get the sight to stop on the target for a good first shot. We worked on and repeated smooth draws, getting my off-hand to move up as my strong-hand came up, firing without concern for whether the sot hit the plate or not. It got smoother and smoother, and before long, although it did not feel faster, it got faster. He had me continue to go "smoothly" and next thing you know I started hitting the plate, and the shots were not any slower than the misses. I had a tendency to keep tensing up, but each time he would remind me to relax my shoulders and fingers, it seemed like hte front sight just froze in the middle of the plates. What a day. I still have a long way to go, but man it feels so go to actually see and feel progress.

Thanks Gerwin, again.

[Bouttime]

The longer I work on my draw, I really get tight through the neck. I don't know what to do to keep me relaxed. I am ok in the arms and back.