How to improve consistency and keeping focus

[grumpy.old.1]

A little background to let you know where I am at.

I just started competitive shooting this year in April. I have shot 4 local IDPA matches and 2 local USPSA matches in that time. If I am lucky I get to shoot twice a month. Once at a match and if lucky another time at an indoor range. I have been doing dry fire drills at home atleast 4 times a week.

Two weeks after I shot my first IDPA match I shot the classifier and scored as a SS, about 5 seconds shy of Expert. My skills have been improving steadily and with as little actually shooting I get to do I am pleased at the speed of that improvement so far.

Ive been working on trying to pick up time during target transitions and movement. So far so good but I am still self taught so it takes some trial and error and time.

The thing that has really been getting me is my consistency during a match. Our matches usually have 5 stages. When I am done with a match I will usually end up shooting one stage where everything felt really good. Two stages that are so so but I am able to identify what thing went wrong and what I need to work on to correct them. Then two that were complete flops. I forget my plan of attack, have a major mental breakdown and walk off the stage just shaking me head.

What are some of the things you guys work on to keep focus. I dont think its the buzzer throwing me off. Its usually after the first couple of targets where I start to lose it.

[carlosa]

This might sound a bit creasy, but one thing that really helped me was not to think to much.

Don't over analyze the stage. Don't over walk it. Just shoot the dang thing..

Sometimes we get so cut up in our plan, that the smallest doubt, or the smallest mistake can send us for a spin.

I think that some of us when we start shooting this sport feel that we need to program every aspect of the stage into our brains (a skill a newish shooter has not developed). And this must of the time actualy ends up overloading us which makes us shoot tense and in a judgmental and forcefull state. By simplifing our plan and remembering only key shooting and reloading positions, one can more eazly remember the the plan and there is less that can go wrong. As we develop the ability to shoot in this looser more organic fashion we are able to add important details like shooting an activator a steel and then a paper, etc.

Confidence is also an important key. Hangging on to perceived errors in a stage can make you self concious, and make you over try in the next (so can a good stage)

The ability to shoot every stage with out any reference to the previous stage (good or bad) is also inmansly helpful. I think this are some off the harder aspect of the game. But many times ignored. If you get a chance pick up the book "thinking practical shooting".

It will give you many insights to this Fenomena.

By the way it could also be your physical state. Hidration, snacking, and amount of time between stages can have an effect on your physical an mental state this can fluctuate between stages.

Anyway I hope this helps some..

Good luck.

Edited September 8, 2010 by carlosa

[grumpy.old.1]

Thanks for the input carlos. I do tend to over think a stage and try to plan it down to each little bit. Maybe I am giving myself to much to think about. I will just have to give that a try next match and let you know how it works out.

I will put that book on the list to get. There are quite a few I want to pick up now.

I dont think I suffer from bringing a bad stage with me to the next. I dont beat myself up and I never start a stage hoping not to do something. Guess I am just wired as a positive thinker.

Thanks

[MrBorland]

The thing that has really been getting me is my consistency during a match. Our matches usually have 5 stages. When I am done with a match I will usually end up shooting one stage where everything felt really good. Two stages that are so so but I am able to identify what thing went wrong and what I need to work on to correct them. Then two that were complete flops. I forget my plan of attack, have a major mental breakdown and walk off the stage just shaking me head.

What are some of the things you guys work on to keep focus. I dont think its the buzzer throwing me off. Its usually after the first couple of targets where I start to lose it.

There was a recent thread on this that might have some good nuggets for you (link below).

Your experience sounds very similar to mine, and I offered my thoughts in the linked thread. In essence, I think I'm running a bit beyond my control, even on the 2 really good stages. It's just that here, the risk and lack of control happen to pay off and I don't get burned. No so on other, often longer stages, when my "luck" runs out. An epiphany, then, was that a strategy for improving that relied on keeping the "great" stages while eliminating only the "bad" stages might be fundamentally flawed, because they're 2 sides to the same coin, namely lack of control and focus. Instead, I'm going to try backing off the trigger speed a bit, and work on seeing more.

Also, when the buzzer sounds, there's simply too much to think about, yet, as a new competitor, very little of it is automatic to me yet. So, mistakes and brain farts happen. In the meantime, I'm trying to include more match-like movements in my practice session, e.g. practicing smoothly coming into a position with the gun up and ready to shoot rather than show up with "happy feet" and the gun down.

I find I do better when I carefully look at a stage, develop a plan, and visualize myself shooting it a number of times. The visualization helps me "just shoot it", rather than "think it" when the buzzer sounds. Also, once I have a plan and feel it's a good one, I don't generally spend much time watching others, as I'll start needlessly second-guessing my own plan, and going into the stage mentally wishy washy.

Tom

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=113081

[benos]

grumpy.old.1

It sounds as if you are applying a careful, analytical approach to your limited shooting and development time. My first feeling is - keep it up, and the blow ups and so-so's will begin to sort themselves out with more experience.

Also, something I typed a few days ago came to mind.

be

[grumpy.old.1]

Appreciate all the info. I am diffidently trying to get the most improvement out of my limited shooting. I do have past shooting experience so I have been lucky to start with some basic fundamentals already developed. If I had the time and money I could technically shoot 5 matches a month within an hours drive of me in either direction.

I am a patient person but it is difficult for me to back off after the buzzer goes off. I think I will be trying to do the 80-90 percent for the next couple of matches to see how my performance adds up.

[benos]

I am a patient person but it is difficult for me to back off after the buzzer goes off.

I am that exact person. Be sure to carry the "80-90 feeling" all the way through the draw until you fire the first shot. I have a Topic titled "The Set" that has a lot more details on that.

be