ErikW Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 How does one quickly move between shooting positions? One of my weaknesses I've identified is moving from one position to another. What I do when I leave a position is I shift my weight to opposite the direction of travel, then spring out. It's almost cartoonish. I'm losing time as I'm going backwards. I'm at my worst moving laterally; it's not so bad moving forward. Here's a picture (from Area 2 last year) I think shows me wound up opposite the direction of travel. (It's not much movement, but it illustrates my point.) When I took my first class from Mike Voigt, he spent some time showing us how to leave a position by unweighting the leg in the direction of travel, but I never quite got the hang of it. I have a fairly wide shooting stance, which may contribute to my difficulty. Am I going to have to tighten up the space between my feet? Should I be moving my upper body first, then the legs? Travis, how do you explode out of a position? (Don't say it's the shoes; I've got the same Adidas you're wearing on the cover of Front Sight.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 I can't reply for TT, because he is the "Exploder." But the Mike V technique is the technique I use - you begin moving without any effort. Your "wide-leg" stance may well make it more difficult to put into practice. You might investigate your stance - understand why you started it, why you do it, and if it's really necessary. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 Read my post on leaving under the tip forum, other than that all I'll do is determine how much 'air time' I need to engage targets as I leave and shift the coresponding amount of weight back to my support leg. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPSC Supercop Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 Eric, you also have to remember that Travis was some kind of All World (not really All World, but pretty darn good) Soccer player with great foot speed and coordination. Gungames did an article on Travis and said something about his outstanding soccer skills and excellent foot speed. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPSC Supercop Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 Brian, I also wanted to share some info for a moment. I used to always shoot with a wide stance. I stopped and thought about it for a moment and saw pictures in your book and pictures of Robbie where he was standing with a much more narrow stance. I decided to try it for a couple of weeks and during dry firing. I was amazed at the difference it made for me. I have never felt more comfortable and it has actually decreased my draw times and increased the consistentcy of "perfect" draws and reloads. It makes me feel much more relaxed and comfortable. What is the "unweighing method" of movement? Thanks, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 Kevin, I'm not surprised by the increase in performance you noted from using a more "normal" stance. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the "unweighing method"? Is it something different from just lifting the lead leg (as talked about) to start your foward momentum? be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisT Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 (Edited by TravisT at 7:17 pm on June 11, 2002) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 31, 2001 Author Share Posted May 31, 2001 Awesome reply, thanks. .18 per movement is a whole bunch of time. It appears this should be the #1 thing I should work on right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 Nice post TT, thanks! Have you ever noticed that Todd seems to "follow his gun around"? I've watched him go around corners, barricades, etc., and it looks like he is a snake and his gun is the head. What I've learned, and incorporated, from that is what you referred to in your post as "flicking your eyes." I've leaned that if you lead (direct) your will with your eyes, your body follows. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Kline Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 Brian and TT, I took a class from Todd in 98 and he told us to keep the gun in our face while moving from position to position. He told us to keep it in our face so it would be right there and we could see it if we needed to clear a jam or something was wrong while moving. He also told us that we would be making most mag changes while moving from one position to another and the mag changes were going to be done from the gun up anyway. I have used this technique for 3 years with very good success. I have watched tapes of myself running a stage and noticed that I have the gun just a Todd instructed and didn't even know it. I was doing this subconsciously, which I think it a good thing. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Well I didn't get to practice movement, but I did start throwing elbows around in a match Sunday. That alone seems to help quite a bit. My times were much closer to an Open Master who usually beats me by a couple seconds when I shoot Open. On slo-mo video, throwing the elbow seemed to pull the upper body along with it. Where my top-heavy weight goes, my legs must follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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