"ask Rob"

[TDean]

I've often struggled with the "tension" I feel, especially after all we hear is relax and breath deep...

It's good to know that it not entirely a bad thing (according that TGO guy).

My question to Rob:

The answer to this question is different for everyone, I'm sure, but as YOU step to the line on a high-pressure stage, what thoughts usually put you in your comfort zone?

Robbie's response:

This was a very good question and one that really got me thinking. I'm not quite sure how to define "comfort zone". As different events require different skills and levels of concentration, I will have varying points of focus. What I want done will determine which state of focus I wish to be in. An event that is very quick generally requires execution without consciously going through a series of thoughts. I like to be tense physically, but relaxed mentally. This is not a goal but a by-product of intense concentration. Focus and confidence are more important here than anything else.

Take any stage at the Steel Challenge, for instance. They are all too quick to think through. The buzzer goes off, you start, and within a few seconds, you are done. You will only have time to think proactively about one or two things, if you are fast. Of course, if you are slow you will have lots of time to think. You must be very sharp and quick to be competitive and there is absolutely no time to be relaxed.

Your muscles work by tensing and relaxing. You are constantly pressurizing and de-pressurizing. This is not a state of relaxation. Do not expect it to be or try to make it that way. In an event at an IPSC match, I may want to feel a little tight. I am usually focusing hard on many things, such as the multiple parts of a stage. I know from my own experience that when I am really sharp, I feel a little tense. Many try to relax at this point, but I see tension as an indicator that I am focusing hard. In this case, being in my comfort zone is not at all relaxed. I require "tension" to recognize I am ready, making a tense state my "comfort zone".

Above all else, I find confidence the major contributor of being able to stay in my "comfort zone". Many spend countless hours trying to find a way or process to relax, in a situation where that is nearly impossible. Accept tension and nervousness as a condition that you can be comfortable with and you can then focus on the real problems at hand. The shooting test, not your emotional state, should be the center of your attention. RL

www.RobLeatham.com

[SiG Lady]

"The shooting test, not your emotional state, should be the center of your attention. RL"

Now, THAT one I'm taking WITH me.

[Sam]

Tom, what a great question! I can't tell you how often I've wondered about this. I've tried shooting in a relaxed mode and found that I'm usually slow when I do. I need to "feel the juice" to do well. On some of the best steel stages I can remember, I wondered how I even hit the targets cuz my hands were shaking so bad. This is good news to me. Thanks for sharing your answer from TGO with the rest of us and thanks for the link to his site.

[benos]

Today, I feel the word "relaxed" should be stripped from the IPSC shooter's vocabulary.

What relaxed means to some will mean something completely different to others.

What if you replaced "relaxed" with the conceptual quality of "not overly tense"?

At its simplest state, being tense implies a state of readiness, so being "tense" is not necessarily a problem. But being overly tense almost alway is.

be

[Sam]

What if you replaced "relaxed" with the conceptual quality of "not overly tense"?

That would be a much better way of stating it, Brian. And "conceptual quality" beats the crap out of a definition.

That whole issue of the focusing on the emotional state instead of the shooting test hit me hard too.

Not relaxed and not trying. Not overly tense. Not conciously thinking. And not expecting. There isn't much to get in the way of the shooting now.

That's the zone.

I'm learning, man.

Thanks!

[Steve Anderson]

calm.

SA

[SiG Lady]

...Much as there is a difference between "eager" and "anxious"...

[kdj]

Today, I feel the word "relaxed" should be stripped from the IPSC shooter's vocabulary.

What relaxed means to some will mean something completely different to others.

What if you replaced "relaxed" with the conceptual quality of "not overly tense"?

In certain forms of Aikido training, there's a similar misunderstanding. In English, a certain training principle is often quoted as "relax completely" which is very misunderstood. A more literal and informative translation would be some thing like "release all unnecessary tension".

I think that's what you are trying to get to in the shooting space too. Some tension (e.g. the muscle tension that holds you upright) is good; some tension (e.g. tight sholders) is bad. The art is ditinguishing one from the other

[38supPat]

Directed tension

[Skywalker]

Well, I must admit I never felt really comfortable with the statement that you should be in a relaxed state to shoot your best.

At least with my understanding of the word relaxed: to give you a visual image of my "relaxed state", for me relaxed is the feeling I get when (after a long and hard working day) I can spend some 15 minutes to take a bath in my (small) jacuzzi. That's a relaxed state for me.

When shooting, I have discovered that I shoot my best when I'm in anger, sick, or in any other mental state that gives me that growling feeling deep in my stomach. Again, to explain it with a visual image, I shoot my best when I can feel like a compressed spring instants before it's being released.

I think that the post from our host pretty nailed it: forget the relaxed state, you need to be "healty tense" to shoot your best, but not "overly tense" otherwise you'll crash and burn.

[mcoliver]

Can "tension" also have levels?

I mean, like, when we're pushing for that fast draw. We normally set a different boundary in our comfort level with enough practice. Such that what was uncomfortable before is now a new level of ease?

Does pushing tension levels work the same way?

I just had a thought. When were pushing it we normally get tensed, right? When we push ourselves enough and start to have a break through on what we're trying to do, does tension really go away? Or is it always there and we just learned to "work with it?

[tightloop]

I don't think it ever goes away, but the more prepared you are, the less tension there seems to be.

For me, it is when I am not on top of my game that I really feel tension.

[benos]

Well, I must admit I never felt really comfortable with the statement that you should be in a relaxed state to shoot your best.

That sentence pinpoints the source of confusion. I was never attempting to describe a "relaxed state," that exists in-and-of itself. (Svabhava - That which is of itself so.)

To me, and as described in PS - bf, the word "relax" simply meant a conscious release, or "backing off," from an overly tense state. So "relax" is not a state, it is a response.

be

[38supPat]

Well, I must admit I never felt really comfortable with the statement that you should be in a relaxed state to shoot your best.

That sentence pinpoints the source of confusion. I was never attempting to describe a "relaxed state," that exists in-and-of itself. (Svabhava - That which is of itself so.)

To me, and as described in PS - bf, the word "relax" simply meant a conscious release, or "backing off," from an overly tense state. So "relax" is not a state, it is a response.

be

Hmmm...interesting

[Skywalker]

To me, and as described in PS - bf, the word "relax" simply meant a conscious release, or "backing off," from an overly tense state. So "relax" is not a state, it is a response.

be

Now I know that, before even thinking to take a course on shooting, I need to take a crash course on english and an in-depth course on zen!

Thanks for explaining BE, I never figured it out by myself.

This might also explain what I posted b4, the fact that I shoot my best when I'm feeling uneasy: I might unconsciously know I have to focus all my senses on shooting and get rid of unnecessary thoughts (mostly expectations on the shooting), because of a non-optimal physical/mental state that could eventually affect my performance. An example of the above was the best match I ever shot: I shot it after coming back home from a 3-days business trip in a different country, and having slept less than 4 hours!

Looks like I unconsciously need something to remember me to focus on the shooting and trash the remaining.

Someone volunteering to be on the range at next match to slap me in the back b4 each stage, yelling me "shut the f@*§ up and shoot!"?

[benos]

And I forgot to say that for me, it is a "response" because my natural reaction to the buzzer is an overly tense one.

be

[Jasonub]

Funny, now i m relaxed and just shooting for fun and not caring. I then got to be inside top 10 in a level 2 match.

very confusing

[Paladin]

To shoot really fast your CNS must be 'revved up'..this in itself leads to some tension, the trick is not to let the tension overwhelm you..and there are a few exercises that can help you to manage it..For high performance 'managed tension' is the way to go!!

[Ron Ankeny]

Every individual will find their own state of "tension", "comfort", or "relaxation". These words are very subjective and we must define them through our own experience.

For me, "relaxing" is the act of minimizing the negative aspects of the stoopid stuff that I do to myself and that is best done through trust.

[Skywalker]

And I forgot to say that for me, it is a "response" because my natural reaction to the buzzer is an overly tense one.

be

It never fails to amaze me the different reactions the human body can have to the very same stimulus.

For me, the buzzer is something that mutes everything else nad leaves me alone with the shooting challenge the stage presents.

I mean, when the buzzer goes off, it looks like someone places a pair of muffs on my ears and narrows my vision to the very essential: the targets.

I totally forget there is a RO, some bystanders, a timer ticking: I only see my front sight and the targets, no audible noise at all.

The problem is that I usually can't get my mind disengaged and let my body sprint at full trhust as dictated by my vision.

I often find myself trapped in thinking "...well I have done this, I need to do that, beware of that other...".

Whenever I'm feeling uneasy, and my conscious mind is distracted (read busy) with what makes me feel uneasy, my body reacts to the very visual stimulus, instead of filtering (and slowing down) through my conscious mind.

[Mad Scientist]

B.E. and TGO respectfully,

Define match tension for those of us who just dont have the match presure exsperience as you guys do.

I would have to think that major match tension or nerves get a little easier with exsperience.

The d class guy shooting his first uspsa nationals would probable have a diferent level of stress as the guy who had won 10 times in the past. could you guys share a little of the progresion of confidence as exsperience takes over and how your stress levels have reduced over the years . Or am I just full of it????

[DJPoLo]

The d class guy shooting his first uspsa nationals would probable have a diferent level of stress as the guy who had won 10 times in the past.

A D-class competitor at the nationals (3-gun or otherwise) should ignore the stress and shoot safely - You'll probably do well regardless. There is so little competition at this level in the nationals, that you should place well. Been there - done that. Miss it...

-Chet

[benos]

MS,

I certainly couldn't define match tension, but I could say a few things about it.

No matter how much experience I had, I always felt at least anxious or nervous, especially on the first stage of ANY match. Always. Even on a Tuesday night at Rio after 20+ years of national competition.

But over time, you definitely suffer from it less. Even if you shoot long enough that it becomes almost unnoticeable, especially after you "settle in" to a match, I realized it still, often, infected my performance. I can remember duplicating stages after coming home from a nationals, and for the life of us, couldn't figure out why we shot so slow in the nationals, when we felt just fine when we were actually shooting. Then, after some more years, even that faded pretty much. It could still creep back in now and then though.

After quite a few years, I finally realized that the best way to deal with match tension, stress, anxiety, or nervousness, was to just forget about it completely. The source of it all is excess concern, or worry. And worrying about worrying just makes it worse.

Of course this all takes time as experience.

At each moment, make every effort TO DO exactly what you know you must do. Eventually, as you understand for yourself that is about all you can do, you'll start to do it with less resistance.

For me the pressure was always there, what matters is how you deal with it.

Sometimes, in what might normally be the most anxious moments, a strange sense of calm awareness would overtake me. And probably just as often, in what would normally be the most stress-free times, I'd get so juiced up I couldn't do anything right. IMO, it's very mysterious and not something to be overly concerned about.

be

[j1b]

I agree with Brian, the nerves never go away. I shot this weekend against Matthew Mink, and I was excessively nervous. Nervous because I'd made too big a deal about a nothing match. I wanted to use it to gauge my status, which I wasn't able to do because I wasn't shooting inside of myself. I would have been better off shooting at the nationals - I would have done better.

I was always nervous. I always will be. I think the difference is that I feel like I can deal with nerves better. I can decide to own my nerves, or let my nerves own me. Naturally I've decided to own them and make them my own - so I am in more control.

I will also note that in my limited experience, winning is a choice. So many shooters with so much skill are able to win any given match. All want to win. Only a few choose to win. Once I get my skill set back up, that is what I'm going to work on. I feel like in choosing to win, you make a conscious effort to do what needs to be done to win. By only wanting to win, one probably spends more time hoping things don't go wrong.

I don't have the experience of BE or TGO - but those are kind of my thoughts on this whole deal.

JB

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks guys I apreciate the insite.Like brian my first stages are shakey

I guess its human nature to worry and worry about worry That is a real earth shatering revelation for me. Wow Thanks.

Being a fierce competetor has always made me crave the juice but as I progress in this sport i realize that my performance is always better when I am not trying to make things hapen but let them happen as an instinct of a pre devised plan.

Johnnie