What was it that took your game to the next level?

[smoothdraw]

dry fire and learning to trigger reset more consistently

[Torogi]

I learned that dry firing 2 hours every single day doing things over and over and over again.. helps but keep this in mind if you will put this in practice, PERFECT practice makes perfect. For all you know you will be practicing bad habits.

[JDHunz]

When I started to just relax more and remind myself I do this for the fun I have and the friends I've made...sounds corny, but I have improved since just reducing stress in my life and on the range.

[sfpmb]

TIME

I had the drive,I still do. I trained, I still do. For each phase I have gone through, has come only in its time. It is a natural process, when I want to control when the leap is going to be, I falter. I will train and let time happen, awaiting the next level to show itself to me.

[old506]

Something recently that I have done is to go back through old posts in this forum. For instance, I would open up the "tips for improvement" category and then went through the threads from a few years back. I didn't start with the latest thread, I went to the oldest first and then worked my way back to the newest.

What I found is that many of the newer shooters back then who were struggling with "this or that" and stuck with it, in the past 6-7 years, are now GM's. Some of them are even at the top of the leader boards on any match that they enter. Equally interesting was one thread I came across (that stood out from the rest) where there were a bunch of people asking newb type questions and Benos and Flex were the only ones answering but if you look at where they are now, everyone talking about the "newb" stuff are today GM's or M's and a couple are at the top of the leader boards everytime they shoot.

A couple of things that I came away with:

1. As shooters it seems that we get carried away with "stuff" other than what is important which boils down to Calling Your Shots on Every Shot.

2. The fundamentals are the foundation of shooting and if the fundamentals aren't there, neither will be my shooting.

3. Practice is the only thing that will make me better and practice of the fundamentals is most important.

4. Time isn't the enemy, time took many to GM, it just took years of perseverance and execution of fundamentals.

I have now applied this to my shooting. If it isn't about calling my shots, I am not doing it. If it isn't fundamental, I am not doing that either.

[benos]

A couple of things that I came away with:

1. As shooters it seems that we get carried away with "stuff" other than what is important which boils down to Calling Your Shots on Every Shot.

2. The fundamentals are the foundation of shooting and if the fundamentals aren't there, neither will be my shooting.

3. Practice is the only thing that will make me better and practice of the fundamentals is most important.

4. Time isn't the enemy, time took many to GM, it just took years of perseverance and execution of fundamentals.

I have now applied this to my shooting. If it isn't about calling my shots, I am not doing it. If it isn't fundamental, I am not doing that either.

Nice post!

Reading that, and believing that, might take 10 years off the learning curve.

be

[southtexaswoman]

I always went against what experts would say and rarely practiced with a timer. Once I started using a timer in dry fire and real fire I broke through the rut I had gotten in.

[jeremy kemlo]

I am reading Brians book right now and I have already changed a few things that have helped a lot. Read, take a class,any thing you lean will help. I have just started to relax and not have so much tension when shooting and my accuracy has improved.

[benos]

I always went against what experts would say and rarely practiced with a timer. Once I started using a timer in dry fire and real fire I broke through the rut I had gotten in.

Good point on breaking through ruts. A "rut" can be anything. Not shooting with a timer can be a rut; always shooting with a timer can create a rut. To me a rut would be any pattern that you fall into. In any activity, repetition without curious investigation leads to mediocrity.

be

[armas]

Its when I started to trust myself and stop thinking that Ive seen a great improvement in my game. I just let everything happen without worrying about my speed, reload, transition and even frontsight! everything that I practice just seems to happen automatically in slow motion with less fumbles and improve accuracy at a suprisingly better speed.

Edited March 2, 2012 by armas

[co-exprs]

Summer 2010, I had been shooting and pretty much training myself, for about 2 years, from little bits of information I picked up from various videos and articles and from intently watching what the GMs do at matches. How they run stages, prep gear, develop thier routines. I was nearing the end of an agressive learning curve and really getting my fundamentals solidified, when I hooked up with a GM coach who not only shoots really well, but had a style I really liked. He turned out to not only have a gift for shooting, but also for breaking down skills and teaching them in a way I could understand. He taught me that while shooting fundamentals are paramount for scoring points, efficiency in motion is paramount in reducing time. As an efficiency expert I connected and I went from B to M in 12 months.

[Mat Price]

hands down mike seeklanders book. It gave me a method to my madness. That was the biggest thing that started the ball rolling is some structure in my routine. Having measurable metrics to combine with Benos concept. the one two combination.

[Mbauer67]

One thing I learned from working with a couple world champions was to focus on improving one or two fundamentals during a practice session, by starting off slow and going through the motions perfectly. Allowing you to build up speed while still having perfect technique, and build your confidence in your ability.

[peanut4a]

Visualization and playing everything out in my head before hand, over and over again.

This has helped with all aspects of my shooting both in and out of matches.

The book "Mind Gym" (I cant remember the author) is an awesome read about the power of positive thinking.

PJ

[benos]

Visualization and playing everything out in my head before hand, over and over again.

This has helped with all aspects of my shooting both in and out of matches.

The book "Mind Gym" (I cant remember the author) is an awesome read about the power of positive thinking.

Author: Gary Mack. (It's on my to-read shelf.)

[Sin-ster]

When I realized that the learning process, for any particular skill (including and especially the fundamentals), is never ending.

You think you've got something mastered/figured out, and go on for months as it slowly unravels. It takes you another few months to actually realize that it's a problem, while just keeping your mind open and able to minitor your shooting (thanks, Bri!) would have saved you a butt load of time.

It's especially important with the fundamentals as when one of them becomes corrupted, or could use some more work, it spreads into all sorts of other areas.

[ozdogg5]

Sticking to my game and nobody elses...

I'm a very competitive person and sometimes lose sight of 'my' game when I'm more focused on competing. It kills me! These last few months, I've made it a point to not look at scores or compare my shooting to others in my squad (or pretending I could shoot as good as the GM on my squad). It's helped tremendously. Not only that, but I actually have more fun when I'm shooting!

[MattYvip]

sorry Sean, I don't mean to poop up your thread, buttt...

for me, after a series of threatening phone calls from by XBIL, something along the lines of him and his buds coming over to the house to beat my _ _ _. And then him trying to strangle me in the middle of a Sears store at the mall...that's when I realized that I might actually have to send bullets "downrange" for real...and not for practice and not just for any silly game.

That's when my "game" went up a notch or two.

The aggressiveness really kicked in after that.

sorry...I hope I am not a thread killer here.

I don't necessarily recommend this method for improving your game....by the way.

I use my competitive shooting background to help my professional shooting (Law Enforcement) and visa versa. DVC applies to more than just IPSC or USPSA it applies to life and the real world (I hate when people say "the real world" but I guess it applies here). Whatever drives you to be better is good motivation, even if it causes some shithead to gain a couple ounces of lead in his BMI

[Noximus03]

I got squadded with a state champ once in my local match very early on in my relatively short action pistol career. I remember it clearly as if it were yesterday. I ran a stage, and I thought I had done fairly well for a new production shooter. After my stage was over and I was hammered down and holstered, said champ pulls me aside for a chat. It went out like this.

"if you don't mind a bit of critique, I'd like to point out a few things."

"Absolutely!!" much enthusiasm!

"Well, I watched you do your walk through. I watched your entire run, start to finish. In your walk through, you did it right by practicing with your hand motions, and simulating when and where you would reload. Your actual run was NOTHING like your walk through. There was no resemblance at all between the two. If you would have shot the same way in your run and paired it with your walk through, you would have been at least 3 seconds faster."

It took me about 3 weeks of thinking about his advice to really break down what he told me. It took a lot of time doing drills at the range and at home for me to really teach myself about how important mental preparedness was to me, and our sport. I'm by no means saying I'm now a world class shooter, or a master of pistol craft, but by practicing my shooting game and my mental game with a purpose, I'm more prepared to be better than I was yesterday.