Nimitz Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) This was an interesting topic during my recent Mike Seeklander 2-day competitive handgun training course so I thought I'd do a poll and then tell your what Mike told us about this topic ... Edited January 29, 2012 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juan Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I voted a few times. actually depending on the stage. some of them a quick look. and some I never have enough time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old506 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 There is a point where my mind just says "got it, you can stop now". It is more of a feeling, a feeling of release and extreme confidence, just letting everything go and releasing it. It is usually followed by a deep breath and a feeling of calmness pouring over me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I had to give a null vote. If the stage is short and simple, a few runs at speed in my mind are sufficient. If it is a tricky field course, I will run it over and over until I feel 100% certain. For major matches, I like to inspect the stages the day before if possible, and will listen to a particular song while programming the stage. On the day of the match, I will listen to the same song in my mind, humming and singing it under my breath allowing the play-by-play flood back into my consciousness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reichebrown Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 For shorter stages once or twice will do it for me. Up until yesterday i was in the 3-5 bracket for longer stages. At an IDPA match yesterday we had a "shoot house" type stage. There was a good deal of movement and all of the shots were taken through very small ports. (more like vertical or horizontal slits) When I walked through to tape I did a lot of looking and rehearsing and work up a plan. After that I visualized it non-stop until it was my time to shoot. When I got to my shooting stations I knew what each of them was going to look and feel like. It helped me to win the stage by about 5 seconds. Im sold on the concept of visualization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 The longer and more complicated the stage the more visualization that is necessary. But even some is required on short simple courses. When I can close my eyes and shoot the whole stage smoothly in my head then I am ready. Folks who lose their plan on the buzzer have never burned the plan into their head. If you cannot visualize the whole stage you don't really have a plan you can execute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) An interesting set of responses ... with what appears to me to be a lot of "it depends". Mike's answer was very straight forward and simple .... "continuous until it's your turn to shoot ..." How 'easy' or 'complicated' the stage was was not part of the equation. To back that up with some data he provided this little bit of info ... being a GM and a national winner & top 10 finsiher, when he goes to big matches he's put on the super squad ... no big surprise there. However, he told us that the difference between the super squad shooters and everyone else is that if you watch the super squad, everyone is visualizing up until it's their turn to shoot. When you watch the other squds you get all types of variations on how much visualization is done. Is there one right answer, probably not. But the whole reason I took Mike's course as I start into practical shooting is so that I could develop the correct habits first & not spend a ton of time having to unlearn bad ones. I read in a sport pychology journal that if the average person spends as little as 6 months doing an action incorrectly that it can take up to 2 years to retrain the mind to execute correctly ... so for me, knowing nothing else at this point, continuous visualization is the way to go. I know at my first match after the class when I stepped up to get into position I had each stage down cold, where every target was, where my reloads would be, where my stage markers were, etc, etc & all I focused on was getting into position, seeing the sights & taking the shot. I can't imagine what a mess the match would have been without visualization & trying to figure out what to shoot when ... I saw several shooters get into a firing box, shoot at a target or 2 and then either look around or do a double take as they tried to figure out what to do next - clearly no pre-stage visualization going on there ... Edited January 30, 2012 by Nimitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonovanM Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Completely depends on the stage. Some stages I can take one look at and know exactly how I'm going to shoot it and follow through on the plan. Others I have to run through and/or visualize multiple times - 5+ on one today - before I feel confident in my plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotisiv Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Completely depends on the stage. Some stages I can take one look at and know exactly how I'm going to shoot it and follow through on the plan. Others I have to run through and/or visualize multiple times - 5+ on one today - before I feel confident in my plan. I agree some stages can be burned in right away others take a few run throughs before it can be visualized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Zak Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 How many times have you guys walked a stage and developed your plan, only to second guess yourself when you notice another shooter take a different approach? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonovanM Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 How many times have you guys walked a stage and developed your plan, only to second guess yourself when you notice another shooter take a different approach? 1 or 2 in my first 6 months of shooting. At that time, it's ok to do, but after you've been shooting a while you'll learn what works/doesn't work for you when it comes to stage planning and following through with it when the buzzer goes off. Last minute changes usually don't work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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