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Competing is like driving home


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I'm sure everyone has done it (or I'm really weird) where they get almost home, or home from work and they have not a clue how they got there. Once that buzzer goes off that's how I shoot. The few things I remember seeing is the sight moving from recoil and that is really it. When I try to recall what happened all I can remember is making ready, and clearing the firearm to show clear. It's kind of funny to me because I have some really bad ADD, but once that buzzer goes off I'm in the zone.

I started thinking about this when I was reading a thread about a guy having a conversation with himself while shooting, and thought to myself there is no possible way I could do that. Everything I do once that buzzer goes off is just instinctive.

My question is, are most people like me or are most people able to recall and coach themselves while shooting?

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Don't you just love those little Aha moments? :cheers:

I'm just like you. I don't remember most anything during a stage, unless I F*#@ up and then I remember little details about the screw up or anything from that point on. But normally I dont remember much at all. Kind of like a dream.

:rolleyes:

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I'm sure everyone has done it (or I'm really weird) where they get almost home, or home from work and they have not a clue how they got there. Once that buzzer goes off that's how I shoot. The few things I remember seeing is the sight moving from recoil and that is really it. When I try to recall what happened all I can remember is making ready, and clearing the firearm to show clear. It's kind of funny to me because I have some really bad ADD, but once that buzzer goes off I'm in the zone.

I started thinking about this when I was reading a thread about a guy having a conversation with himself while shooting, and thought to myself there is no possible way I could do that. Everything I do once that buzzer goes off is just instinctive.

My question is, are most people like me or are most people able to recall and coach themselves while shooting?

I am just like you in that i have to rely on video to see how i shot a particular stage, because all i remember is 'MAKE READY.....HAMMER DOWN HOLSTER" thats about it.

Of course like chris said unless something on my plan goes wrong ill remember that till i get back on my plan.

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I find this incredibly frustrating for myself.. I always tell myself to slow down and concentrated on my fundamentals...

Then.. The buzzer goes off... Then.. Un-load and show clear.. Damned if I really ever manage to keep the auto-pilot

in check..! Argh.!!

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I'm sure everyone has done it (or I'm really weird) where they get almost home, or home from work and they have not a clue how they got there. Once that buzzer goes off that's how I shoot. The few things I remember seeing is the sight moving from recoil and that is really it. When I try to recall what happened all I can remember is making ready, and clearing the firearm to show clear. It's kind of funny to me because I have some really bad ADD, but once that buzzer goes off I'm in the zone.

I started thinking about this when I was reading a thread about a guy having a conversation with himself while shooting, and thought to myself there is no possible way I could do that. Everything I do once that buzzer goes off is just instinctive.

My question is, are most people like me or are most people able to recall and coach themselves while shooting?

Me neither . . . I can not recall a stage in detail. I hear the timer and react. I do not hear anything either . . . can not recall hearing hits on steel, although I "think" I hear them at the time :unsure:

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This is why I just got a little Samsung HD flash video camera. I set it up for a broad angle of the stage so I can see how I move and reload. It's great review. Like most others, I have to think back about the stage I just shot, and wonder to myself, "was that fun? I think it was..." :unsure:

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  • 3 months later...

Yea, I must say though, I think my subconscious is a better shooter then my conscious haha.

The driving analogy really works for this. Remember when you where learning to drive, slamming on the brakes, over steering, on and off the gas all that awkward stuff. That is what happens when your consicious mind controls your body, it serves the purpose of teaching your subconcious, then once your subconcious has it you have to trust and turn it over to it. When you trust your subconcious driving becomes smooth and seemingly effortless. Shooting is exactly the same, trust yourself and allow it to happen. Problem is your concious is always waiting to jump in and take control, it's waiting for any little excuse, give it any chance and it will jump in and ruin your day.

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  • 6 months later...

I tend to remember a stage exactly as I visualized it in the walk through. I have observed, more than once, if I didn't pay close attention to a target on the walk through, I failed to even see it on the shoot through....

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For me this tends to change with how much practice and dry fire I have. If I have a lot of recent dry fire and I am in more of a zone, I tend to be able to remember the stage, because I am able to visualize it better. I dry fire like I shoot a match in that I make up a quick stage in my garage, set it up on the walls, practice it without a timer, kind of like a walk through, and then I run it maybe ten times, and then change it. Kind of like studying for a test, the more practiced I am in that way, the more I am able to work at speed, and process more information at that speed. Then, things seem to slow down in time as I am able to process at higher speed as a result, I feel, of not rushing.

Conversely, if I haven't shot a match in some time and have been neglecting my studies in the school of firearms, then, despite a lot of time over the years with the guns, I get rushed, and am just reacting as opposed to ruling a stage. Then it is a blur because my mind cannot process anything of the movement, or layout with resolution. Time becomes more important in a weird way because I have a feeling then of having much less of it. When you look at it, if you're slower and a bit more fumbly mumbly, you just aren't as smooth, and things in your plan can get jumbled accordingly.

Just my ramble, JZ

Edited by JimmyZip
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Jimmy, that is very interesting..... I never associated the amount of dry fire practice with how well it helped me visualize. DUH! Dry fire practice is pretty much visualization.....

Sometimes I just come to the party late.....

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For me this tends to change with how much practice and dry fire I have. If I have a lot of recent dry fire and I am in more of a zone, I tend to be able to remember the stage, because I am able to visualize it better.

Thats a pretty good ramble. Some people say, you get out what you put in. I have more fun shooting the more I work at it.

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  • 1 month later...

I usually remember shooting targets that take more focus. I remember some arrays but never the whole stage. 2 weeks ago i was shooting a stage that had an unloaded gun on start table with mag. So the way it was set up is you run up grab the gun and mag, load the gun on the run and engage targets as they appear during the cof. I apparently didn't seat the mag and it feel out of the mag well, so I went to the mag on my belt. I still don't remember doing this, I don't remember the mag not seating and falling out and I don't remember going to the belt for my back up mag. All I know is after the stage I have my back up mag in the gun and I have no idea where my start mag is.

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  • 4 weeks later...

When I'm shooting there's more going on than my mind can process, but after the stage I can remember it sort of like a dream. I can remember the whole stage and every target if I think hard about it.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I tend to remember the stages and especially the Mikes! Learning to use the reflection of a stage as a tool for improvement. For example, placement of gun, first target and etc. That buzzer is my enemy :goof:

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My rides home on the freeway on the bike are nothing like shooting. Triple digit temps, road rage. Now when the little red car's bumper came floating towards me in the air and traffic began to squeeze me into the jersey wall (surreal and in slo-mo) and I went into autopilot and did it all right and survived, now that's like shooting a good stage.

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Its best explained as procedural memory. A subset of implicit memory. Its a beautiful thing. Its achieved through repetition of actions. Ive found that i was able to speed up the process of ingraining a technique through slow reps during dryfire, focusing on every aspect of draw, presentations, sight pic, trigger press etc etc individually for a few weeks. Then start to pic up the pace. It showed it's results in the following matches. It certainly makes practice fun when the rewards present themselves faster than expected.

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