More thoughts on the practice process...

[Steve Anderson]

How to practice and the arousal stages of the practice modes, part 2.

Since I got my gun back, I've been hitting the practice pretty hard. And I've done something a little different, something pretty cool.

I decided to dedicate one hour twice a day to dry fire, then live fire 2-3 times a week. Then I'll ramp the live fire up to daily a week before Nats.

And to keep myself honest, I set a timer on my iphone and do the first 12 drills in R and R for 5 minutes each. 5 minutes per drill is just about the right amount to cycle through the various points of mental arousal:

Excitement

Trying

Boredom

Observation

Enlightment

You might think that I just totally made that up on the spot.

Yep. You caught me.

But It's something I've known for a while and just didn't figure out all the way through.

See, we start out really wanting to practice and kick some ass, so we TRY to get better.

This renders too much to the conscious mind, and after a minute or so of that we get bored. If we're smart, we're too dumb to quit, so we keep going until the conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants.

Those thoughts work through to completion while the body is still repeating and refining, and our conscious mind begins to observe the action taking place. It will likely make a correction or two, because now it's just a third party observer of the subconscious process.

No emotion, no judgement. Just the pursuit of perfection.

Sorry if this is too deep, but I love this shit.

So let's condense and simplify: Make the commitment, set the time aside, then subdivide the set aside time.

(stay with me, it'll be worth it)

Even simpler: You wanna get awesome, pilgrim?

Do drills 1-12 of the first book for 5 minutes each twice a day. Then do one different additional drill for 5 minutes.

And in live fire practice , always be in one of three modes:

Accuracy, where speed is not judged.

Speed, where accuracy is not judged.

Shot calling, where everything else is trusted to the subconscious mind.

In fact, I like to cycle though these on every drill.

1. Hit the targets.

2. Do it faster and faster until accuracy begins to suffer

(this doesn't harm the self image because we don't judge it)

3. Retain the speed gains and call every shot.

Damn I'm good to you guys... all I ask is that you make me proud by never stopping the learning, by constantly seeking to improve, by carrying yourselves with respect and respect for others.

At least until your conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants.

Now get to work.

[Micah]

Building trust with yourself, your skill set, and your pistol is one of the most important, and most difficult aspects of sports shooting imho. Thanks for blowing my mind before 7 brother

[toothguy]

How to practice and the arousal stages of the practice modes, part 2.

Since I got my gun back, I've been hitting the practice pretty hard. And I've done something a little different, something pretty cool.

I decided to dedicate one hour twice a day to dry fire, then live fire 2-3 times a week. Then I'll ramp the live fire up to daily a week before Nats.

And to keep myself honest, I set a timer on my iphone and do the first 12 drills in R and R for 5 minutes each. 5 minutes per drill is just about the right amount to cycle through the various points of mental arousal:

Excitement

Trying

Boredom

Observation

Enlightment

You might think that I just totally made that up on the spot.

Yep. You caught me.

But It's something I've known for a while and just didn't figure out all the way through.

See, we start out really wanting to practice and kick some ass, so we TRY to get better.

This renders too much to the conscious mind, and after a minute or so of that we get bored. If we're smart, we're too dumb to quit, so we keep going until the conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants.

Those thoughts work through to completion while the body is still repeating and refining, and our conscious mind begins to observe the action taking place. It will likely make a correction or two, because now it's just a third party observer of the subconscious process.

No emotion, no judgement. Just the pursuit of perfection.

Sorry if this is too deep, but I love this shit.

So let's condense and simplify: Make the commitment, set the time aside, then subdivide the set aside time.

(stay with me, it'll be worth it)

Even simpler: You wanna get awesome, pilgrim?

Do drills 1-12 of the first book for 5 minutes each twice a day. Then do one different additional drill for 5 minutes.

And in live fire practice , always be in one of three modes:

Accuracy, where speed is not judged.

Speed, where accuracy is not judged.

Shot calling, where everything else is trusted to the subconscious mind.

In fact, I like to cycle though these on every drill.

1. Hit the targets.

2. Do it faster and faster until accuracy begins to suffer

(this doesn't harm the self image because we don't judge it)

3. Retain the speed gains and call every shot.

Damn I'm good to you guys... all I ask is that you make me proud by never stopping the learning, by constantly seeking to improve, by carrying yourselves with respect and respect for others.

At least until your conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants.

Now get to work.

According to Freud the conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants because the pistol is a phallic substitute. So essentially we are all playing with ourselves.

[Reshoot]

Thanks for the enlightment, Steve! Expecially the 3 live fire modes. I have never looked at live fire practice in that way, and look forward to trying it.

Oh, and if not too much trouble, please post a picture of this "someone's pants" you refer to.

[Pat Miles]

pretty cool.

According to Freud the conscious mind wanders off into someone's pants because the pistol is a phallic substitute. So essentially we are all playing with ourselves.

Wurks fer me!

Pat

[Steve Anderson]

Dave, I just entered the third "Charlie Sheen" phase in my 40 years, so there will likely be a lot of pants wandering going on around here, as it seem the position of Mrs. Anderson is available once again.

But don't worry, I like you guys better anyway. You actually listen...

[Steve Anderson]

And Micah, a broken heart has the ability to focus the mind, doesn't it? It makes a good diet, too.

Those 3 practice modes are a big F'ing deal.

Just like me.

[Garyg19]

Good stuff. I'm learning to pay attention when you post. And "paying attention" goes against everything I stand for. But I want to get better, so.

Thanks

[dravz]

And to keep myself honest, I set a timer on my iphone and do the first 12 drills in R and R for 5 minutes each. 5 minutes per drill is just about the right amount to cycle through the various points of mental arousal:

Excitement

Trying

Boredom

Observation

Enlightment

You might think that I just totally made that up on the spot.

Yep. You caught me.

But It's something I've known for a while and just didn't figure out all the way through.

I've been using R&R for over a year now but never for 5 minutes on each drill. After reading this, I have started to, and wow what a difference. Before I would do 10-15 reps of something and turn the page to the next one, but now spending a full 5 minutes on each one makes me push beyond that. I made a lot of progress in just the 3 days of practicing this way and I'm going to keep doing it this way from now on, budgeting my time accordingly. With not much time to practice, I thought it was more important to hit a lot of drills quickly than to do a lot of reps on any particular one -- with the 5-minute method I prefer to do only 2-3 drills to the full five minutes instead of fitting in 10 drills in that same span.

Great post, Steve.

[Steve Anderson]

I learn somthing new about dry firing every day... imagine that.

I'm doing 2 sessions a day and it's really helping. 5 minutes a drill is HUGE.

SA