New from MN

[Jshuberg]

Hello all. I've been a lurker on and off here for the last couple years, only recently decided to become more active in the conversations here. My interest is primarily in training techniques, specifically focussed on mental exercises and how/why certain mental techniques increase performance.

Unlike most people here, I'm not a competitive shooter. I have nothing against the firearms sports or competition, but I have decided to focus my training on defensive shooting rather than competive shooting. I may actually get out to a couple matches in the future, as I'm sure that they're a blast, but being a naturally competitive person I recognise that I could get pulled into the "game" of competitive shooting. I however do recognise that a majority of advancements in equiptment, techniques, etc. are born out competetive shooting, so it is my goal to marry those techniques and discoveries into a working defensive training regimen.

I've done a lot of researched into a bunch of different subjects like procedural memory, and how to train the subconscious faster and with greater retention than brute force repetition alone can. One subject that has become extremely interesting to me is that of mental illusions, such as chronostasis. I've never heard any other firearms instructor identify that the most probable cause of a person not being able to track their front sight though recoil is the effect of chronostasis (after actually blinking of course). This is where the mind actually throws away a small period of time during a saccade or rapid position change and replaces it with an artificial memory. The idea that our stream of consciousness and observation is saturated with mental illusions and false memories is fascinating to me, and plays a significant role in our percention of what is happening as we shoot a pistol. If you weren't able to see the front sight track through recoil, is your memory of where the sights were at the instant the shot broke an accurate memory, or was it an artificially backfilled memory of a snapshot of where the sights were after the shot broke? When you understand that our stream of consciousness is edited and manipulated by the subconscious, you can begin to understand that you can't necessarily trust your memory if you are unable to percieve the entirety of a rapid event. This effect can introduce errors in the ability to call shots until the effect of chronostasis during recoil is overcome.

As far as defensive shooting goes, the mind and body go into caveman mode. The logical conscious mind goes bye-bye, or worse yet goes into a panic during a life threatening encounter. Many organizations implement stress innocculation into their training regimen to attempt to prepare a person for this kind of situation. While I believe that this is very useful, I've come to the conclusion that the best way to survive a lethal force encounter is simply to willfully surrender yourself to your training. This requires that all aspects of training lend themselves to a defensive situation. Finding techniques that persist the proper operation of a pistol into procedural memory, and that require little to no higher level thought mechanism is what is important to me.

My reason for joinging the site is to share my observations and to learn from other people who are also primarily interested in the mental or subconscious aspects of pistol shooting. Those techniques that are used in competition that don't directly lend themself to defensive shooting (like tracking the front sight) are nontheless incredibly useful training aids at developing correct and accurate procedural memories.

My day job I'm a software engineer working for a medical imaging company, and I do pistol training on the side. I'm an NRA certified basic pistol and personal protection in the home instructor, as well as a certified MN carry permit instructor. However, I don't teach any of those classes. What I do these days is take on one or two people at a time, and train with them for ~3 hours a week for at least 3-4 months. I take them on the journey from being a novice shooter to being proficient with a handgun. It's amazing how quickly someone can develop the ability to shoot well when they have someone guiding them through the process, steering them in the right direction and avoiding the development of bad habits. I spent so much time fine tuning my technique over the years through a largely trial and error process, that I wish I would have had someone take me under their wing and guide me through the process. I really enjoy working with new students, and am looking for different points of view, different techniques, etc. to add to what I am able to teach them.

Anyways, this was kind of a long intro post, but wanted to put out where I'm coming from.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Jshuberg

[markhawkeyeordnance]

Welcome to the forums from St. Paul. Remind to avoid any spirited debates with you in the future...

[JupiterAdam]

Welcome - I will definitely look for your posts.

[Shooter115]

Welcome aboard Jeff. Always enjoy your posts on MNGT. Glad to see you over here.

[Sarge]

Welcome to the forums. Would have welcomed you sooner but it took me a few days to read your post!

All kidding aside, welcome!

[Youngeyes]

Welcome. My wife won't let my mind and body go into "caveman mode" anymore. Will this be a problem in a defensive shooting situation?