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How to efficiently practice to progress faster than you thought possib


DonovanM

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What is the time scale of your learning? Do you track your learning over the course of a season, the course of a match, the course of a practice session?

None of these are adequate when taken by themselves or in combination. They are still important, but we also need to learn on a moment by moment basis, and extract as much usable information as possible out of every repetition we perform, dry or live fire. Every step, every shot, every draw, every reload needs to be performed with our eyes open and our mind aware. I'm not saying it needs to be perfect. I'm saying we need the ability to immediately and objectively evaluate our performance inside of the greater context of our long and short term goals.

There is only a finite amount of practice available - ammo and range time for live fire, and physical endurance in dry fire. We need to treat this like money, and invest it wisely in areas that offer the best potential for return. The more we waste, the further behind we get. The smarter we are with our investments, the wealthier in skill we become. We can do this by constantly reevaluating our priorities in the context of what our personal strengths/weaknesses are vs. what is important for the game, and adjusting our training to match. Constantly - moment by moment, staying ahead of the curve instead of falling behind it.

Stop burning ammo doing Bill drills in live fire and shoot a 15 yard plate rack. When's the last time you practiced strong and weak hand shooting, unloaded starts from the belt or a table? When's the last time you shot while off balance, squatting, kneeling, or prone to see how the gun reacts differently? There's a huge chunk of the game that can be learned in dry fire that we only need to verify and supplement with live fire, for instance don't extensively live fire draws, reloads, unloaded starts and other gun handling stuff as 95% of the work can get done dry to save ammo for other areas. Similarly, a lot of the work for trigger control can get done dry as well, we just need to go to the range to do it with explosions going off in front of our face.

The most important thing to work on in live fire is how to grip the gun to get the best sight tracking. The predictability of your sights returning to target directly impacts not only your split time, but your transitions between targets, not only the speed but the refinement needed to shoot good points while doing so.

Track what is best learned dry or live, and adjust your training program to suit. You will progress faster than what you thought possible. Good luck!

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...we also need to learn on a moment by moment basis, and extract as much usable information as possible out of every repetition we perform, dry or live fire. Every step, every shot, every draw, every reload needs to be performed with our eyes open and our mind aware.

Thanks of the excellent post!

be

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Good post. I've been doing precisely what you are advocating and paying more attention to each individual component. As a result I'm seeing and experiencing more of the refinement opportunities.

You stated it more eloquently than I have, but I get it. Thank you.

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Good post. I've been doing precisely what you are advocating and paying more attention to each individual component. As a result I'm seeing and experiencing more of the refinement opportunities.

You stated it more eloquently than I have, but I get it. Thank you.

Glad to hear it! :)

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My first year and a half I thought I was focused on learning but what I was actually focused on was only completing the drills I had planned for the session and the number of reps .... I couldn't really tell you the learning objective of each drill I was doing or if iI was learning anything on each rep. Since ths past Oct I completely scraped may program and created a new one based on Ben Stoeger's training techniques - specifically on how to train correctly ... This is when I started to see real gains ... within 1 month of Ben's class my 10 yd plate rack time went from a best ever of 6.4 secs to 4.3 secs, and that was only the beginning. And while not stellars you have to understand that in the previous 2 years since picking up a pistol for the first time I could never get better than 6.4 secs no matter what I did ...

This is what has led to my ability to finally start calling my shots, something else I just couldn't figure out before

Now, if I'm in the middle of a drill and something is not right I stop and try to figure out what's going on, not just finish the drill. If I can't I make a note of it and go home and figure out what I need to do in dry fire so I get it right the next time at the range. I try to learn something on every rep of every drill.

I don't spend any more time training then I used to, in fact, on a 'bullet count' basis I'm actually sending less rds down range per session but I'm making gains faster than before becuase i've learned to train correctly, not just shoot correctly.

Edited by Nimitz
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I used to be totally focused on the number of drills I did in a session and the numbe of reps and how many bullets I'd fire. Now, I couldn't tell you how many reps or bullets I fire in a session becuase it doesn't matter. I have 1 hr to train on the range 3x/week and I get done whatever I get done that was planned. It's based on what I'm learning or struggling with at the time not just completing the plan of X drills and Y reps for the session ...

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I don't spend any more time training then I used to, in fact, on a 'bullet count' basis I'm actually sending less rds down range per session but I'm making gains faster than before becuase i've learned to train correctly, not just shoot correctly.

NICE, yeah, you're getting it dude. Keep it up.

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I don't spend any more time training then I used to, in fact, on a 'bullet count' basis I'm actually sending less rds down range per session but I'm making gains faster than before becuase i've learned to train correctly, not just shoot correctly.

NICE, yeah, you're getting it dude. Keep it up.

I read this post on Pistol Training a couple week s prior to my match, this was an aha! moment for me. My practice/ dryfire is more skill specific now meaning I practice draw, trigger, sight tracking, movement separately. I was surprise that it came together smoothly during last Sunday's match. My round count is now less and have been practicing sight tracking and grip with proper breathing during live fire. I will maintain this approach moving forward. ....

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This has been the biggest issue with me. As a new shooter in USPSA, I wanted to run and gun and go all out. After a few matches I was shooting way below norm for me and things weren't coming together. I spoke with a few of the more experienced guys at a shoot and they were all on the same page, train slowly, and do it right. I stepped back and learned to run the gun smoothly and effortlessly instead of tromping around like a rhino on the stage, smooth is fast. It's made a world of difference for me, and I'm only skimming the surface.

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There is a ton you can learn with Bill Drills but like Donovan said you need to do them at different distances to really exploit them. Consider getting Ben Stoeger's latest book, Skills and Drills for the Practical Shooter. He goes into great detail on the learning objectives associated with drills including the Bill Drill. Wait to you shoot a 25 yd BD as he suggests, it's a whole different world ...

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To find a way to accomplish a similar goal I modified the IDPA Classifier stages as a form of practice. I wanted to incorporate various live fire drills that would let me practice a variety of techniques, but also not require me to bring a bucket full of ammo to the range. At the range I practice at I have two Bianchi style plate racks to do this, but the drills can be modified using just one plate rack. Forgive the repetition if something similar has been posted before, but either way please let me know what you think.

String 1 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting left to right - 15 yards.

String 2 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting right to left - 15 yards.

String 3 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting left to right - 15 yards.

String 4 - Draw and shoot 6 plates shooting right to left - 15 yards.

String 5 - Draw and transfer gun to weak hand and shoot 3 plates - 10 yards.

String 6 - Start facing up range. Turn and draw and shoot 3 plates, perform a reload, and shoot 3 more plates - 15 yards.

String 7 - Draw strong hand only and shoot 6 plates - 10 yards.

String 8 - Draw and while walking forward shoot 3 plates - Start at 10 yards moving to 7 yards.

String 9 - Draw and while walking backward shoot 3 plates - Start at 7 yards and move to 10 yards.

String 10 - Start facing up range. Turn and draw and shoot 6 plates, perform a reload, and shoot 6 plates - 15 yards.

String 11 - Draw strong hand only and shoot 3 plates - 15 yards.

String 12 - Using two separate boxes spaced 5 yards apart. Draw and shoot 3 plates, move from right to left to other box, and shoot 3 plates - 20 yards.

String 13 - Using two separate boxes spaced 5 yards apart. Draw and shoot 3 plates, move opposite direction from previous drill to other box, and shoot 3 plates, then move forward to low barricade and shoot 3 plates. 20 yards from boxes and 15 yards from low barricade.

String 14 - Draw shoot 3 plates standing, go to kneeling position, shoot 3 plates - 20 yards.

I will very the distances based on what I want to learn or how I want to challenge myself for the day. Total round count is 72 rounds.

Edited by Dragon11
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To find a way to accomplish a similar goal I modified the IDPA Classifier stages as a form of practice. I wanted to incorporate various live fire drills that would let me practice a variety of techniques, but also not require me to bring a bucket full of ammo to the range. At the range I practice at I have two Bianchi style plate racks to do this, but the drills can be modified using just one plate rack. Forgive the repetition if something similar has been posted before, but either way please let me know what you think.

String 1 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting left to right - 15 yards.

String 2 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting right to left - 15 yards.

String 3 - Draw and shoot 3 plates shooting left to right - 15 yards.

String 4 - Draw and shoot 6 plates shooting right to left - 15 yards.

String 5 - Draw and transfer gun to weak hand and shoot 3 plates - 10 yards.

String 6 - Start facing up range. Turn and draw and shoot 3 plates, perform a reload, and shoot 3 more plates - 15 yards.

String 7 - Draw strong hand only and shoot 6 plates - 10 yards.

String 8 - Draw and while walking forward shoot 3 plates - Start at 10 yards moving to 7 yards.

String 9 - Draw and while walking backward shoot 3 plates - Start at 7 yards and move to 10 yards.

String 10 - Start facing up range. Turn and draw and shoot 6 plates, perform a reload, and shoot 6 plates - 15 yards.

String 11 - Draw strong hand only and shoot 3 plates - 15 yards.

String 12 - Using two separate boxes spaced 5 yards apart. Draw and shoot 3 plates, move from right to left to other box, and shoot 3 plates - 20 yards.

String 13 - Using two separate boxes spaced 5 yards apart. Draw and shoot 3 plates, move opposite direction from previous drill to other box, and shoot 3 plates, then move forward to low barricade and shoot 3 plates. 20 yards from boxes and 15 yards from low barricade.

String 14 - Draw shoot 3 plates standing, go to kneeling position, shoot 3 plates - 20 yards.

I will very the distances based on what I want to learn or how I want to challenge myself for the day. Total round count is 72 rounds.

Excellent test! I like the distances and how you threw in a low barricade. Plate racks are one of my favorite props to use in live fire, both for the immediate feedback you get and the ease of reset. Especially for practicing SHO and WHO. The only thing they won't help you with is wider transitions, which are pretty important - oh well.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a great topic for what I would consider many shooters including myself. I need to focus really on each shot that i take and try to learn something from it. I am currently struggling on tracking my front sight for follow up shots and also with proper grip. I am right handed shooter and my shot group is low and to the left but hey at least I get good grouping :) I think I will take Nimitz advice on Stoegers book and try to come up with a game plan. Thanks for sharing guys.

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Proper training for me has been almost non-existant up to this point, and it shows in my lack of progress this past year. I have recently made a concentrated effort to put together a Dry Fire training regime. I am using many of the drills that Ben Stoeger promotes in his latest video. In just one short week of Dry Fire practice, I have made more progress with my draw and reloads than I did in one full year of shooting matches. I appreciate the suggestions in this post and agree that a ton of progress can be made without even going to the range for live fire. For the most part, live fire will be used primarily to validate my dry fire practice going forward at this point. Match training will be a bit different, and I am sure as I improve, things might change, but for now, I am focusing on a variety of different drills that do not include live fire. Time will tell where it gets me, but I am confident that for now, I am on the right track.

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